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By Ray King and Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Monday, May 11, 2009 11:41 PM CDT
Rain continued over the weekend following last week’s storms that caused damage to many Southeast Arkansas homes and more rain is expected this week.
“There are some indications that a pattern change will occur after seven days, perhaps causing some drier days,” Chris Buonanno, a forecaster at the National Weather Center at North Little Rock said Monday.
As of Monday morning, rainfall for May at Pine Bluff’s water plant totaled 8.72 inches. Nearly eight inches had fallen during the first six days of the month.
The average rainfall at Pine Bluff during May is 4.96 inches, according to NOAA Southern Regional Climate Center.
“In terms of rainfall records, it remains to be seen, but it is not uncommon during this time of spring to have a frontal system to stall over the state,” Buonanno said. “Lots of places are well ahead of their usual rainfall for the month.”
A front is expected to make its way from northern Louisiana to Arkansas by today and meet with an existing weather system likely causing another round of thunderstorms and showers, though much of the rain is expected to affect the northern and central parts of the state, the weather service said.
0002000006BF00000503 6B9,A cold front is expected to move into Arkansas Wednesday night and stall Thursday causing rainfall across the state.
The weather service reported a break from rain is expected by Sunday.
Jefferson County Judge Mike Holcomb said Monday that while road department employees have been dealing with minor problems like overflowing ditches and culverts for the past few days, there are problems ahead, especially trying to maintain the condition of some of the county’s roads.
“We’re going to have to deal with a lot of pot holes that will have to be filled,” Holcomb said. “Some of the roads that are already a little edgy will fall off a little bit more because of all the moisture.
“All this rain has just multiplied the problems we already had, and it’s going to delay some of the work we had planned this summer,” he said.
While the threat of continued rain will pose problems for county road crews, Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Wally Hunt said the threat of flooding along the Arkansas River at Pine Bluff continues to diminish.
“The river is actually down pretty good and it looks like by Wednesday we should be back where we were before we had all the rain last week,” Hunt said. “It’s actually dropped about two-thirds of a foot since last (Sunday) night.”
Flood stage at Pine Bluff is 42 feet and according to the Army Corps of Engineers, the river was standing at 41.81 feet Monday morning. They’re predicting that it will be under 37 feet by Saturday.
“We’re kind of in a wait-and-see-mode, but so far, we’ve been able to get rid of most of the rain we’ve had and what they’re predicting will not be more than we can handle,” Hunt said. “We can actually handle a pretty good bit of water out there.”
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