ARKADELPHIA -- The remnants of Tropical Depression Barry dumped more than 11 inches of rain over a 24-hour period in some areas of southeastern and south-central Arkansas, leading to flash-flood warnings and numerous road closures Tuesday morning, officials said.
Approximately 15 counties were affected by significant rainfall and flooding, according to Erik Green, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. The highest rainfall totals occurred in a narrow swath stretching from northern Howard County into southwest Clark County.
"The remnants of Tropical Storm Barry are just kind of sitting over us right now," Green said Tuesday morning.
Three counties -- Howard, Clark and Pike -- requested assistance from the state because of flood-related issues, according to Barbara Hager, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
Howard County Judge Kevin Smith requested deployment of the Arkansas National Guard high-water rescue team, while officials in Clark County requested drinkable water be sent to the area after a boil order was issued for the county. Pike County officials anticipate significant flood damage as well, Hager said.
Arkansas is the latest state affected by the storm system that made landfall Saturday on Louisiana's coast as a Category 1 hurricane. The system was downgraded to a tropical depression by Sunday afternoon, but its rain bands led to flooding and tornado threats as it moved from central Louisiana into Mississippi and eventually Arkansas.
Approximately 6.53 inches of rain fell in Arkadelphia on Tuesday morning, and City Manager Gary Brinkley described the flash flooding that tore through the Clark County city of 10,650 as an "apocalypse."
"It's not been one of our better days," Brinkley said by telephone from the city's water treatment plant, where workers were trying to locate and isolate a water leak in the system that led to a city-wide boil order.
More than 17 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour span in the Dierks Lake area in Howard County, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Little Rock. Meteorologist Jeff Hood of the National Weather Service in Little Rock said he couldn't confirm that 17 inches had fallen in the Dierks Lake area, but he said the amount didn't seem unreasonable. Hood said the weather service doesn't have equipment to measure rainfall totals in that specific area.
The weather service said 13.5 inches of rain were measured in Murfreesboro and 12.73 inches were measured at Langley, both in Pike County.
Traffic backed up along portions of Interstate 30 on Tuesday morning as high-water closures along the interstate and other highways created delays, diverted traffic and trapped drivers between closed-off areas.
Arkansas Department of Transportation spokesman Danny Straessle said a 10-mile backup occurred in the westbound lanes of I-30 near Prescott. The backup occurred when drivers were snared between major closures north of Prescott in Nevada County and near Gurdon in Clark County.
Transportation department crews went through the area between the closures conducting health and welfare checks and distributing water, snacks and other items,Straessle said.
Altogether, more than a dozen portions of Arkansas highways were closed by noon because of high water, according to the department. Interstate 30 was reopened by Tuesday afternoon, Straessle said.
Brinkley, Arkadelphia's city manager, described a chaotic scene downtown during the early morning hours.
"The roads flooded over near Okolona, so they routed the traffic through town," Brinkley said. "Then our traffic light synchronization got unbalanced during the storm and they all started blinking red.
"It's just been a wonderful day. The good thing is that maybe we'll get it all out at one time and somebody else can have their turn in the barrel."
A message posted on the city's social media website said a boil order had been issued for Arkadelphia Water Utilities, Country Water System, Caddo Valley Water System, River Valley Water System, Gum Springs Water System and Sparkman Water System.
"You know how when there's a body in a field, they just line everybody up and start walking, checking every nook and cranny? That's kind of the way this works," Brinkley said, describing the process used to find the leak. "It's a little more sophisticated, but that's kind of a good analogy.
"We have to shut a valve off, wait and see if the pressure rises, then shut another one off, wait and see if the pressure stabilizes. If it does, we know we found it. If it doesn't, we go on to the next one."
Janie Allen, president and administrator of the Humane Society of Clark County, said she woke up about 3:30 a.m. to discover flooding at her property, which is just up the road from the downtown animal shelter.
"We looked down here and saw all the water, and we knew it was going to be bad," she said. "My son, my daughter, and her fianceé, we all came running down here."
Allen said they ran through water nearly three feet deep to get to the shelter, only to discover water about two feet deep inside the building.
"When we went to the dog yard just out back, it was up to my chest," Allen said. "We had to take a plastic dog trough and put the puppies in it to keep them from drowning. We did lose one puppy."
Allen said that kittens were in cages on the floor inside the building, but they got to them in time and placed them higher to keep them out of the water.
"We almost lost some of them too, but we managed to save them all," she said. "I don't see how we kept any of them from drowning."
Allen said dog food, bedding and other supplies that were stored at floor level had to be discarded.
Caitlyn Lopez, a shelter volunteer, said the shelter housed 72 dogs and more than 100 cats. All of the dogs were sent out to foster homes throughout the area, she said.
"People, families, friends of families, they've all come to take care of the dogs for a couple of weeks," Lopez said. "We'll keep the cats here. We've got them elevated, and this is really the safest option for them right now."
A Tyson Foods plant in Nashville also was evacuated because of flooding, Hager said.
The National Weather Service said it will continue to monitor the Little Missouri, Antoine and Caddo rivers over the next couple of days for potential flooding.
Previous river flooding and high rainfall totals from earlier this year played a part in the warnings being issued Tuesday, Green said.
"The ground is very saturated right now, meaning the ground can't absorb a lot of water," he said. "We are seeing the fallout of that."
Information for this article was contributed by reporter Josh Snyder of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Local on 07/17/2019