CONWAY, Ark. — During the early morning hours of Wednesday, the city of Conway was hit by heavy rain and floodwaters that continued into the afternoon.
Fire Chief Mike Winter said he can’t remember an event this severe in the city since about 2017.
“We've got streets that are flooded,” Chief Winter said. “Six, eight, twelve inches of water. Even got video of it coming up on the hood of cars trying to drive through this.”
The flooding affected plenty of local businesses.
Mike Scherer, co-owner of The Rustic Jewel, said his business saw an early morning power outage, and that was just the beginning of their problems.
“When I came out, we had a power outage from four to six,” said Scherer. “And when I came out after the power came back on, I noticed that the water was rising and the rain was continuing.”
He also said that a nearby coffee shop had to temporarily close their drive-thru because of the floodwaters, and added that the water got very close to his store’s parking lot.
However, other parts of Conway weren’t so lucky— the Conway Police Department posted a list of over a dozen roads that were closed and then later reopened.
Chief Winter explained how not everyone heeded the warning.
“I think we had two water rescues from our swift water team. Pulling people out of cars that had gone in areas they didn't need to go," he said. "Turn Around, Don’t Drown is still good advice for situations like these, and if a road is closed, it’s probably for a reason."
By 2:30 p.m. all of Conway’s roads were back open, but later on Wednesday afternoon, Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson issued an emergency disaster declaration along with multiple other Arkansas counties.
It said that Faulkner County is expected to receive additional rainfall on Wednesday night and encouraged residents to remain alert.
It also said in part, “Please be advised that several of our roadways are washed out under the water. Even if there doesn’t appear to be a great deal of water, there may be no road underneath.”
For more information on what to expect during Wednesday night's storms, please click here.