A year ago, 20 lost lives to flood

LANGLEY — It has been a year since flash floodwaters rushed into Albert Pike Recreational Area, killing 20 people.

The families have not forgotten.

The camping site has been roped off with an orange waist-high fence, which serves as a daunting reminder of June 11, 2010, when the Little Missouri River rose quickly in the night and surrounded sleeping campers.

On Saturday, the Little Missouri’s riverbanks were shallow. The sun shone brightly while mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents and other relatives — some 300 people — mourned loved ones lost to the river.

They arrived from different states — mainly Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Janice and Denver McRae, owners of Lowery’s Camp Albert Pike RV Park and Cabins, hosted a memorial service near the river Saturday for the victims.

The community donated a few benches and an angel statue that lists the names of the dead for a memorial site. Janice hopes the site will give families closure and a place to mourn.

She read the names of each person who died, as the families were handed white roses. Then she read a poem she wrote — “Peace Became Chaos In The Middle Of The Night.”

She still remembers that night’s screams in the distance, the flashing lightning and the pouring rain. And she thinks about the eight children who died — “precious angels,” she called them. At the end of the ceremony, she and two children released 20 white balloons into the sky.

Candace Smith lost her husband, Anthony, and her children, Katelynn, 2, and Joey, 5, to the water. The Smiths of Gloster, La., were camping with their best friends, Kerri and Shane Basinger of Shreveport and their children in Albert Pike Recreational Area Loop D.

Kerri also lost her husband and two children, Jadyn, 8, and Kinsley, 6, in the flood.

The kids had played in the swimming hole early that day. Janice said she can still hear them laughing and splashing in the water.

Bagpipes on Saturday played “Amazing Grace.” The sound echoed throughout the campground as family members approached the angel memorial to lay flowers. Kerri and Candace sobbed and hugged each other.

Surrounding the memorial are flowers and 20 boulders, one for each life lost.

The Lowery facility is a private camping area on the southern edge of the Ouachita National Forest. No lives were lost in the Lowery camp last June. The water consumed people camping in Loops C and D on the federal land.

Lowery cabins are open this summer, but an orange hazard fence still closes off the swimming hole. A sign says the river is closed. Another sign cautions campers that the Lowery land sits in a flash flood area.

On Saturday, the fence was down — just for the day. Some families walked in the water or sat on the rocks.

Albert Pike federal land is still closed, but Loops A and B may open for day-use later this summer, the forest service said Friday. Agency officials have not decided whether Loops C and D will ever reopen, said Tracy Farley, spokesman of the Ouachita National Forest Service.

Farley said that in the wake of the flooding, the forest service has looked into installing an intercom system to alert campers of rising water.

“The safety of our visitors remains paramount to us,” Farley said. “We don’t know long-term plans for Albert Pike. It will be a lengthy decision-making process. There’s no deadline on doing the right thing.”

For last year’s flood survivors, thunderstorms create angst.

“When it rains and thunders, it brings back bad memories of that terrible night for Candace and Kerri,” said Lynn Davis, Candace’s aunt.

Thunderstorms terrify 6-year-old Lane Sultz, whose father, Eric, died in the flooding.

“He starts crying for his daddy each time it rains,” said Amy Sultz, Lane’s mother.

Members of the Sultz family, many from Texarkana, were at Saturday’s event to remember Eric, 38, of Nash, Texas. His three children — Alex, 11, Brynn, 8, and Lane — attended the memorial service.

Eric’s twin brother, Aaron, said Saturday that Eric was the type of person who would give the shirt off his back to anyone.

“We were as close as twins could get,” he said. “This memorial brings a lot of closure for a lot of people.”

Later Saturday afternoon, the families went to the Pilgrim’s Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Lodi, about 13 miles from Albert Pike.

Pastor Graig Cowart led a church service in which he asked survivors to share their memories. His church opened its doors a year ago to help everyone affected by the flood.

Candace and Kerri were the first to step up to the microphone. They and their family members wore buttons with photos of their loved ones. Kerri lit four candles, and Candace said the tapers represented grief, courage, memories and love.

Debra McMaster, 44, of Stamps died when the floodwaters swept her away. She left behind her husband, Jerry, and two daughters, Clair and Erin. Jerry spoke about his wife Saturday.

“I could have probably saved her that night,” he said, but he took the children to safety first.

“The last thing she told me is you take care of those two girls. She gave her life so that others might live.”