Community preparedness — Arkansas
Extension offices in all 75 counties. CERT teams from the Ozarks to the Delta. Weather spotters who watch the sky from March through June. Arkansas knows what severe weather can do, and its communities organize accordingly. Here's how to find yours.
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Community calendar
CERT trainings, canning workshops, ham radio exams, garden workdays, first aid classes. Events from local organizations that build community resilience.
75
County extension offices
5
NWS offices (incl. shared)
30+
Amateur radio clubs
3
Red Cross chapters
Where to plug in
Arkansas sits at the crossroads of tornado alley and the Mississippi River floodplain. The Ozarks face ice storms and flash flooding. The Delta faces river flooding and extreme heat. The organizations below operate at the county level because Arkansas's 75 counties each face their own combination of hazards.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service operates offices in all 75 Arkansas counties. Extension delivers programming in agriculture, family and consumer sciences, 4-H youth development, and community development. Programming ranges from rice and soybean management in the Delta to cattle and poultry operations in the Ozarks to home gardening and food preservation statewide. The Pine Bluff campus of the University of Arkansas also operates 1890 Extension programs serving historically underserved communities.
The Master Gardener Volunteer program trains hundreds of volunteers each year who then staff plant clinics and community gardens. Extension also runs food preservation workshops, severe weather preparedness programs, and financial literacy classes through county offices. Counties like Washington, Pulaski, Benton, and Sebastian have some of the state's most active extension programs.
The Arkansas Division of Emergency Management (ADEM), under the Department of Public Safety, coordinates the state's all-hazards emergency preparedness program. ADEM works through county judges and local emergency management coordinators in all 75 counties. The state maintains the Arkansas emergency operations center in North Little Rock and supports county-level planning, training, and exercises.
CERT programs are active in Pulaski County (Little Rock), Benton and Washington counties (Northwest Arkansas), Sebastian County (Fort Smith), Craighead County (Jonesboro), and several other jurisdictions. After the deadly EF-4 tornado that struck Vilonia and Mayflower in April 2014, community interest in CERT training surged across central Arkansas. Training is free and typically runs 8 sessions.
Red Cross chapters across Arkansas offer first aid, CPR, AED, and water safety classes year-round. The Arkansas Region serves the state through chapters in Little Rock, Northwest Arkansas (Springdale/Fayetteville/Bentonville), Fort Smith, and other communities. Arkansas chapters respond to home fires, tornado damage, and river flooding throughout the year.
During the 2014 tornado outbreak, Red Cross volunteers opened shelters across Faulkner and Pulaski counties and provided meals, supplies, and mental health support to families who lost everything in Vilonia and Mayflower. Volunteer entry points include shelter operations, disaster assessment, feeding, and blood drives. Arkansas chapters are especially active during the March-through-June severe weather season.
Arkansas has over 30 amateur radio clubs in the ARRL Arkansas Section, part of the Delta Division. ARES teams are activated during severe weather outbreaks, river flooding, and ice storms. During tornadoes, ham operators provide critical communications for storm spotters, shelters, and emergency management when cell networks are overloaded. The statewide ARES net activates during every significant severe weather event.
Getting licensed costs $15 for the exam and about $35 for a basic handheld radio. Study at hamstudy.org, then find a local exam session. Clubs in Little Rock, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Pine Bluff, and Hot Springs host exams regularly.
The NWS Little Rock office serves central and eastern Arkansas. NWS Tulsa covers northwest Arkansas. NWS Shreveport, LA covers the southwest corner. NWS Memphis, TN covers the northeast Delta counties. NWS Springfield, MO covers the far northwest Ozarks. Each runs SKYWARN spotter training, typically before severe weather season begins in March.
Arkansas averages around 30 tornadoes per year, with the most dangerous storms typically occurring in the spring months. The state also faces significant flash flooding — especially in the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains — and ice storms that can cripple communities for days. Trained spotters provide critical ground-truth that helps the NWS issue timely warnings. Training is free and runs about 2 hours.
Arkansas has over 200 public library locations overseen by the Arkansas State Library. Systems like the Central Arkansas Library System (Little Rock), Fayetteville Public Library, and Fort Smith Public Library run community programming including gardening workshops, technology training, and meeting space for community organizations. Many Arkansas libraries serve as critical gathering points in rural communities.
Arkansas has 22 two-year colleges including Northwest Arkansas Community College, Pulaski Technical College, Arkansas State University-Mid South, and National Park College (Hot Springs). These institutions offer affordable continuing education in EMT certification, welding, electrical work, diesel technology, and other trades.
Why this matters
On the evening of April 27, 2014, a massive EF-4 tornado cut a 41-mile path through Faulkner and White counties, devastating the communities of Vilonia and Mayflower. Sixteen people were killed. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. Vilonia's intermediate school was reduced to rubble. It was the second time in three years that Vilonia had been struck by a significant tornado.
In the immediate aftermath, before search-and-rescue teams from outside the area could arrive, it was local volunteers who pulled survivors from collapsed structures. CERT-trained residents in Faulkner County activated within minutes. Ham radio operators established emergency communications when cell towers were knocked out. Volunteer fire departments from surrounding counties converged on the damage path. Churches in Conway, Greenbrier, and Vilonia itself opened as shelters within hours.
Red Cross volunteers from across the state deployed to central Arkansas, opening shelters, distributing supplies, and providing meals. Extension agents helped connect farm families with agricultural disaster recovery resources. Neighbors who had chainsaws and ATVs cleared roads into isolated areas before heavy equipment could arrive.
Vilonia rebuilt — again. And the organizations that made the response possible didn't wait for the next tornado to start training new people. They're still here. Every one of them accepts volunteers, and the training is free.
The foundation
Community resilience begins with a household that can take care of itself. Cover the first 72 hours, then extend outward to your street, your neighborhood, your town.
Start with the first 72 hours