FAULKNER COUNTY, Ark. — Faulkner County officials have set up checkpoints along the raging Arkansas River, closing off strips of land that are quickly going under water as a historic flooding event reaches Central Arkansas.
People who live off Jones Lane outside Mayflower have been through floods before, but this one appears different for a couple reasons. With a shelter opening in nearby Conway at the Don Owens Center taking in both humans and animals, some residents never imagined having to consider that scenario.
“Just sitting here waiting for this train wreck to happen,” said Jim Blisset as he and a group of neighbors sat on his back porch with water lapping at the steps.
“This is just crazy high. When we had the house put here we had it put up higher than it has ever been before by a couple feet. This is going to be like five or six feet higher. You just couldn't foresee that.”
“There are poles all along the side of the road that we just put in,” said Faulkner Co. civil attorney David Hogue. “That’s so when the water is high enough you'll be able to tell where the road is.”
But that road won’t be for automobiles. The road will become a shipping lane for boats or possibly high-clearance emergency vehicles.
“Unless you live here or unless you're coming here to help these people, you can't get in here,” said Hogue.
And it's coming in fast. Back yards that had been several feet above the river now are shallows. The river bank is gone. Boat docks are islands, and back porches are becoming docks.
Farther down the road, a house sits on higher ground but faces a different threat. All of the properties came through the floods in 2015 with minor damage, but this time, the river is flowing so ferociously, it’s eating the soft dirt of the riverbank, threatening to pull the stately home right into the water.
“A flood from the bottom up is, to me, scarier than a flood from the rain down,” Hogue said as he carefully noted seems in the sod as the water tore into the bank."
The people who live here are coming to terms with it and planning accordingly.
“You know anybody that has a rental house for two, three months,” asked Debbie Ibor as she waited for friends to help haul stuff away from her home.
The City of Conway has sent out text alerts to vulnerable residents and there are several sandbag stations set up throughout the county. A hotline will help answer questions starting Tuesday morning at 501-328-4176.