Some of the 109 recognized levees in Arkansas have already been overtopped by the historic flood waters flowing through the state. Now concerns are rising that some may breach, as they face relentless pressure over the next two weeks.
“We've just never seen anything like this and we're a little bit scared,” said Belinda Foreman, a homeowner in the Willow Beach neighborhood of North Little Rock where a levee that separates the Arkansas River and an oxbow lake has been overtopped. “We’ve never had to sandbag before, but we’re doing it now.”
The neighborhood sits between the two levees, with the one on the lake built privately by the developer, and an older one built by the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We're preparing for the worst out here. It's a little uneasy, but we're trying to be all prepared,” said John Santoro, the president of the property owners association of the bustling neighborhood that bought lake front property, but now sits on riverfront property.
“For the immediate purpose, the levees look good,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson, during part of a Wednesday news conference at the state’s Deptartment of Emergency Management.
He noted improvements made to levees during floods in 2016 as encouraging, but has different concerns in this event.
“You worry about the length that that water will be pressing against them, and whether that will diminish. While they might look good now, what will that look like a week from now?” he said.
Back in Willow Beach, the private levee has been maintained regularly.
“We had it restructured about a year ago, and it was built up,” Santoro said. “In 2016, it made a divot in it.”
Meaning so far it has held up, but just wasn't high enough. So now the homeowners are filling sandbags together helping keep the lake, and now the river, at bay.
“We may be over preparing, but we don't know the outcome or what's going to happen,” said Santoro.
ADEM director A.J. Gary couldn’t point to specific levees that they have concerns about this early into the process, but the National Guard has already gone to work on one potential breech near Dardanelle and stands ready if any others open up.
The governor asked everyone to “expand their prayer lists” and hope the levees stand up and that the region doesn’t get any more rain.