YELLVILLE, Ark. — On Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management reported more than 100 people are in limbo after having to evacuate due to flash floods.
Eighty of those people were in a Yellville nursing home with what the fire department described as more than a few feet of water.
The water levels have since lowered, but the damage remains visible at the nursing home and downtown.
Shawn Beaver woke up Wednesday morning and learned his barber shop in Yellville flooded. He said community members stopped by to help clean and dry the place for over 10 hours.
"One of the other business guys said it was flooded," Beaver said. "I had to go to the hardware store... they were flooded."
The Yellville Fire Department also reported evacuating patients from a city nursing home after a foot of water came rushing in. Additionally, the volunteer fire department experienced its own issues while traveling around flooded roads to get to the station.
"Once we got to the nursing home, we realized there was extensive flooding in there," Yellville Fire Chief Steven Evans said. "We started moving patients to higher grounds inside their facility. We also had neighboring nursing facilities bring their handicap vans over because most of the patients needed some sort of specialized transport. We worked pretty much all morning."
Evans said there were no reported injuries, but it could be a while before patients can return.
Meanwhile, surrounding homeowners were forced to make quick decisions, like neighbors Spencer Dodillet and James Worsham, who said the overnight flooding was the worst they’d ever seen.
"He called my wife and said the creek's fallen under their house," Dodillet said. "That's never happened. I've been here for 12 years, and [water has] never come over the berm back there... this is the best community to live in. In a time of need, everybody reaches out and asks if you need help... have people tell me that they have houses that I could stay at."
The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were working Wednesday to assess the damage and current needs.
Some downtown Yellville businesses expect to open by the end of the week, but Evans said it could be a while before the nursing home fully opens again.