County, much of state, under flash flood watch

Burrough
Burrough

Garland County and much of Arkansas remained under a flash flood watch Wednesday as the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon swirled through the Southeast, promising heavy rainfall in the state through Sunday.

Rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches are possible, with localized amounts exceeding 7 inches from this morning through Friday morning, the National Weather Service said.

A flash flood watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding. "Flash flooding is a very dangerous situation," the Weather Service said.

"Please monitor forecasts and be prepared to take action if flooding occurs especially in our flood-prone areas. Remember, if you see water over the roadway, TURN AROUND! DON'T DROWN!", the 70 West Fire Department posted on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon.

Interim City Manager Bill Burrough directed the city's Public Works department to place two pallets of sandbags in Hill Wheatley Plaza as a precautionary measure for downtown merchants to use in case of high water.

The city said in an email the sandbags were provided on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Please use these sandbags as a precautionary measure in the event that we experience high levels of rainfall over the course of the next few days," the association said in a Facebook post to its members, who were also notified by email.

Entergy Arkansas Inc. on Tuesday began gradually lowering the levels of lakes Hamilton and Catherine in anticipation of potentially heavy rainfall later this week from the remnants of the tropical system Gordon.

Gary Bettis Jr., Entergy Hydro Operations technical support specialist, told the newspaper on Tuesday that Entergy typically lowers the lake levels anytime significant rainfall is expected.

Bettis said each lake would be lowered 6 inches. Hamilton, which was at 399.7 feet above mean sea level, will drop to 399.2 feet msl, while Catherine, which was at 304 feet msl, would drop to 303.5 feet msl.

How long the lakes stay at those levels depends on the length of the event and the amount of rainfall received, according to Bettis.

Local on 09/06/2018

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