Rogers Tornado

On Memorial Day in 2024, Downtown Rogers was struck by a severe tornado event that caused widespread damage across city-facilities and neighborhoods. According to the city’s official update: nearly 100 city locations were impacted, with estimated damage around $45 million. rogersar.gov

The storm damaged infrastructure ranging from public buildings (roofing, HVAC, bleachers, fences) to trail systems and parks to residential areas – some neighborhood blocks seeing catastrophic damage. Several businesses and homes across town will cease to exist since damage was so extensive.

This event was obviously a moment of disruption for the city of Rogers — but it also became an opportunity for community renewal. As someone who values strong community-centred experiences, we were personally heartened by how residents, local government, and businesses came together over the days, weeks and months after the tornado to clean up and rebuild.

Pictures of our house

We worked a solid three weeks simply to get all the debris cleaned up from the yard and hauled away. With power and internet wiped out across the area for a good 7-10 days, we took to playing cards and going to bed early each night. Generators provided power for necessities. It was 10-12 months before we got most of the damage back to a pre-tornado state so that we could begin working on the new-build pool house.