The floodwaters that trapped several dozen Pine Bluff residents in their cars and homes and damaged several city buildings late Saturday receded by Sunday morning.
More than 5 inches of rain poured down on Pine Bluff in a brief window Saturday evening, leaving running floodwaters as deep as waist-high in some areas.
Fire Chief Shauwn Howell said the Pine Bluff Fire Station had at least 3 feet of water rushing into the building, which is situated down a steep slope downtown. The fire department is in a complex that includes the city library, streets department and police department, as well as administrative buildings, most of which had received some water damage.
The fire department, especially, had been flooded, Howell said, though the extent of the water's damage was not yet known.
Howell said his firefighters — while the water was rushing into the fire department — were called out to numerous stalled cars, people trapped in their vehicles in the floods and people who said water was coming into their homes.
"I can’t say enough about my guys," Howell said. "They had to adjust, and they did it while still helping people.”
Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington said her main goal for the next few days would just be to assess the damage done to both the city complexes and to the town itself.