Flood in Franklin County, Arkansas

A bridge was washed out by flood water on Chickadee Lane in the Mountain Grove community. Flooding resulted in at least four residences landlocked in the Watalula area. Portions of Highway 23 were flooded and closed north of the Mulberry River Bridge near Turners Bend.

Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into and across northwestern Arkansas during the afternoon of the 4th, in an unseasonably moist and unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front. The atmosphere became very unstable ahead of the thunderstorms. The deep-layer and low-level wind shear strengthened during the afternoon, in response to a strong storm system translating into the Southern Plains from the Southern Rockies. The combination of very unstable air and very strong wind shear resulted in the development of some supercell thunderstorms, which produced several tornadoes across Benton and Washington Counties. Locally heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding across portions of Benton, Madison, and Franklin Counties.