AR Firefighters Rescue People Stranded in Severe Flooding

Crawford County was informally declared in a state of emergency Thursday as torrential downpours inundated low-water bridges and an RV campground while swelling the Arkansas River.

Fort Smith received 2.51 inches of rain Wednesday night amid a seven-hour tornado watch and a flood warning scheduled to last until Saturday night. The downpours, which fell throughout western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma, swelled tributaries and creeks that led the National Weather Service to project the river would rise to 27.5 feet Thursday afternoon.

At 1:30 p.m., the river was flowing at 229,000 cubic feet per second — more than five times the force it flowed Tuesday morning.

Alma Fire Department assisting as well.
Posted by Crawford County Department of Emergency Management on Thursday, April 29, 2021

Crawford County Emergency Management Director Brad Thomas said the county will possibly drop their floodgates on their levees. He has also spoken to residents in areas of heightened flood risk.

"The Arkansas River is continuing to rise, and we can't urge people enough to stay away from it," said Jay Townsend, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock office.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, the county had not conducted a damage assessment for County Judge Dennis Gilstrap's verbal emergency declaration. County Emergency Management Director Brad Thomas said officials will wait until the floodwaters have fully receded to assess the damage, which will be no later than Thursday.

Thomas said "it's looking favorable" that the damage in the county will meet $240,000 threshold to qualify for assistance from the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM).

"Every low water bridge has been submerged and is under water," he said.

The flooded waterways prompted first responders to rescue five people who were trapped early Thursday morning. Alma firefighters rescued four people from Chitwood Apartments at 1:30 a.m. Thursday due to water that had trapped them inside their homes. At 7:15 a.m., county sheriff's deputies rescued a man from Clear Creek Park whose mobile home had been partially submerged in drainage off Frog Bayou.

Deputies rescued the man after U.S. Corps of Engineers rangers and park managers told campers to move their RVs up the hill, said Townsend.

"I told the guy, the gentleman who owns the motor home, 'I would have left out of there yesterday. I wouldn't have waited around,'" said Steven Farquhar, who stayed in the park Wednesday night in his move from California.

The deputies' swift water rescue was followed by hours of Alma Auto Service workers attaching cables to the RV and maneuvering around trees between the vehicle and land. U.S. Corps of Engineers workers were no site during the operation.

"I feel for the guy," said Farquhar, 58. "He sure lost a lot, but he should have gotten out of there."

Despite these rescues, Thomas was happy they didn't have to conduct rescues from vehicles. He believes the time of the storm helped them in this way.

"Thankfully, people took our advice and didn't drive off into low water areas," Thomas said. "We were fortunate in that aspect."

Clear Creek is one of three RV parks in the state near the Arkansas River at risk in this weather event. The highest flow is estimated at 300,000 in Dardanelle.

Crawford County received ADEM assistance in August 2019, when the county received 5.8 inches of rain. The downpours caused more than 20 road washouts and multiple swift-water rescues.

The county was greatly impacted by the 2019 Arkansas river flood, which caused part of its levee system to slip near Yoestown Bottoms. The river rose to 40.79 feet in that event.

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