Rains drench county, strand motorist
Heavy rainfall that prompted flash flood warnings for Garland County on Friday drenched area roadways, including Harris Road, which became impassible after a nearby creek overflowed its banks just past the Owensville Cut Off Road intersection and stranded a motorist.
Lonsdale Fire Department responded with its swift water rescue boats, along with the Garland County Sheriff’s Office, after the Toyota Land Cruiser was submerged in water up to its taillights.
According to a post on the fire department’s Facebook page, the vehicle’s occupant “was okay, however stuck on top of the vehicle. Units retrieved the occupant with a single boat where they were further evaluated.
“This person was fortunate that there was minimal current in the creek, and that the vehicle stayed in place. We strongly urge to not drive through flooded waterways, the current and erosion of road surface can be a danger to any vehicle. As the saying goes — Turn around, don’t drown!”
It was one of numerous weather-related traffic incidents on Friday, which kept local fire departments, the sheriff’s office, Arkansas State Police and Hot Springs police busy throughout the day.
From shortly before 2 a.m. to around 6 a.m. Friday, Hot Springs Memorial Field recorded 2.01 inches of rain, with another 0.64 inches having fallen by shortly before noon, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 2:45 p.m., the National Weather Service in North Little Rock said 2.75 inches of rain had fallen at the airport and a rain gauge in Hot Springs National Park reported nearly 3.5 inches, meteorologist Travis Shelton said.
At around 5 a.m., the Weather Service in a Facebook post said there was a persistent narrow band of showers/thunderstorms across the central third of Arkansas from De Queen to Hot Springs, Little Rock and West Memphis.
The Weather Service issued another flash flood warning at 2:28 p.m., after radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area.
“Between 2 and 5 inches of rain have fallen so far today. Additional showers and thunderstorms are moving back over this same area again … with additional rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches possible,” said the warning, which was effective until 5 p.m. Friday.
The flash flood warning encompassed much of the area that had been inundated with rain throughout the day, Shelton said.