The water level at Craig D. Campbell Lake Conway Reservoir has surpassed flood stage and continues to rise by a foot every 24 hours, creating problems for homeowners in the area, officials said Wednesday.
A flood warning issued Monday by the National Weather Service for Faulkner County continued into Wednesday and is expected to be reissued today. Water from Palarm Creek has overflowed into Lake Conway, threatening low-lying areas along the lake's 52-mile shoreline, according to Keith Stephens with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
Areas that have previously flooded near the 6,700-acre lake are the ones most in danger now, according to the Game and Fish Commission, which oversees the lake. Portions of Arkansas 89 are expected to be blocked by floodwaters, as well, Game and Fish officials said Wednesday.
"It's pretty difficult to say how much water Lake Conway is going to receive because we have never seen this before," Stephens said.
The Arkansas River at Toad Suck crested Tuesday at 285.4 feet, as measured from sea level, but that won't end the flooding on Lake Conway.
"The river has backed into Palarm Creek, which normally receives runoff from the lake," Stephens said. "The water has reached 4 feet above the top of the spillway and is flowing into the lake. So until the water equals out on both sides, then it will continue to flow into Lake Conway. How long that will be is unknown."
The commission drew the lake down 1 foot before the Arkansas River flooding, but no additional releases will be possible until the water levels in the river and Palarm Creek drop enough to allow flow from the lake to resume.
"We tried to be as proactive as possible, but right now we can only wait," Stephens said. "There is no place for us to move the water."
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Conway Mayor Bart Castleberry said in a video posted Wednesday on social media that at some point part of the Lollie Levee had begun to erode.
"At that time the Conway Fire Department, Faulkner County Road Department, the Corps of Engineers, the Conway Street Department and the National Guard started moving in and shoring this up," Castleberry said. "We are not out of the woods with the levee, but our confidence level is better [Wednesday] after all the work that was done."
Faulkner County's county judge, Jim Baker, said Lake Conway has become the primary concern in the county.
"We are expecting Lake Conway to rise another foot- -and-a-half to 2 feet," Baker said. "Numerous homes are in jeopardy right now, and the water is coming."
Ducks were swimming around homes and garages in the North Deer Lane neighborhood Wednesday afternoon as excess water from the lake had overtaken part of the area.
Joseph Hicks and his wife, Jean, built their home in the neighborhood more than 20 years ago, and all they could do Wednesday was watch as water slowly moved toward it.
"We are still hoping it doesn't get into the house, but we are kind of giving up hope now," Hicks said as he dried his feet in a portion of the home's carport that wasn't under water.
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Hicks turned 86 on Wednesday.
"What a birthday," he said. "I have never had one like this before. I doubt we are going to eat any cake."
The water that has overtaken the area rose quickly.
"The water started coming in around Monday, but it was only a pooling around my storage shed yesterday," Joseph Shireman said.
He woke up Wednesday morning to find his boat floating in his yard.
"I thought, 'OK, it's time to move,'" Shireman said. "I got to get going to save everything."
Several friends were helping Shireman stack sandbags and set up pumps in hopes of keeping water out of his home.
"It flooded two years ago and it got the downstairs part of the house, but they are calling this the worst flood ever seen on the lake," Shireman said. "Who knows what this is going to do?"
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Stephen Crouch bought a home on North Deer Lane about six months ago, and Wednesday he was sandbagging his backyard in hopes of preventing water from an overflowing canal from overtaking the home.
"We have been at it for about two days," Crouch said. "All you can do is wait and see if the water continues to come up."
Hicks said the past few days have been painful.
"Each day you lose a little bit more hope," he said. "We were talking with a neighbor about how it would be better if it would just be done quickly."
Jean Hicks said water overtook their storage shed and got into their garage during a flood in 2011.
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"It took a while to recover," she said. "But that was just rain. This is kind of spooky because it's the river."
Rain is forecast in the state over the weekend, National Weather Service officials said.
"We could get somewhere around 2 inches of rain, but that is an improvement from the 4 or 5 that we had predicted earlier this week," meteorologist Sean Clarke said.
That was welcome news for officials monitoring Lake Conway.
"If we received the expected 4 inches of rain, it could have been catastrophic for Lake Conway because right now the water is just coming from the river, not all the creeks," Stephens said. "If the rainwater caused the creeks to swell and flow into the lake along with the water coming from the river, it would fill the area up twice as quick."
Sharon Addie was moving furniture out of her home Wednesday morning as the water inched closer.
"The water is going to be in the house by the end of the day," she said. "Two inches of rain can turn into a foot here because of all the things that feed into the lake."
Vicky Van Keuren, an agent for Crye-Leike Realtors, was checking on a home across the street when she noticed how high the water had risen at Addie's residence.
"It is so disheartening to see," Keuren said.
Mandatory evacuations hadn't been considered as of Wednesday afternoon, said Baker, the county judge.
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"We haven't given it any thought because it is backwater, and we feel like everybody has an exit route," Baker said.
Addie said she is going to wait out the floodwaters in a rented RV in Bryant, and then changes are in store for her home.
"This is the second time my home has flooded in eight years," she said. "We had this happen in 2011 and it took about 90 days for us to fully recover. I think we are going to tear it down and build it higher off the ground."
Mayflower Police Department vehicles circled the neighborhood as people quickly stacked sandbags Wednesday afternoon.
"I imagine you are going to need some sort of identification to get back here soon because people will loot," Addie said. "If they come to my home they aren't going to get anything but clothes."
The Hickses said they can't bear to see their home destroyed.
"This used to be all woods," Joseph Hicks said, pointing at the neighborhood. "You wouldn't believe how many trees had to be cut. The frame of this house was built for us, but we put down the tiles, painted the walls, installed the carpets. This is our home."
As clouds began to darken over North Deer Lane and rain began to sprinkle Wednesday afternoon, the Hickses settled in. They weren't going anywhere.
"If I have one more day left, then I am spending it in the house we love and built," Joseph Hicks said before walking back into his home.
A Section on 06/06/2019