Weather-related issues snarl travel in Arkansas; brief relief from rain in sight, forecasters say

A boat dock sits flipped over in the Little Red River after it had been damaged during the rushing water from a culvert breaking on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Pangburn.
A boat dock sits flipped over in the Little Red River after it had been damaged during the rushing water from a culvert breaking on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018, in Pangburn.

Rain will gradually come to an end Thursday in Arkansas, leaving drier air in place across the waterlogged state through Saturday, forecasters in North Little Rock said.

Precipitation is expected to return Sunday, becoming more widespread that night, according to the National Weather Service. Severe thunderstorms are not anticipated.

Flood warnings, set to expire by Thursday afternoon, encompassed much of the state shortly after 10 a.m., including Arkansas' capital city.

At that time, rainfall had pushed into the southeast corner of the state.

A flash flood warning was in place for seven Arkansas counties: Hot Spring, Lee, Phillips, St. Francis, Mississippi, Crittenden and Cross. And seven rivers in the state were set to reach flooding stage or near flooding by Thursday afternoon.

Weather-related issues snarled traffic Thursday morning in Arkansas as motorists headed out during rush hour, the state Department of Transportation said.

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Photos by Thomas Metthe

More than 40 road closures were reported around 10:15 a.m. as a result of high water, primarily in the state’s central and eastern regions, according to the agency’s online traffic map.

In Pulaski County, eastbound traffic on Interstate 40 was at a standstill shortly before 8 a.m. at the Lakewood/North Hills Boulevard exit because of “several potholes.”

The high water reports included U.S. 70 west of Carlisle (Lonoke County), Arkansas 247 two miles west of Hattieville (Conway County) and Arkansas 300 in Perryville (Perry County).

Around 6:40 a.m., several roads in southern Montgomery County were reported washed out and impassable.

More than 50 of Arkansas' reporting stations recorded having the wettest February on record, including Little Rock, according to the weather service.

Arkansas' capital city saw 14.04 inches of rain last month, breaking the previous monthly record of 12.74 inches set in 1882.

The recent rainfall caused "a little bit of a slide" at a dam on Lake Maumelle near Pinnacle Mountain State Park, Central Arkansas Water spokesman Douglas Shackelford said.

Shackelford said crews responded Saturday, placing rocks and a tarp on the "superficial" slide at an embankment. It will be permanently repaired once drier conditions are in place, he added.

At least 12 counties in Arkansas have declared emergencies as a result of flooding, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported. In the White County town of Pangburn, heavy rains caused water to break through a pond's levee and sent it across Dripping Springs Road, a field, a gravel road and into some residential yards about 4 a.m. Wednesday, the newspaper reported.

Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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