Fish swim in yards as river crests near PB

Herb Barner of Little Rock watches the swollen Arkansas River flow as he takes shelter from the rain under the Main Street Bridge in North Little Rock on Thursday.
Herb Barner of Little Rock watches the swollen Arkansas River flow as he takes shelter from the rain under the Main Street Bridge in North Little Rock on Thursday.

Water lapped against homes in Pine Bluff on Thursday, and farther downstream, fish swam in the flooded front yards of residences in Pendleton where the Arkansas River had yet to crest as its water rushed toward the Mississippi River.

The Arkansas River Trail in Little Rock remained closed Thursday because of high water, and Burns Park soccer fields were still submerged in North Little Rock. The river in the capital city area has started to recede, something officials hoped would continue throughout the weekend.

Water reached the foundations of homes in the Island Harbor section of Pine Bluff, said Jefferson County Office of Emergency Management coordinator Karen Blevins. Water also neared homes in Swan Lake and Reydell, downstream from Pine Bluff, she said.

"We've had a lot of sightseers in boats," Blevins said. "They drive by and create waves. Those waves are high enough to get into homes."

The Arkansas River crested in Pine Bluff at 43.1 feet at 1 p.m. Thursday. Flood stage there is 42 feet.

It was the ninth-highest crest recorded on the river there.

"It's not too bad," Blevins said. "But a lot of people are protecting their home with sandbags. I don't think they'll be moving the bags out yet.

"The access in and out of areas will be limited for a while," she said.

Downstream at Pendleton, the river rose to 30.7 feet by 1 p.m. Thursday and was expected to crest at 31.2 feet by early this morning.

River stage levels are not measurements of how deep the water is, but instead indicate how far the surface of a waterway has risen as compared with a level -- that's set at zero -- at a spot just north of New Orleans.

Heavy rains over the weekend -- including 9 inches of rainfall in Fort Smith -- sent torrents of runoff water into the Arkansas River Valley, flooding the Arkansas River.

High water forced the closure of locks and dams along the river this week. Locks at Pine Bluff, Morrilton and Toad Suck remained closed to boat traffic Thursday, said Laurie Driver, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The river's flow was 338,800 cubic feet per second at the Wilbur D. Mills Lock No. 2 near Pendleton on Thursday morning, said lock master Chris Turner. The normal flow rate is about 40,000 cubic feet per second.

"It's getting it," Turner said. "It's running fast. We've seen 55-gallon barrels in the river, and a tree got behind the [lock] gates. We're the last dam on the river. It's all running water on down. Once it gets below us, it's gone."

Carolyn May said the water was within a foot of entering her home just west of Pendleton.

Her house is built on a rise of land, but a wooden deck overhangs a dip in the yard. Water had edged up to the floor of her deck Thursday morning, she said.

"We saw a big tree floating through the yard," May said. "I can see fish swimming in the front yard.

"My picnic table has already disappeared under the water."

With boat traffic closed, Carla Fowler had time to watch the river where she works at the Oakley Pendleton Warehouse, a commodity trading and distribution company on the banks of the Arkansas River.

"It looked like someone's yard was coming down the river," she said. "It was a big square piece of grass just floating down."

She said the flooding wasn't as bad as that in 2011, when the river reached the top of the levee in Pendleton.

Four years ago, the Mississippi River was flooded, which caused water to back up along the Arkansas and White rivers.

This time, the Mississippi River is lower, and water from the Arkansas River is flowing out quickly, said National Weather Service hydrologist Tabitha Clarke of North Little Rock.

The Mississippi River is expected to rise briefly as rainwater from the Ohio Valley makes its way down. The river stage at Arkansas City, just south of where the Arkansas River empties into the Mississippi River, was at 18 feet Wednesday. It is expected to rise to 22 feet Saturday.

That won't affect the receding Arkansas River, though, Clarke said.

The high water kept the Arkansas River Trail between the Big Dam Bridge and Burns Park in North Little Rock closed, said Jeff Caplinger, project coordinator for the North Little Rock Parks and Recreation Department.

The river in that area crested at 20.3 feet Wednesday and dropped to 18.4 feet by Thursday evening.

"The cleanup will be the biggest issue," Caplinger said. "We'll be dealing with mud, silt, trash, debris, all the stuff that came down the river."

More than 50 recreational vehicles were to arrive at the Riverside RV Park east of downtown North Little Rock during the day Thursday, park manager Sheila Bullerwell said. Many were coming from the flooded Willow Beach Use Area near Scott.

"We're seeing lots of trees floating by, but we're high and dry," she said.

More rain from Texas and Oklahoma is expected to move into the state today and linger through Monday. That could lead to additional flooding, Clarke said.

"We have to be cautious where it sets up," she said of the storm system. "If it goes in one direction, it could affect the Ouachita River basin. If it goes 50 miles to the north, it could affect the Arkansas River again.

"We will see some more rises on the [Arkansas] River," Clarke said. "It won't be as bad as last time ... we're hoping for the showers to be spread out over a larger area so one spot doesn't get all the rain."

State Desk on 05/15/2015

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