Wicked Texas Weather Stomps Arkansas

BENTON, Ark. (AP) -- April 10, 2008 — -- Another round of storms moved acrossArkansas on Thursday, bringing heavy rain, hail and high winds to astate already contending with three weeks of flooding and 10tornadoes from a week ago.

The Searcy County Sheriff's Department said some residents inthe small north Arkansas town of Leslie were evacuated because offlooding and the threat of mudslides. Workers were sandbagging inplaces to keep flood waters at bay. U.S. Highway 65 was coveredwith water in places. Travelers were asked to stay off the roads.

"It's just getting worse," sheriff's dispatcher Nola Masseysaid. "We're just trying to get everybody to stay home and not getout in it."

Schools in Norfork closed at 9:15 a.m. because of flooding.Marshall schools were closed because of high water, and the BuffaloNational River in north Arkansas was closed to recreational users.About 1,000 customers of Entergy Arkansas lost power as tornadosirens blared in parts of central Arkansas, including Little Rock.

Many roads in southern Lonoke County were flooded, includingArkansas 13 near Carlisle and Arkansas 31 between Blakemore andCoy. Stone County also reported flood damage and Arkansas 263 inCleburne County was impassable. Part of Arkansas 9 in Izard Countywas flooded, along with many county roads.

A number of washouts were reported on county roads in SharpCounty.

At Little Rock National Airport, flights were suspended forabout 50 minutes when a tornado warning was issued for the area.T.J. Williams, that airport's manager of media and marketing, said300-400 people were moved to safe places away from windows.

"We suspended everything for a while until the weather passed.Those who were on planes deboarded and were brought inside,"Williams said.

Most flights were back on schedule by early afternoon, and theairport reported no damage.

"It went incredibly well. The people were incrediblycooperative, and we all worked together and the event ended and wewent on our way," Williams said.

Tornado warnings also were posted in several southwest Arkansascounties, including Columbia, Hempstead, Lafayette, Miller andNevada.

"It's a two-headed monster this morning," National WeatherService forecaster John Lewis said Thursday, noting the floodingand threat of tornadoes.

Lewis said storms moving from Texas into Arkansas were settingthe stage for possible twisters. "There is quite a lot of shear inthe atmosphere, winds turning with height," Lewis said.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said conditionswere right for supercell thunderstorms to develop ahead of thestorm line moving through Arkansas. Tornadoes could develop withinthose supercells, the center said.

"The one saving grace is that this is developing earlier,rather than later in the day," Lewis said. With less heating, theatmosphere will not become as volatile, he said.

Early Thursday, water covered U.S. Highway 65 at St. Joe and theViola School District was closed because of high water. Seventymile per hour winds were reported accompanying the rains as theymoved in from the northwest.

In Saline County, residents spent a week picking up blown-offshingles and cleaning culverts after the 10 tornadoes roaredthrough central Arkansas the night of April 3.

With the storms coming Thursday, county officials had a newrequest - to borrow residents' flat-bottom and inflatable boats.

"It's just overwhelming - a flood on top of a tornado," SalineCounty Judge Lanny Fite, the county's top administrator, saidWednesday. "People have been working night and day trying toprepare, but there's not a whole lot we can do to prepare for rainin the magnitude they're talking about."

The Army Corps of Engineers delivered 10,000 sandbags to SalineCounty in preparation for local flooding from the storm, state Sen.Shane Broadway said.

Rain fell in Arkansas into Wednesday morning from that stormfront. Flash flooding hit Casscoe and Clarendon, where water wasflowing over parts of Arkansas 302. A flood warning was in effectWednesday afternoon for Hot Spring County, where Entergy Arkansassaid it opened spillway gates at the Remmel Dam to release excesswater from Lake Catherine.

Before midnight Wednesday, severe weather cropped up in severallocations in western Arkansas. Nickel-sized hail was reported bythe weather service at Acorn in northern Polk County, and heavyrain fell at Mena. Flash flood, severe thunderstorm or tornadowarnings were issued for Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Logan,Scott, Polk, Montgomery, Pope and Newton counties.

The new rain temporarily drove up river levels in flood-soakedClarendon along the White River. The weather service forecast theriver to crest at 32.7 feet Wednesday night in the east Arkansastown, which has seen surrounding cotton fields turned into lakes inthe last weeks.

Weather service hydrologist Steve Bays described the river'sbump as temporary. The real concern, however, rests with the frontmoving in Thursday. If heavy rains fall upriver, that could sendanother surge through the area and slow the river's retreat.

"We have today and tomorrow to contend with. It's got ourattention," Bays said Wednesday. "We have to see where it falls.But we'll have another story to talk about tomorrow. We'll have tosee how much and where."