Prairie Grove mayor's journey began with Hurricane Katrina
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Mayor David Faulk. Photo: Worth Sparkman/Axios
David Faulk almost didn't evacuate his family as New Orleans braced for Hurricane Katrina in 2005 because Hurricane Ivan turned and missed the year before. But his father's cats were freaking out, so Faulk heeded the warnings.
- "We had water into our attic, so there would have been no escape for us … four kids at home — two babies — it just would have never turned out well for us," Faulk told Axios.
Why it matters: Twenty years ago, Faulk was a struggling foreman in a steelyard without prospects; today he's the mayor of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, population about 9,500 and part of the thriving Northwest Arkansas region. For Faulk, the silver lining of this tragic event was platinum.
- "Every so often … a fresh start really works out. And for me, that fresh start made a significant difference in my life," he said.
Flashback: Under the city's first-ever mandatory evacuation, New Orleanians began leaving before the storm made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005, fleeing to cities like Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Houston and Atlanta.
- Faulk's then-wife's family had a farm south of Star City, 70 miles north of the Louisiana border.
- A group of church friends and his immediate family rode out the storm there. The couple's daughter wasn't yet 3 weeks old.
The family faced tough choices, like so many others who were displaced.
- "We wanted to go back to our life, but there was no life to go back to … [in] Saint Bernard Parish. The whole area was destroyed. There was nothing left," he said.
- It wasn't clear how long it would take to rehabilitate their home, and the kids would've had to attend school from 2–8pm because districts moved to shifts to accommodate consolidation.
State of play: With just 2,100 people, Star City wasn't a long-term option. The opportunities were in Northwest Arkansas, the extended family said.
- Faulk settled in Farmington. He struggled to find work and broke into the home mortgage business just before the Great Recession.
- Then he started working at the Prairie Grove water department, "digging ditches, laying water lines, sewer lines, maintenance," he said.
It's a small town, so his work ethic caught the eye of Chris Workman, the police captain at the time, and he was recruited to the force in 2013.
- Because he was good with kids, Faulk became the department's student resource officer, threw himself into the job and became the face of the department.
- That led to his election. He's served as mayor since 2023.
- "I do not think I would be the mayor of Saint Bernard Parish or Chalmette" back in Louisiana, he said.
His mother, sister and four children still live in Arkansas.
The bottom line: "I mean, Katrina was just a detail that set me in a direction," Faulk said.
- "The story is that in some way, somehow, I went from the back of a trash truck to the CEO of the same company."
Read the full story ... read more Hurricane Katrina coverage from Axios Local