Rain swamps Arkansas
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| North Little Rock Fire Department Lt. Jeff Jeffries (right) and firefighter Brian Miller mark automobiles in a flooded intersection Friday in North Little Rock, Ark., after hours of heavy rains Thursday and early Friday. (AP) |
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Storms that stretched across Arkansas for 2 days claimed two lives, damaged buildings and utilities and flooded roads from north to south.
Pulaski County Coroner Gordon Camper said Friday that a man in North Little Rock was found in a submerged vehicle and was pronounced dead at a hospital. The victim, Kenny Raines, 50, had driven into the high water on Thursday night, police said.
In Independence County in the northeast part of the state, the body of a 38-year-old man was found Friday morning after he was swept away from his truck by floodwaters. Independence County Sheriff Keith Bowers says Eric Brashers of Batesville was found at about 7:45 a.m. Friday.
Bowers said police were notified shortly after midnight Friday that Brashers had disappeared after the truck he was riding in washed down into a creek. The driver of the truck, Jerry Hudson, was able to escape.
“The creek was really high and really swift,” Bowers told the Batesville Daily Guard newspaper, adding that a family member walking the creek bank after daylight Friday and after much of the water receded found Brashers entangled in or under some brush.
In Hardy, in northeast Arkansas, a firefighter had to be rescued after climbing to the top of the fire truck he was driving when the waters of Spring River came up faster than he anticipated in the middle of the night, Sharp County Office of Emergency Management Director Gene Moore said.
“The water got upon him so fast” he couldn’t get away from the river, Moore said.
Hardy residents near the Spring River were evacuated overnight as the river rose to 15.9 feet Friday morning, Moore said.
The storms further damaged farmland that has been battered by the weather all month, left trees across roads in numerous places in south Arkansas and knocked out electricity to thousands.
Ouachita County saw damage at the Killingsworth mobile home park, where several homes were totaled by winds. Trees and power lines were down at Highland Industrial Park in East Camden, where numerous defense-related companies have facilities. The Arkansas Fire Training Academy and the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy at the industrial park were both damaged.
The National Weather Service said October was the wettest month on record for many parts of the state. So far this year, 68.28 inches of rain have fallen at Little Rock, the wettest since 1973 and already the fifth-wettest on record.
The deluge began late Wednesday night and continued well into Friday, dumping inch after inch of rain as storm clouds trundled from the southwest to the northeast across the state. High water closed many roads and highways.
Glenn Bolick, a spokesman with the state Highway and Transportation Department, said some roads may take a long time to reopen. He also said some crews that patched roads after heavy rains earlier this month are likely to find their work washed away.
Farmers in parts of eastern Arkansas could only watch as even some high ground flooded. Agriculture, the state’s largest industry, has taken a beating from the weather this year. First, planting was pushed beyond the optimum time for some crops because of a cool spring. Throughout the harvest period, rain has bollixed many farmers’ plans for bringing in their cotton, soybeans or rice.
With each bout of bad weather, growers are losing yield. Gov. Mike Beebe has already declared disasters in 23 of the state’s 75 counties, and that was before the most recent storms.
Prairie County extension agent Brent Griffin said that the White and Cache rivers will likely put high ground under water east of Des Arc in the county. Griffin said soybeans were under water Thursday.
“With the weather forecast to be sunny starting (Saturday) through the middle of next week, maybe, just maybe, farmers will be able to get back in to the field,” said Robert Goodson, Phillips County extension agent. He said growers are hopeful they can harvest next week.
The average rainfall is about 4 inches for October. Many places in the state passed that total with only rain from Thursday and Friday.
