Two levees in Pocahontas give way
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008
POCAHONTAS — Billy Manning watched Saturday morning as a quickly constructed manmade levee broke behind his east Pocahontas home, flooding a senior-citizen housing complex and allowing water to within a foot of his back fence.
Randolph County and city workers built the 100-yard emergency levee Friday to keep the Black River from inundating the Robil Addition, a neighborhood of about 200 houses near the Pocahontas Municipal Airport. Much of the levee held, keeping back 4-6 feet of water from the neighborhood.
But on the eastern end, the dirt gave way and the water rushed through.
“They kept putting dirt on it,” Manning said Saturday. “But it kept washing out.” Water encircled the neighborhood, crossed Arkansas 304 and then flooded across U. S. 67 just south of the Pocahontas city limits. Another levee, built in the 1940 s, also broke Saturday, adding to the flooding on U. S. 67.
Randolph County sheriff ’s deputies advised those in east Pocahontas to evacuate, but many stayed behind, trusting the levee.
Manning opted to stay. When the river flooded in 1982, he moved his belongings out, but this time he decided to remain home to “keep an eye on things.” Behind his house on Tara Drive, 15 units of the Patrick Manor Senior Housing Authority were flooded with over a foot of muddy water. The complex was evacuated Friday, said Pocahontas Fire Chief Scott Baltz.
Water seeped through the new dirt levee, filling Ron Haskins ’ shop at the end of Vicki Street with about 8 inches. Haskins moved his pontoon boat from the shop to his house farther up the street and planned on staying in his house.
“I’ll be here till I die,” Haskins said. “I hate that the levee broke down there, but it helped us by relieving pressure.
“ If the levee gives here, I guess I have a way out,” he said, pointing to his boat.
County crews sandbagged the entryways to the county’s Health Department on the Arkansas 304 Spur to protect the building. A large front-end loader drove through 4 feet of water on the department’s parking lot, its scoop full of sandbags.
The Black River continued to rise Saturday, along with rumors about flooding.
“People have been saying the [U. S. 67 ] Black River bridge is going to close for the past two days,” a Randolph County sheriff’s dispatcher said. “It still has 6 feet to go. The bridge won’t close.” Talk at T-Rex’s, a convenience store on the southern edge of Pocahontas, focused on whether numerous levees broke and if U. S. 67 would close. The river stages — like temperatures during a hot summer day — were common topics of discussion Saturday.
The river reached 26. 5 feet Saturday afternoon with an expected crest of 26. 8 this evening. Flood stage at Pocahontas is 17 feet.
At 10 a. m., about 3 inches of water covered both lanes of U. S. 67. Officials closed one side of the four-lane roadway, routing the northbound traffic onto one of the southbound lanes. By 4 p. m., nearly a foot of water rushed over the roadway.
About a foot of water covered the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot just south of the river’s bridge. The store remained open Saturday afternoon, said Marty Cagle, director of the Randolph County Office of Emergency Management.
The town’s Centennial Park on the north banks of the Black River near downtown became a tourist attraction Saturday afternoon, as water lapped against a parking lot, some 300 yards from the river’s channel. A stream of traffic cruised U. S. 67, and people stopped to snap pictures of one another with the deluge as a photographic backdrop.
“We’ve had a bunch of rubberneckers out today,” said Pocahontas Police Chief Chad Mulligan. “We’re having to keep them from going into flooded areas so we can get our work done.” Just west of the Randolph County Courthouse, David Roberson launched his boat in a murky pool of oil and debris and motored his way to his Marr Street home. Water from the Town Creek, a tributary to the Black River, had backed up, flooding several homes and businesses.
Motor oil and gasoline from the flooded city shop on Marr Street drifted into the floodwaters, creating a pungent smell.
“It started coming up last night,” he said of the water. “I had to carry four people out of my house.” Farther east, where traffic was limited to two lanes on U. S. 67 as waters from the Current, Fourche and Black rivers swelled, Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department flaggers noted vehicle tie-ups of more than 30 minutes. The highway serves as a major east-and-west corridor across northeast Arkansas.
Pocahontas radio station KPOC-FM, 104. 1, sat in about 3 feet of water off U. S. 67 north and was off the air Saturday afternoon.
Although Manning plans to stay at his house, he does have an emergency plan. If the dirt levee gives way north of his house, he intends to park his truck under a tree on Tara Drive.
“If it busts, I’ll take it to the tree,” he said. “It’s the highest point out here.”
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