FEATURE STORY
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Storms, flooding: 34 dead, untold disruption This is what much of Randolph County looked like. Governor’s Office photographer Kirk Jordan captured this view of destruction while flying into Pocahontas.
Many Arkansas counties are still reeling from a deadly series of late spring storms that wreaked havoc across the South and lower Mid-west. Te final toll in Arkansas alone was 18 storm deaths and 16 flood deaths for the period, though the stress, suffering and property loss from high winds, tornadoes and flooding was incalculable. Storm cells spawning killer tornadoes were the things to be feared in some areas, includ- ing Faulkner, Johnson and Franklin counties. But as the unstable weather lingered, there was rain. Lots of rain – up to 10 inches in parts of
north Arkansas and southern Missouri, and that unrelenting rain fed the flooding. Miles of state highways were closed or covered by rising water, and countless miles of county roads were virtually destroyed. Emergency workers used boats and tractors
to rescue families stranded in their rural homes by 2 to 3 feet of water between Pocahontas and Portia. Sections of the Black River levee east of
Pocahontas broke through, flooding about 100 homes in a subdivision and sending about 4 feet of water into the Black River Technical College,
the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. It was the same story all across northeast
Arkansas. Te swells of water in the rivers and creeks only got deeper as the rain kept coming, and the flooding only picked up steam as it moved toward and into the swollen Mississippi River and Delta region. Te County Judges, their OES and road foremen, Sheriffs and other county officials and staffs all up and down the eastern side of Arkansas struggled day and night in many cases to help their citizens. And while the nail-biting, gut-level phase of the work is past, the clean-up continues.
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COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2011
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