Rain, rain not going away, looks heavy for 2 more days

Morning Star Fire Department firefighter Joey Thompson hooks a tow line to a Chevrolet Suburban that stalled while crossing a rising Mill Creek on Pate Lane on Wednesday in Hot Springs.
Morning Star Fire Department firefighter Joey Thompson hooks a tow line to a Chevrolet Suburban that stalled while crossing a rising Mill Creek on Pate Lane on Wednesday in Hot Springs.

A weather system that by Wednesday had soaked southern Arkansas with up to 8 inches of rain has shifted eastward and is projected to drop more precipitation in the Delta than first expected, forecasters now say.

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AP/The Shreveport Times

Bossier Parish sheriff’s deputies search for people stranded in homes Wednesday at the Tall Timbers subdivision in Shreveport. Dozens of homes were flooded, and scores of residents were evacuated.

The system, which crept into the state's southwest Tuesday, at first was expected to trek north toward Russellville and Mountain Home, producing heavy rain in the western quarter of Arkansas. However, updated models shift the system eastward toward Memphis, said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Brown of North Little Rock.

The weather service's change resulted in the southeastern third of the state being placed under a flash-flood warning Wednesday afternoon as the system moved east.

"Central and eastern Arkansas between El Dorado and Memphis could get 4-6 inches of rain," Brown said.

Little Rock is forecast to get 4-5 inches of rain through Friday, as are Jonesboro, Newport and Pine Bluff, he said. Earlier estimates for those areas were 2-3 inches.

Northwest Arkansas is forecast to get about an inch of rain before the weather system moves out of the state this weekend.

Rain fell on El Dorado on Wednesday morning at a rate of an inch an hour, forcing closure of several Union County roads.

County Judge Mike Loftin drove throughout Union County on Wednesday afternoon to assess the damage. He said the area received about 8 inches of rain Tuesday and Wednesday.

"It's still raining," he said. "And there's more coming."

Arkansas 7, which extends through Union County into Louisiana, was closed Wednesday after rapid water washed out a bridge, Loftin said.

U.S. 82 east of Strong also was underwater, cutting off a residential area, the county judge said.

No residents reported flooding in homes, he added.

In Lafayette County, seven roads were closed because of high water, said Office of Emergency Management coordinator Danny Ormand.

"We're not having terrible flooding," he said. "Water is running off pretty quickly. Our road crews are out, and we're putting out information for travelers about the road closures."

Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia canceled classes Wednesday night and said it would not hold classes today because of regional flooding and the continued threat of it in Columbia County.

Little Rock road crews barricaded several streets and roads that were beginning to flood Wednesday.

Low pressure over Mexico is pumping Gulf moisture into the weather system that has moved slowly through eastern Texas and Oklahoma and much of Louisiana and Arkansas this week. The pressure system created a rare snowfall in elevated areas of central Mexico on Wednesday.

By Wednesday, more than 12 inches of rain had fallen in northern Louisiana, flooding roads and homes, and prompting scores of evacuations in Shreveport and Bossier City, said National Weather Service meteorologist Mario Valverde of Shreveport.

Meteorologists recorded 13.16 inches of rain at Barksdale Air Force Base in northwest Louisiana from 10 a.m. Tuesday to 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Several northwest Louisiana parishes declared states of emergency because of widespread flooding Wednesday, and National Guard troops were being called in to assist.

Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the declarations after numerous residents, including those in a Minden nursing home, were evacuated. The Louisiana State Police closed a section of Interstate 20 near Gibsland after both the eastbound and westbound lanes became covered with a foot of water.

Schools in northern Louisiana were closed Wednesday because of the rainfall.

In Oklahoma, authorities said a 30-year-old Broken Bow man died Tuesday night when his sport utility vehicle was swept away by floodwaters as he tried to cross a rural bridge near Broken Bow.

In central Texas, a school bus flipped over Wednesday after it slid off a rain-slick road in Boerne. The driver and another adult were slightly injured. Two children on the bus were not hurt, The Associated Press reported.

"The heaviest precipitation should end [today]," Valverde said. "But we are still expecting rain in southwest Arkansas through the weekend."

National Weather Service hydrologists included the weather system's shift Wednesday in their projections of flooding along rivers in north Arkansas.

The Spring River at Imboden in Lawrence County is expected to rise from 5.98 feet Wednesday afternoon to 22 feet this afternoon. Flood stage there is 18 feet.

In Pocahontas, the Black River -- with a flood stage of 17 feet -- is forecast to rise from 7.1 feet Wednesday to 21 feet Friday.

The White River in Newport is expected to rise from 11.6 feet Wednesday afternoon to 27.5 feet Sunday, hydrologists said.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a small-craft advisory for the Arkansas River on Wednesday as water runoff strengthened river currents.

Advisories are issued when river flows exceed 70,000 cubic feet per second, said Corps spokesman Laurie Driver. Flows at Dardanelle Lock and Dam in Russellville were at 88,000 cubic feet per second Wednesday morning, she said. Murray Lock and Dam in Little Rock recorded flows at 58,000 cubic feet per second and rising, and Emmett Sanders Lock and Dam in Pine Bluff reported a rate of 80,000 cubic feet per second.

"More rain could push flows higher or cause the advisory to remain in effect longer," Driver said.

The Arkansas River is not expected to rise above flood stage, although meteorologists are monitoring it to gauge the effect of runoff from the White and Black river basins.

Bands of heavy rain are expected to continue through Friday and then taper off over the weekend, said National Weather Service meteorologist Willie Gilmore of North Little Rock.

"We're going to still see waves and waves of rain," Gilmore said.

Information for this article was contributed by Bill Fuller of The Associated Press.

State Desk on 03/10/2016

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