Monitor: Drought doused by rains

‘Abnormally dry’ areas fall to 4%

Several days of heavy rain across the state have nearly eliminated drought conditions in Arkansas, with more precipitation forecast through the weekend, meteorologists said.

Only 4.2 percent of the state is considered to be "abnormally dry," meaning the areas have a deficit of 1 to 2 inches of rainfall over a 30-day period, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday. Portions of Mississippi, Craighead, Poinsett, Cross and Crittenden counties and about half of Lee and Phillips counties all received the designation.

Last week, 32.2 percent of the state was deemed "abnormally dry."

The U.S. Drought Monitor, based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said Arkansas should be drought-free by Thursday when it issues its next report.

"It was a wet week," said David Miskus, a senior forecaster for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center in Silver Spring, Md., and author of the week's drought report. "It pretty much wiped the drought off Arkansas."

Rains in Texas and Mississippi also lessened drought conditions there, he said.

A tropical storm system near Bermuda shifted west last week, dumping up to 11 inches of rain on southern Louisiana. At least 13 people died in flooding there and 30 parishes have been declared disaster areas, The Associated Press reported.

The edge of that storm system collided with a cold front passing into Arkansas last Friday, causing more rain in the state.

Ravenden Springs in Randolph County received 7.71 inches of rain between last Friday and Monday evening, the National Weather Service in North Little Rock reported -- the most in the state over an 84-hour period.

Ravenden Springs Police Chief Kevin Montgomery said nearly 4 more inches of rain have fallen since Monday.

"I've seen rain like this before, but I don't like it," Montgomery said.

Flooding forced the closure of Valley Chapel Road in town, he said.

"It's gone down," Montgomery said Thursday of creeks in the area.

"The sun came out briefly Wednesday. People passed out when they saw it," he quipped. "But it began raining again."

In Evening Shade, a truck ran off U.S. 167 and into the swollen Strawberry River in Sharp County on Thursday, said Morgan Graddy, an administrative assistant to the city's mayor.

No one was injured and the truck was pulled out of the water, she said.

"It's very wet," she said. "The Strawberry River is high, but not as high as it was before.

"But we're supposed to get more rain."

Weather service forecasters say most of the state could see up to 2 more inches of rain over the weekend.

"This could likely be the wettest August on record," said meteorologist Marty Trexler of the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. "We already saw the fourth-highest all-time rainfall amount for the month earlier this month. It's trending for a record."

Rain is expected to fall across the state through Sunday evening before clearing begins, Trexler said.

If there is a bright side, he said, it's the dropping temperatures. Little Rock should see temperatures in the lower 80s through the weekend. Normally, he said, the average high for mid-August in the capitol city is 93.

State Desk on 08/19/2016

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