LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas state police say they are dispatching a helicopter to Montgomery County to search for six missing Boy Scouts and a pair of their leaders.
Spokesman Bill Sadler says a pilot and spotter will attempt to locate the Scouts from the air and perhaps drop a radio to them. The Scouts from Lafayette, La., have not been heard from since Thursday night, when they arrived at the Albert Pike Recreation Area. The site is in the vicinity of where 20 people died in flash floods last June.
Sadler said the window of opportunity is short, so the goal is simply to find the Scouts. The helicopter is heading to the location from Little Rock, and weather conditions would dictate how close the crew can get.
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Heavy rains have fallen in the area, which has bad cell phone coverage.
Fuzz Robins of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office told The Associated Press earlier Monday the boys were safe, but now says no one has heard from the group.
Hawkins described the boys as experienced, older Scouts and they would be well-equipped and know how to use survival skills.
In Pulaski County, meanwhile, severe flooding in several areas in the far-flung school district led administrators to close all schools in the Pulaski County Special School District on Tuesday.
Although some areas may be passable, the district said, many areas throughout the county have road conditions that are unsafe and may jeopardize student and staff safety.
Elsewhere, a Jackson County official says a portion of the county is now under mandatory evacuation in preparation for oncoming floods.
County Judge Jeff Phillips said Monday residents in the area west of Highway 17 and between Jacksonport and Elgin have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to leave. He said 500 to 2,500 people could be affected, depending on how high the water rises and where it goes.
Phillips said the water is expected to crest at 36 feet, two feet above the height of the north levee outside of Jacksonport.
Phillips said the perimeter levee surrounding Jacksonport is 39 feet tall but if the water overflows the north levee, it will filter its way southward to Jacksonport and start filling the area.
He said a crest is expected at noon Wednesday.
After heavy rainfall and flooding in Prairie County, authorities are evacuating areas of Sandhill and Biscoe.
Dispatcher Jennifer Miller with the sheriff's office said the levee hasn't broken and homes haven't flooded, yet, but the road conditions are what prompted the evacuations.
"We want to be sure everyone is safe," she said.
The current rainfall isn't heavy but is continuing to flood roads, Miller said. She said that state highways 33 South, 38 and 11 North are flooded and closed, and that Highway 13 is partially flooded around Highway 236.
Miller couldn't say how many people would be evacuated.
Murry's Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Col. Glenn Road, was flooded Sunday, with knee-deep water standing in the building. Owner and manager Ike Murry McEntire said the remaining shows of Neil Simon's Chapter Two, which was to run through May 22, have been canceled. The theater is expected to reopen May 24.
Officer Billy Baker of the Mayflower Police Department reports that the rising waters of Lake Conway have caused extensive flooding in the town, including some houses.
Highway 89 South is currently detoured around high water running across the road, but Baker says the highway may be shut down within the next 2 or 3 hours. There is also high water across Paradise Landing, he said.
Baker said authorities are "watching for when the river is not pulling out of the lake anymore." He said that if the water of Lake Conway gets close to leveling out with the water on the other side of the dam, then they'll need to start evacuating people. "That's when we'll start having major problems," Baker said. He said the water level is currently 4 to 5 feet from the top of the dam.
State Farm reported that 8,534 Arkansans had filed claims from storm and flood damage as of Monday.
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Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.