Record flooding threatened towns in northeast Arkansas on Tuesday, while searchers in Madison County continued to look for the body of an 18-month-old girl lost when water swept her mother’s car off a low-water bridge Sunday.
Meanwhile, Eureka Springs police Tuesday identified a 24-year-old woman who died while inner-tubing in a flooded creek Saturday as Montana Widener.
Widener, originally from Huntsville, is one of at least seven people who have died since Saturday in flood-related accidents in the state. Authorities continue to search for a girl lost in flooding in Northwest Arkansas.
Widener was wearing a helmet, goggles and life vest Saturday night when she jumped with an inner-tube into Leatherwood Creek, which is basically a drainage ditch along North Main Street, according to a news release from the Eureka Springs Police Department.
Widener jumped into the floodwater from a street bridge on Magnetic Drive and floated to a driveway bridge at Tree House Cottages, where she was knocked off her inner tube and went under water, according to the news release.
A search-and-rescue team looked for her Saturday night, but the search was called off later Saturday night because of rising floodwater.
Police were notified about 7:30 a.m. Sunday that Widener’s body had been found near the depot of the Eureka Springs & North Arkansas Railway, about 704 yards downstream from where she was last seen.
In Madison County, authorities found the body of a 4-year-old boy Monday in Glade Creek near the area where his mother’s sport utility vehicle was swept off a low-water bridge and overturned Sunday. Rescue workers continued searching Tuesday for the boy’s 18-month-old sister, who also was swept away in the accident, Madison County Sheriff Rick Evans said.
Hindsville Fire Chief Gene Gardner said the 38-year-old mother tried to carry her children to safety after water swept her vehicle off Madison County 7320, but the three were separated by the swift current.
Storms also claimed the lives of Rosiehalle Howard, a 10-year-old Springdale girl, and John C. Vollmar, 76, of Fayetteville who died when he drove his gold 1995 Cadillac DeVille into floodwater at the intersection of Arkansas 16 and UA Beef Farm Road sometime Sunday morning in Washington County.
Rosiehalle was swept away by floodwater Saturday night while playing outside, according to Sgt. Chad Niccum of the Springdale Police Department.
The National Weather Service is forecasting more rain for tonight and Thursday, said meteorologist Heather Cross of the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. Most of the state will get some rainfall. Western Arkansas will receive between 1 and 2 inches and the eastern quarter of the state, including Pocahontas, will have between 1 and 1.5 inches.
“The rain is going to hit where we don’t need it,” Cross said.
In northeast Arkansas, the roiling Black River spilled over a levee system east of Pocahontas on Tuesday afternoon, and officials feared imminent collapses of the earthen structure will send a “wall of water” cascading toward neighboring Lawrence County.
The river surpassed its previous high mark of 28.47 feet at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Randolph County town, and it continued to rise during the day. At 7 p.m., the river level was 29.1 feet.
The National Weather Service expects the Black River to crest in Pocahontas at 31.5 feet Thursday afternoon.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson flew over Randolph and Sharp counties Tuesday, inspecting damage left by last weekend’s storms. The governor declared a state of emergency and said he will soon ask for federal disaster aid.
“This is the most extensive flooding in an urban area that I’ve ever seen as governor,” said Hutchinson, who held a brief news conference at a Pocahontas Fire Department station after his tour. “As we flew over Pocahontas, we couldn’t even see the flow of the river. It’s totally flooded all over.”
City officials ordered on Monday the evacuation of eastern Pocahontas, including about 150 homes, an assisted-living apartment complex and dozens of businesses.
“The levee could breach any minute,” Mayor Kary Story told residents who chose to stay. “You need to get out of there while you still can.”
Randolph County Judge David Jansen said a mile of the levee near the confluence of the Black and Current rivers was topped by rising water Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re going to have breaches in the levee,” Jansen said. “This is a historical crest. The levees weren’t designed for overtopping. When they go, we’re going to have a wall of water pouring out.”
Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department officials closed U.S. 67 just south of the Black River bridge Tuesday morning when water covered the road. By midafternoon, U.S. 67 was closed at the border for Randolph and Lawrence counties.
Hutchinson said he flew over Pocahontas and Ash Flat on Tuesday morning and later drove through flooded areas.
“We saw the extraordinary risk the citizens of northeast Arkansas are placed in because of flooding,” he said. “We saw houses under water and multiple businesses with water in them.”
Hydrologist Tabitha Clarke of the weather service in North Little Rock said the Black River is expected to crest at 31.5 feet at 1 p.m. Thursday, although it may be less if levees break and water pours out before reaching the river gauge in Pocahontas.
The river at Pocahontas is fed by the Current River, which set records for high levels in Doniphan and Van Buren, Mo., earlier this week when as much as 10 inches of rain deluged the area.
“Missouri kept getting whacked by rain,” Clarke said. “There’s no way to capture all that rain up there. It’s all coming down [to Pocahontas].”