Flash Flood in Hempstead County, Arkansas

Widespread flooding across Hempstead County, with multiple roads covered in high water and closed, with others washed out. Flash flooding damaged the Ozan Creek Bridge on Hempstead Road 26.

A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very warm, moist, and unstable air mass in place south of this front across much of the region. As a result, numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across the area during the afternoon and evening, which produced damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes. As these storms moved repeatedly over the same areas, flash flooding also became an issue across Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas through the 5th, where total rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches fell. These totals resulted in the overtopping of McKinney Bayou west of Garland on the 5th, which continued through the 7th. However, the levee did not breach.