Residents of Jackson and Woodruff counties are anxiously watching a deteriorating levee near Newport to see if it will hold back the rising White River.
Jeff Phillips, county judge of Jackson County, issued a warning Tuesday night urging residents who live below the levee to evacuate because of the threat of flooding. The area, east of the White River and south of Newport, is mainly farmland but contains about 30 homes, Phillips said.
Phillips' advisory wasn't a mandatory evacuation order, but officials warned that a breach of the levee would send a large amount of water into the area.
"The levee is holding right now, but I just don't know if it will hold," Phillips said Wednesday. "On the err of caution, I want people to be aware this levee could fail, and when it does, it's going to be a lot of water."
More than 6 inches of rain fell in some parts of northeast Arkansas earlier this week, according to the National Weather Service in North Little Rock, significantly raising the levels of streams and rivers.
The White River is expected to crest at 29.7 feet today in Jackson County and at 33.9 feet Friday in Woodruff County, according to the weather service.
After three days of rain, flood stages were surpassed on the Black, White, Cache, St. Francis rivers in northeast Arkansas. The Petit Jean River in the Arkansas River Valley, the Fourche LaFave River in central Arkansas and the Ouachita River in south-central Arkansas also surpassed their flood stages.
"Winter flooding like this usually doesn't happen," said Tabitha Clarke, senior service hydrologist for the National Weather Service in North Little Rock.
Approximately 30,000 sandbags were being prepared to reinforce the Jackson County levee, according to Dan Noble, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. Sandbags also were being passed out to residents at the Erwin Fire Station in Newport.
Robert Gilliaum, who farms land in the area, picked up several loads to protect his home.
"I started sandbagging [Tuesday] and I have made three trips out to the fire station already [Wednesday] and getting ready to make a fourth trip," he said. "If that levee breaks there will be 3 to 4 feet of water in my house."
Gilliaum has farmed in the area for more than 50 years. He said this is the first time he has sandbagged his home.
"As long as that levee is intact then we have always been fine, but it's reaching dangerous levels now," Gilliaum said.
Clarke said the National Weather Service has remained in contact with emergency management personnel in Jackson and Woodruff counties. Phillips said local agencies and the Army Corps of Engineers also are monitoring the levee.
"We are monitoring the situation and will issue a flood warning if the levee breaks," Clarke said.
A 2016 Corps of Engineers risk analysis report said deteriorating parts of the levee could lead to a sudden breach, "resulting in significant property damages and potentially the loss of life." The report noted that 656 people were at risk from flooding and damage in the range of $63 million, excluding effects on farmland, was possible.
The county put $100,000 toward repairing parts of the levee last year, but Phillips said the work hadn't settled and solidified before this week's rains. He said it's likely parts of the more than 22-mile-long levee will need to be replaced.
"We're doing everything we can," Phillips said. "The only thing to do is pray the levee holds."
Levee breaks have occurred in northeast Arkansas before, but it has been some time since this area has been affected, Clarke said.
"The levee has been fine in the past, but from the pictures we have seen and the people we have talked to it appears the levee is eroding," Clarke said.
Clarke said the timing of the recent rain didn't help.
"We have no vegetation soaking up the water, so wintertime floods are tough," Clarke said. "The levee is also located in kind of a bend in the river, which means the water around it has a lot of force behind it."
Gilliaum, his wife and a few friends have prepared their 600-acre farm for the worst, but they don't plan to evacuate.
"I have cleaned out my farm shop and I am placing sandbags around my house," Gilliaum said.
Gilliaum said his neighbors hadn't started sandbagging their homes as of Wednesday afternoon, but he assumed they would soon.
"I think they will start when they start seeing the sandbags around my house," Gilliaum said with a laugh. "There is always got to be someone who goes first, and when they see this 4-foot sandbag wall around my house they will get the point."
Woodruff County residents are paying attention to the Jackson County levee, because if it fails the water could move south and flood rural parts of their county, said Brenda Byerly, Woodruff County's emergency director and an assistant to the county judge.
"All we can do is just keep praying and have our fingers crossed that the levee doesn't break," Byerly said. "We have started making our own sandbags. We have a lot of what-ifs right now."
Officials kept close tabs on the Black River on Tuesday after water rose above flood stage there, but the county judge of Randolph County, David Jansen, said the levees held. That was a relief for a county that has experienced flooding before, most recently in 2017 when a levee broke and forced the evacuation of a portion of Pocahontas.
The National Weather Service predicts dry conditions today, with temperatures rising to 70 degrees in some areas of central and southern Arkansas.
Weather service meteorologist Travis Shelton said rain is expected to make its way back into northeast Arkansas on Friday and Saturday, but totals aren't expected to be significant.
"Looks like about a quarter-of-inch of rain," Shelton said. "There is a chance on Friday night and Saturday morning for it to turn into freezing rain."
Rain isn't expected Sunday, Shelton said, but there is a 40 percent chance again Monday and Tuesday in northeast Arkansas.
Information for this article was contributed by Youssef Rddad of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
A Section on 02/14/2019