Floodwater from heavy rains associated with the remnants of Hurricane Harvey receded in McCrory on Friday, and other areas of the state hit by the storm's wrath continued cleanup efforts.
"We're fantastic today," McCrory Mayor Doyle Fowler said Friday afternoon. "We've got some water bubbling in some spots, but most of it has run off."
More than 10 inches of rain fell on the Woodruff County town Thursday as the storm, which was downgraded to a tropical depression Wednesday, made its way through eastern Arkansas and central Mississippi.
Lincoln and Prairie counties also reported between 6 and 9 inches of rain Thursday, and Arkansas County and southwestern Poinsett County each saw nearly 5 inches of rainfall.
The National Weather Service in Memphis said it received photographs of a small tornado that touched down in Phillips County on Friday morning near Helena-West Helena, but meteorologists have not confirmed the size or path of the twister.
Meteorologist Andy Chiuppi of the Weather Service in Memphis said survey teams were in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi on Friday checking on reports of damage from suspected tornadoes.
Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane Aug. 25 at Port O'Connor, Texas, between Galveston and Corpus Christi. More than 51 inches of rain fell on the area, breaking a record for the most rainfall produced by a storm, and causing devastating flooding in Houston and other towns.
The storm weaved its way along the Texas Gulf Coast before turning inland through Louisiana.
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Meteorologists first thought the remnants would push through the heart of Arkansas, but the storm's path shifted farther east through Mississippi and Tennessee.
Bands of rain wrapped around the storm's center pelted eastern Arkansas with heavy rains Wednesday evening and Thursday.
"I thought it would never quit raining," Fowler said.
Workers had to close U.S. 64B in McCrory on Thursday as they pumped water off the roadway. Subdivisions quickly filled with water, forcing residents to wade through knee-deep water.
It could have been worse, the mayor said. Crews cleaned ditches earlier this spring after heavy rains caused flooding in the town, Fowler said.
"We got a lot of rain and runoff, but cleaning those ditches helped move the water out quicker," he said.
Thomas Best, the county judge of Arkansas County, drove around his county Friday checking on roads.
"We had some roads flooded and some gravel and concrete washed out," he said.
Workers also removed five trees that fell and blocked roads during Thursday's storms.
The National Weather Service said 4.5 inches of rain fell in DeWitt and 6.5 inches soaked Gillette.
"We had some rain, but we're blessed compared with Texas," Best said.
In Patterson, the Cache River rose to 9.8 feet Friday afternoon. Flood stage in the Woodruff County town is 9 feet. The river will gradually recede next week, said meteorologist Heather Cross of the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
State Desk on 09/02/2017