FORT SMITH -- The Arkansas River has been rapidly receding on the state's western edge, giving some people a chance to go back to their homes for the first time since record-breaking flooding swamped some Fort Smith neighborhoods more than a week ago.
The river crested at 40.79 feet Friday and had dropped to 32.7 feet by Tuesday afternoon. That's still considered major flood stage (31 feet) at the Van Buren gauge but down several feet from where it had been.
Don and Pat Faubus were glad to find out their house on Riverview Drive wasn't holding water. It had been flooded for more than a week.
The Faubuses, both 78, went back into the house Tuesday for the first time since May 25.
Two days before they left, as the river rose behind the house, their grandson and a neighbor shot 16 snakes in the yard, Pat Faubus said.
A line along the kitchen wall indicated that the house had 14 inches of water inside. On Tuesday, a layer of slick mud covered the wood floors.
"I didn't know if there would be water standing inside," Pat Faubus said. "I didn't know there would be so much mud and slime on the floor."
The floors had buckled. Don Faubus said they'd all have to be replaced.
Pat Faubus said it'll be six or eight months before they can move back in.
Kim Brown, the Faubuses' daughter, said it could have been worse.
"I'm just glad it has already receded, and we didn't walk into a foot of water," she said. "Mom and Dad are really strong in their faith. It's going to be OK."
"I got a new pair of cowboy boots," Don Faubus said. "I hope I got them up high enough off the floor."
He opened the closed door to find the boots high and dry.
Outside, though, his newly planted flowers didn't fare so well.
[RELATED: Little Rock, North Little Rock soaked; river's crest shifts]
Over on Turtle Bay Drive, Shawna Fenwick said there was 2 feet of water in her house, and Sheetrock would have to be removed to 6 feet from the inside walls.
Fenwick said she and her husband, Jeff, took a boat to the house Sunday and Monday to begin the recovery work.
"We had probably 40 people here yesterday," she said, referring to Monday. "About six guys from the Southside [High School] football team came over. ... Then went to practice, then they came over here. Those boys were hauling things out left and right."
Fenwick said their daughter graduated from Southside two years ago.
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson said about 500 homes had been flooded in Fort Smith and another 45 elsewhere in Sebastian County. He said Fort Smith and Sebastian County officials did a flyover assessment Sunday.
A Crawford County levee that was of some concern last week apparently held. Crawford County is across the Arkansas River from Fort Smith.
"According to the Corps, with the water and the pressure going down, everything's holding steady," said Hudson, referring to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Hudson said he was happy that the water was receding quickly.
City Administrator Carl Geffken said 350 Fort Smith homes were without electricity last week. Oklahoma Gas & Electric restored the power to most of those homes that didn't have visible water damage Tuesday, Geffken said. He said between 50 and 100 homes were still without electricity late Tuesday.
At a news briefing in Fort Smith on Tuesday afternoon, Geffken said homeowners who still didn't have electricity should find notes hanging on their door handles telling them to call the city's building official Jimmie Deer.
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At the briefing, Deer said the city has been busy inspecting buildings that have flooded.
Deer said people wanting to clean up their property now and recover those costs later from the Federal Emergency Management Agency need to "document, document, document because FEMA and most of these other agencies haven't been able to go through most of these locations."
"They need to document everything is what we're telling them," Deer said.
Geffken said the city will begin picking up sandbags today and flood debris on Thursday.
Hudson said all of the major state highways are open in the area except for some in the Lavaca area that historically flood. Road conditions can be monitored at idrivearkansas.com.
[STORY: Governor says flood ruin 'new territory']
[RELATED: NLR crews keep floodwaters back, brace for rain]
[GALLERY: Photos show flooding around Pulaski County]
State Desk on 06/05/2019