Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday that he formally asked President Donald Trump for federal emergency assistance in Arkansas because of record-breaking flooding and damage caused by severe storms.
The governor also announced that he and some members of Arkansas' congressional delegation will survey flooded areas by air today.
The Republican governor asked Trump in a letter dated Wednesday for direct federal assistance for debris removal and emergency protective measures for 15 counties: Arkansas, Chicot, Conway, Crawford, Desha, Faulkner, Franklin, Jefferson, Johnson, Lincoln, Logan, Perry, Pope, Sebastian and Yell.
"I have determined that these storms and flooding are of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary," Hutchinson said in his letter.
"Due to the unknowns associated with this event, and the amount of rain and changing conditions, it is difficult to estimate the level of Direct Federal Assistance required," Hutchinson wrote.
At a news conference, Hutchinson said he received a phone call Tuesday from the president, who expressed concern about Arkansas.
Trump "offered his full support, and he assured me that [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] is on board here, as they are, and that they will be here to assist us as needed," the governor said.
Trump tweeted Tuesday: "Just spoke to Governor @AsaHutchinson of the Great State of Arkansas to inform him that FEMA and the Federal Government will do whatever is necessary to help out with what has turned out to be Record Flooding. Asa and local officials are doing a great job!"
On Wednesday, Arkansas' six-member congressional delegation announced that it sent a letter to Trump and administration officials urging them to support Hutchinson's request for a federal disaster declaration.
[RELATED: Little Rock area steels for high water's arrival]
"The resourcefulness and resilience of Arkansans in recent days has been impressive," the all-Republican delegation wrote in its letter to Trump. "[H]owever, as losses mount, the people of our great state hope the federal government will join in these restoration efforts."
Hutchinson also announced Wednesday that he signed a proclamation to increase state emergency funding for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management from $100,000 to $350,000.
The $350,000 will be provided through the Governor's Disaster Assistance Fund, Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration, said after the news conference. The remaining balance in that fund will be $2.43 million, he said.
The governor held a news conference at the Department of Emergency Management at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock. He was accompanied by officials from that agency, the National Guard, the Arkansas State Police and the state Department of Transportation.
Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis said the governor cut short an economic development trip to New York to fly back to Arkansas late Tuesday afternoon.
Hutchinson said he toured the Department of Emergency Management's operations center and thanked the agencies participating in its efforts.
"I talked to them about that we are in the role of mitigation and we have advanced warning that we have a devastating flood that is here, but the river is going to increase into crest level over the next few days and we are in the business of mitigating the damage and the loss and saving lives," he said.
Hutchinson also said he went Wednesday morning to "the Toad Suck area, the lock and dam that is currently under water and will remain under water for some time.
"That blocks the traffic flow from Faulkner County into Perry County," he said.
"I went along the levee for probably about 5 miles and [inspected] the levee to a certain extent, but also seeing the work that was being done to strengthen levees, to monitor the levee structure because that is what is really the difference between the loss of property and the saving of property ...
"I just want to praise Arkansas for the way everybody has come together to help evacuate homes, to help neighbors with furniture, but also the key thing has been simply putting sand in bags and, that effort, along with our levees ... around our property, has been instrumental in saving and protecting property that is so critical," he said.
Hutchinson said he will survey the flooded areas along the Arkansas River by air today, joined by four members of the congressional delegation, to assess mitigation work and damage.
Davis said the governor will be joined by U.S. Sens. John Boozman of Rogers and Tom Cotton of Dardanelle and U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, along with an aide to U.S. Rep. French Hill of Little Rock. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers will join them for a news conference at Fort Smith, Davis said.
U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro is out of the state with his family but working on travel plans to the southern part of the 1st District, a spokesman said.
"I am anxious to be in Fort Smith, where I spent 19 years," the governor said.
[RELATED: 3 Arkansas River crossings shut down]
"The first and the most immediate impact is in the Fort Smith and Van Buren areas. They are working very hard to evacuate. They are working very hard to preserve property and to mitigate against the damage that we know is coming," he said.
The levee system was not built for the level of expected flooding, the governor said.
"So there is a lot of unknowns in what we face as the state," Hutchinson said. "The levee system is strained to the limit. While it is holding in most areas, there are breaches and overflows, and we are watching very carefully."
The National Weather Service revised its forecast for the Arkansas River level at Van Buren on Wednesday. The river should crest today at 40.5 feet, according to water.weather.gov. That's down a half-foot from Tuesday's prediction and 2 feet lower than forecast Monday.
The river level at Van Buren broke a 74-year-old record Sunday when it passed 38.1 feet. It has remained above that level ever since.
Michael Biggs, chief of the hydraulics and technical services branch for the Little Rock District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the river may remain near the crest level at Van Buren for several days.
"It will be over 40 feet for several days," he said. "That's better than 42.5 feet."
[WATCH: New drone videos added]
There has been one fatality in connection with flooding in the area. Police in Barling found a body in a submerged vehicle Tuesday on Arkansas 22 near Fort Chaffee. The victim was identified Wednesday as Tommy Richard Adams, 64, of Charleston. His death is being investigated as a drowning.
The American Red Cross opened shelters Monday in Fort Smith and Conway for victims of flooding.
On Wednesday, the Arkansas National Guard opened roads through Fort Chaffee to assist residents of Lavaca and Greenwood. Flooding of the Arkansas River led to closures of parts of Arkansas 255 and Arkansas 22 in the area. The National Guard opened First Avenue at the Fort Chaffee main gate and Fort Smith Boulevard on Arkansas 96 at Fort Chaffee.
"Access to Fort Chaffee for residents to transit through will continue until floodwaters have receded and the flooded roads are determined safe to travel again," according to a news release from the National Guard.
Measurements taken Wednesday near Dardanelle show the river surpassed its previous record there of 44.1 feet set in 1943.
Mayor Jimmy Witt posted on his Facebook page that the water level was at 44.28 feet. Officials said they expect it to continue to rise in coming days, potentially reaching 45.5 feet. That would be more than 15 inches over its major flood stage.
"We have had a few challenges with the water back-flowing into the drains, but [Dardanelle] isn't flooded," said Jeff Gilkey, emergency management director for Yell County. "We have a few levees that are leaking, but we have patched most of that. We are surprisingly doing pretty well right now."
Sandbags have been placed around homes on the south side of Dardanelle and around four homes on the north side, Gilkey said.
"We had one home on the north end take on water, but it was built overlooking the river," Gilkey said. "We have been very fortunate."
A historic level also was reached Wednesday at the Lake Conway dam in Mayflower.
Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the state had lowered the water level in the man-made lake by an extra foot earlier in anticipation of flooding. By Wednesday morning, though, Palarm Creek in Faulkner County was rising so fast from Arkansas River flooding that the creek's excess water was flowing into Lake Conway and topping the lake's gates.
"It's kind of unchartered territory," Stephens said.
The dams "are holding up," according to Laurie Driver, public affairs specialist with the Corps of Engineers, but she said there have been "a few trouble spots" with levees in various places.
"Overall, the levee system looks pretty good," Driver said.
On Tuesday, the Arkansas National Guard helped drop large sandbags by helicopter onto Levee No. 16 in Conway County where workers have been trying to stop heavy seepage. But County Judge Jimmy Hart said Wednesday that the river was too high in an unprotected area for the sandbags to be effective. Workers were trying to repair a drainage pipe that was releasing water in the wrong direction and would keep trying, he said.
"We're going to one way or the other greatly restrict the flow of water through that levee," Hart said. "Right now, there's water flowing through it. ... It's not to a critical point right now" because the water is going into a big field. But workers want to be sure it doesn't become a serious problem, he indicated.
By Wednesday morning, authorities had closed the Arkansas 60 bridge that links Faulkner and Perry counties after water that topped a levee on the Perry County side began flowing onto the rural highway. Davis estimated that water had reached 2-4 feet deep in a short stretch of the highway.
The flooding had affected 200-220 homes in Perry County, Davis said.
Faulkner County attorney and spokesman David Hogue said only two families were staying in a makeshift shelter in Conway -- the Don Owen Sports Complex on Lower Ridge Road -- earlier Wednesday, though that number could increase.
The Perry County levee and the Lollie Bottoms levee on the Faulkner County side of the river were holding Wednesday, though water had flowed over unprotected banks.
Late Wednesday afternoon, authorities announced that they had closed a portion of Arkansas 25 that runs from near Beaverfork Lake and from Conway to Wooster, Hogue said. Flooding there had started to spread to the Treasure Hills subdivision off U.S. 65 between Conway and Greenbrier.
Residents in that area sandbagged homes and taped black plastic bag lining to the bottom portions of the houses even though water hadn't yet reached the subdivision by Tuesday. By late Wednesday, flooding from the Arkansas River had filled Cadron Creek to the point that it was flowing into the backyards of some homes in Treasure Hills, a site of previous major flooding.
Farther downriver, in Jefferson County, rising water made it impossible to get into Island Harbor Estates by automobile Wednesday morning.
Tommy and Barbara Slaughter have lived 22 years in the subdivision on the outskirts of Pine Bluff. They've seen high water in their neighborhood several times, but it's made it into their home only once before.
"In 2015, we had about 8 inches of water in the house," Barbara Slaughter said.
That was enough to persuade the couple to install stilts, raising their home by 10 feet.
The couple used a boat Wednesday to get around their neighborhood. They anchored a butane tank on their property that had broken loose from its moorings and was floating in the water.
Familiar landmarks such as street signs and mailboxes jutted up a few inches out of the water or were just below the surface as the couple navigated streets that the rising water had transformed into canals.
"We also want to be careful not to cause a wake," Tommy Slaughter said. "The last flood we had, somebody came through in a boat that kicked up such a wake it knocked all the windows out of one side of someone's house out there. And that night, a storm knocked out the windows on the other side."
While the Slaughters' home was safe Wednesday, a next-door neighbor wasn't so lucky. Water had surrounded the home and was halfway up the windows. The river's predicted crest of 49 feet is still a week away.
"A lot of these homes never flooded before, but they're sure flooded now," Barbara Slaughter said.
Information for this article was contributed by Stephen Simpson and Dale Ellis of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 05/30/2019