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Conway works on ways to fix flooding issues

When it rains, it pours— and in Conway's case, it floods. We spoke with the city who shared the plans they have in place to help solve some of those drainage issues.

CONWAY, Ark. — They say that when it rains it pours— and in the City of Conway's case, it floods.

"We like to be known for our colleges and roundabouts, we don't like to be known for our flooding," Conway City Engineer, Kurt Jones said. "It's not abnormal, it's not unique to Conway and it is certainly not new to Conway."

Jones has only been with the city about three years, but he already knows plenty about the issues.

Wednesday's rain had the usual areas flooding once more.

He explained that they typically get calls for flooded yards and ditches as people watch their front yards turn into small ponds. Though thankfully, no one has been hurt. 

Faulkner County Sheriff Tim Ryals told us that his team had no issues on Wednesday.

While things may have quieted down in the City of Colleges after the storms moved through, Jones isn't dwelling on the issues they caused.

Instead, he's been looking at how to fix them.

"Are there opportunities to make some drainage improvements in that area that might help alleviate some of this flooding?" Jones asked.

Though to fix a problem, you've got to know what causes it. 

In Conway's case, flooding is partially due to how flat the city is— as well as some changes to city requirements.

"We've got a lot more, I guess, stringent drainage requirements in place right now versus 20 or 30 years ago," Jones said.

There are plans on the way to help solve some of those drainage issues, and those could happen as early as this summer.

"Increase the capacity of that detention basin, which would reduce the flooding in that area," Jones described.

While those are targeted at specific areas, and may not solve every problem, they'll help keep things drier as well.

"These drainage problems have been 150 years in the making, so they're going to take some time to address," Jones said. "We're working on them."

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