News

SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS RECOVERING FROM STORMS

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 10:40 PM CDT

Parts of Southeast Arkansas were cleaning up after a round of severe storms and thunderstorms hit the state Tuesday night, dumping just over 31/2 inches of rain on Pine Bluff overnight. Lesser amounts were recorded at cities like Stuttgart, Monticello, Star City and Warren.

A White Hall Police cruiser traverses the high waters crossing Highway 256 going to the Pine Bluff Arsenal as the road remains closed on Wednesday. Special to The Commercial/ William Harvey

Steve Bays, a Hydrologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock said Pine Bluff received 3.54 inches of rain in the 24-hour period that ended at 7 a.m. Wednesday, Star City recorded 1.85 inches; Stuttgart got 2.28 inches; Monticello received 1.11 inches; Fordyce 1.97 inches; and Warren 1.06 inches.

Damage reported

Significant damage was reported in Arkansas and Drew Counties Wednesday as Stuttgart reported 30 to 40 homes damaged by falling trees, and buildings at the Drew County Fairgrounds at Monticello sustained heavy damage, while other counties including Jefferson were dealing primarily with flooded streets and highways, and trees down in a number of locations.

“There’s been so much rain the well can only get so full,” said Jefferson County Judge Mike Holcomb Wednesday morning. “We’ve had our road department people out, but most of what they’ve had to deal with were minor problems like culverts that they had to clean out.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Terry Peckham said deputies had to assist several residents on O.C. Drive in White Hall after water reportedly got in their mobile homes.

“They couldn’t get their vehicles out, and we couldn’t get our vehicles in so we had to call the rescue unit, and they brought a boat to get the people out,” Peckham said. “I understand some of the people were standing on their coffee tables to get out of the water.”

County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Wally Hunt also reported flooding in several houses Wednesday afternoon on Hagan Drive off U.S. 79 South, and area residents and firefighters from Pine Bluff and Watson Chapel were sandbagging to try and control the flow of water.

Hunt said a “couple of houses” on Riverside Drive in the Island Harbor area also reported some water in the house, and sandbagging efforts were also reported in the White Hall area on Whitefield Road and East Baldwin Road in the Caney Bayou area.

The county office of emergency management has a stockpile of sandbags available, Hunt said, and sandbags are also available at the White Hall City Hall, according to City Operations Manager Ricky Doucey.

A few inches of water flooded Pine Bluff City Hall’s basement early Wednesday morning, said maintenance director Chuck Mitchell.

Anticipating the worse, Mitchell said he got out of bed at 4 a.m. to check on the facility.

“I’ve been here for 22 years, and it’s never happened like that before,” he said.

He said a pair of rubber boots came in handy during work Wednesday.

The heavy rain a few days ago did soak stored boxes with documents from District Division 1 Court, recently moved from their previous storage on the bottom floor of the Pine Bluff/Jefferson County Library System building.

The moisture also affected City Hall’s elevator, Mitchell said. It was turned off Monday and Wednesday.

“It burned out a bunch of things on that panel,” he said.

Early Wednesday, traffic on U.S. 104 was blocked in both directions after a tree fell across the highway. The road was cleared within a few hours.

Hunt said he had received reports from the mayors of both Altheimer and Wabbaseka of water in some homes and downed trees in both those communities, although they had not provided him an exact count.

Entergy Arkansas reported more than 10,000 power outages across the state Wedneday morning, including 2,600 in Arkansas County, and 1,136 in Desha County. By late Wednesday afternoon, that number had been cut to 8,100.

Golf-ball size hail was reported in Sheridan Tuesday night, and schools were canceled at both Stuttgart and Monticello, where Bill Horn, Coordinator of the Drew County Office of Emergency Management said the damage could have been the result of a tornado. A representative of the National Weather Service was expected to inspect the area, possibly today.

“There are signs of damage from all the way from Cornesrville in southwestern Lincoln County all the way to the fairgrounds,” Horn said.

Two minor injuries were reported at Monticello.

In the fist six days of May, Pine Bluff has received 7.96 inches of rain, according to Bays of the weather service, while Warren recorded 7.15 inches, Monticello 5.6 inches, and Stuttgart 5.4 inches.

The long-range forecast is calling for a chance of rain all the way through Sunday, and Bays said more heavy rain is expected for Southeast Arkansas Friday night through Saturday, and Saturday night through Sunday.

“There’s a possibility of another two to four inches before the systems move out,” he said.

Bays also offered some good news, at least for now, saying that the Arkansas River at Pine Bluff is not expected to overflow its banks, even with the rain that the northern part of Arkansas and Oklahoma has received. Flood stage at Pine Bluff is 42 feet.

“It’s not going to get as bad as last year when we got to 44 feet,” Hunt said about the area around Island Harbor which traditionally has flooding problems. “We’re just going to get a whole lot more rain so we might as well get ready for it.”

In other areas around Southeast Arkansas, Randy Pruitt, the Grant County Emergency Management Office coordinator, said his county had flooding and officials closed down about a dozen roads early in the day.

“It’s receding now,” Pruitt said about 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“There were no power outages reported that I’m aware of,” he added.

Pruitt said tree damage in Grant County seemed to be limited to one tree across a road.

Lincoln County OEM coordinator Shelia Magness was still assessing damage Wednesday, but said late Wednesday morning that there were some trees down, flooding and power outages.

Officials in Dallas County reported flooding on some streets and roadways, and some trees down, but no significant damage.