A return home after flood scare

Authorities allowed 242 residents of a southwestern Arkansas town to return to their homes after the swollen Red River began to recede and a levee was determined to be safe.

“There would have been 50,000 acres underwater in about two minutes if that levee would have breached,” Miller County Emergency Management Director Larry Pritchett said.

The evacuation order for the Garland City homes was issued about 12:30 a.m. Friday. Emergency crews worked to strengthen a levee that was weakened by a “sand boil,” in which water washes away the levee from underneath.

Later Friday afternoon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inspected the levee and found it sound.