Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Prepare for flooding
Officials ask residents to stay home during storm.
FAYETTEVILLE — Emergency workers, residents and city street crews in Benton and Washington counties prepared Friday for more flooding as weather predictions showed up to 10 inches of rain could fall through Sunday morning.
“We’ve had a lot of rain the last few days, that’s why this is a bigger concern,” said Kate Gaffigan, deputy director for Benton County’s Emergency Management Department. “It’s not a matter of if we are going to flood or not — it’s a matter of when we’re going to flood.”
About 3 inches of rain saturated the ground Wednesday in Washington County, according to the National Weather Service. Benton County got less, about 1 inch, but the ground there also is saturated, Gaffigan said.
This week’s rain has left Northwest Arkansas vulnerable to flash flooding, emergency management officials said. On Friday, road crews cleared storm drains and prepared for a long night, they said.
“Everybody is trying to get ready,” said Rick Johnson, deputy director with the Washington County’s Emergency Management Department.
People should stay home if they can, Johnson said. Drivers shouldn’t cross roads with water on them, he said. Johnson and Gaffigan said residents should watch the weather closely.
Swift water rescue teams and firefighters were getting ready, Johnson said. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management activated two standby teams just in case, said Whitney Green, spokeswoman.
Joey Smith, assistant transportation manager for Fayetteville, said crews would run shifts “around the clock until it’s over.” Fayetteville handed out about 300 sandbags by 3 p.m., Smith said. It was the only large city handing out sandbags.
“We are preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” said Daniel Clardy, transportation foreman in Bentonville.
Blue Springs Road in Washington County remained closed Friday after flood water washed away part of the road Wednesday. Roads in Benton County were open, but workers were preparing barriers to close them again quickly if flooding started.
Jan Turley, who lives below Beaver Dam, said neighbors were moving to higher ground. About 17 Carroll County homes flooded after the dam’s floodgates were opened in 2008, 2011 and 2015, he said.
“We may not get anything, we just don’t know,” Turley said.
Many parts of Northwest Arkansas had 100-year flood events in 2011 and 2015, according to a Fayetteville news release. If rain falls as expected, similar flooding could happen, according to the release.
Trucks were hauling in sand to build walls to protect infrastructure around Beaver Dam, said Laurie Driver, Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman in Little Rock. The walls should keep flood water off the switch yard and power plant, she said.
Turley said he saw at least 15 trucks hauling in “a ton of” sand for the corps project.
“The trucks are just roaring back and forth across there,” Turley said.
“We’re concerned enough that we are making precautions to protect that equipment, and we will be taking the generators offline,” Driver said.
The corps told residents downstream of Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Beaver and Norfork dams the lakes are “partially full” after rain Wednesday, according to a news release. Homes that flooded during storms in the past likely will be flooded again, Driver said.
The water is already high, according to corps information online. By 3:30 p.m. Friday, Beaver Lake was about 3 feet away from its maximum top flood pool.
“All the puddles are full, and it’s going to run into the lake,” Driver said. “Mother Nature can exceed the limitation of our dams.”
Heavy rainfall over the weekend likely will cause river flooding next week, too, according to the weather service.