Houston grapples with Harvey mess Rain soaks state’s east; areas flood in McCrory
McCRORY — More than 10 inches of rain fell Thursday on McCrory as the remnants of Hurricane Harvey blustered through eastern Arkansas, flooding streets and forcing many people to sandbag homes and businesses to combat rising waters.
Heavy rain deluged nearby Prairie and Lonoke counties, and Ashley, Chicot and Desha counties in the southeastern corner of the state.
In McCrory, some subdivisions looked more like lakes than residential neighborhoods, and roads were identifiable only by the half-submerged street signs poking above the water’s surface.
Families waded through knee-deep water to reach
their cars, which they had moved to higher ground when the downpour began.
The hardest-hit area was just north and south of U.S. 64 and east of North Edmonds Avenue. Several roads were blocked Thursday afternoon, including a section of U.S. 64 where workers pumped water from the road.
“This is worse than usual,” said Juanita Johnson, who lives just off U.S. 64. She acknowledged that the area floods readily when rain falls but said it has been at least six years since she’s seen the amount of water that was standing Thursday.
“It didn’t make it into the house, but I started to get worried watching it keep on coming closer and closer,” she said.
The storm, which was downgraded to a tropical depression Wednesday, clipped eastern Arkansas as the brunt of it plowed through central Mississippi.
Harvey made its first landfall Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph near Port O’Connor, Texas, between Corpus Christi and Galveston. More than 51 inches of rain fell on the area, breaking a record for the most rainfall produced by a storm. Catastrophic flooding occurred in Houston and other Texas towns as the storm wobbled along the Gulf Coast.
After several days, the storm pushed east and then headed north into Louisiana. Forecasters initially put central Arkansas in Harvey’s direct path and predicted a deluge, but they revised that Wednesday after the remnants of the storm shifted eastward.
Bands of heavy rain on the northwest side of the storm system pelted McCrory, which saw 10.61 inches from midnight Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday, said meteorologist Charles Dalton with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
Other areas in Woodruff County reported up to 9 inches. Lincoln and Prairie counties saw between 6 and 9 inches of rainfall, Dalton said.
Six inches of rain also soaked Fisher in Poinsett County. Less than 20 miles east, Harrisburg reported 4 inches.
Farther east into Mississippi where the brunt of the storm surged, the National Weather Service issued several tornado warnings.
“The system is moving quickly,” said meteorologist John Moore of the National Weather Service in Jackson, Miss. “The rain is moving out quickly, but we saw some extremely heavy bands of rain associated with it.”
He said some weather watchers measured up to 12 inches of rain in gauges, but the weather service did not confirm those totals.
“We weren’t expecting it,” McCrory Mayor Doyle Fowler said of Thursday’s deluge. “We watched on television as the [remnants] went east of us, but, man alive, it hit us anyway.”
All along U.S. 64, home-
owners piled sandbags in their carports and at front doors. On the north side of the highway, water rose above the tires of most vehicles parked in driveways.
Scott Pilcher, manager of the S&H Pharmacy on Edmonds Avenue, said workers placed sandbags around the building as water crept onto the parking lot. Water did not get into the store, and by late afternoon, it began receding from the parking lot.
Sandbags didn’t save the home of Joseph Cole, who lives south of McCrory on U.S. 64, though. The water topped the bags circling his home, soaking his kitchen, living room and dining room.
“Not much you can do but sweep out the water and pray it stops raining,” he said.
Brenda Byerly, Woodruff County’s emergency management director, said most of the county saw some flooding. Scores of county roads were under water Thursday afternoon.
Christy Jones, an employee of Worldwide Label and Packaging on Main Street in McCrory, said roads leading to the plant were filling with water.
“As soon as you get out of the lot, you have to be extremely careful,” she said. “Water is over Main Street, and it’s still raining.”
Parents of pupils at McCrory Elementary School on East Fifth Street were allowed to pick up their children early because of flooding threats, but the school remained open, administrators said.
Farther south, residents in Dumas sandbagged homes and businesses as precautions, said Desha County emergency management coordinator Ricky Terry.
“We have had problems in low-lying areas,” he said. “It’s rising slowly and draining off quickly.”
He said no homes were threatened. About 3 inches of rain fell on the town, Terry said.
Sandra Patterson, emergency management director for Prairie County, said Arkansas 38 was closed Thursday near Des Arc because of flooding.
“We’ve got ditches overflowing all over the county,” she said.
Both the Arkansas and Mississippi rivers were able to handle the storm-water runoff, meteorologist Sean Clarke with the National Weather Service in North Little Rock said. That helped keep the flooding from being worse, he said.
The Cache River in Patterson is expected to reach 9.5 feet this afternoon. Flood stage there is 9 feet.
In Clarendon, the White River is forecast to climb from 20.5 feet Thursday to 24.6 feet Sunday as runoff flows into the river. Flood stage in the Monroe County town is 26 feet.
The remnants of the storm were expected to leave Arkansas late Thursday, and skies were expected to clear by midday today, Clarke said.