When Eric Fisher gets off work today, he’s leaving his home in Pine Bluff and staying with family.
“The levee from Packingtown, if the water happens to go over it it’s going to wash our whole area away and if something happens to where the water comes to the bank in the front,” said Fisher.
He doesn’t want to hang around as water slowly feeds into Lake Saracen.
“We wondering ourselves do we need to do anything you know. Everybody else around us has gotten voluntary evacuees.”
He’s also concerned about the elderly people who live on his street.
“I’m worried about my stuff too, and you know I have pets. I’m worried about my welfare as well as other people down the road,” said Fisher.
Game and Fish employees boated over what used to be a parking lot at Lake Saracen to survey damages.
“We’ve been boatin’ in since last Tuesday," said Jason Hooks, the director of the Nature Center Facility. “It’s kind of overwhelming for all of us, that’s kind of our home away from home."
Employees who work at the Nature Center said the facility is mostly underwater and won’t know the extent of damages of buildings in the area until the water recedes.
“In 2016 with that flood water got up and got into some of our storage buildings but it didn’t reach high enough to get into any of our main structures,” Hooks said.
Monday afternoon Lake Saracen sat at 50 feet and is expected to crest at 51 feet on Wednesday.
“The river’s not rising quite as fast as it was, so I think we’re just in a holding pattern,” said Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington.
They hope the rain won’t make matters worse.
“We still have some inches left to rise and I hope we just don’t get any flash flooding," said Mayor Washington.
An emergency shelter is set up in Pine Bluff at 2309 Poplar Street at the family church.
The flood danger is expected to last at least two weeks, so county officials advise residents to plan ahead while they still can.