Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Rains leave city, county with flooding problems

In recent weeks, Clark County has seen more than it's share of heavy rainfall.

During the past two weeks rainfall has drenched the county and left many areas flooded.

It has been reported, Arkadelphia usually averages 53 inches of rain a year. However, with the recent heavy rain, the city has already reached a total of 36.75 inches this year.

Flash flooding has hit several areas in recent weeks, but Clark County has avoided major, widespread flooding this year.

Those living in Clark County are not strangers to the flooding problems. Throughout the years there have been several flooding incidents, either brought on by heavy rains or by the way sewer systems and other drainage ways were built at the time.

Most remembering floods throughout the years do not remember this sort of heavy rain coming this late in the year.

Jim Burns, with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, said he could not remember Clark County ever receiving this much rainfall during May and June.

When heavy rains fall, DeGray Lake becomes affected. DeGray however, has a "high water plan". When the lake rises above 408 inches the plan goes into effect.

At this time the Lake is at 410 inches, which is not flood stage.

When water is high in the lake the Army Corps of Engineers patrol the lake to make sure everything is safe, and if necessary they open flood tunnels to release the water or generate electricity, which will also turn water out of the lake into the Caddo River.

The Caddo River runs into the Ouachita River right outside of Caddo Valley. The water from the Caddo, creeks and steams, raise the level of the Ouachita effecting the flood stage, causing possible flooding on Highway 7, Arkadelphia streets, farmland and other areas along the river.

According to reports, the rains in the past few weeks have caused the Ouachita River to reach 27.9 feet  10 feet above flood stage. There have been only two other times the river has risen over that amount.

In 1969, the river rose to 28 feet. That was two feet below the previous year's amount of 30.1 feet.

Further south, the Ouachita is affected by the Little Missouri River which runs into the Ouachita in lower Clark County. In recent years, flood waters have washed out several bridges in the Nix's Ferry area including the main river bridge that was washed out in 1979 and the concrete one standing today replaced the original wood bridge.

The Ouachita River was expected to crest in Camden this past week at 30 feet.

Rain was forecasted to continue throughout the week and weekend, however, a few showers fell here and there, with no heavy continuous rains causing any further flooding.