Flood — Clay, Arkansas

2011-04-26 to 2011-04-30 · near Datto, Clay, Arkansas

Event narrative

Heavy rain brought the Black River near Corning to record levels in late April that continued into the beginning of May. The record crest surpassed the Flood of 1945. Shallow flooding extended for several miles away from the river. Several homes and businesses sustained minor damage from the flooding. Many roads and bridges were closed and/or damaged including Highway 62, Highway 67 and Highway 155. The Clay County Airport was flooded as well.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front remained draped across Southern Missouri into Western Kentucky from April 24th, 2011 into April 25th, 2011. A very warm and unstable atmosphere was in place across the Mid-South ahead of the front. A low pressure system developed along the front and interacted with the unstable environment which helped produce several rounds of severe storms into the evening of April 26th, 2011. As a result of the severe storms, the front sank south during the early morning hours of April 27th, 2011 as a secondary low pressure system developed along the front. As a result, another round of severe storms fired during the afternoon hours ahead of the low pressure center. Additional severe storms fired along the trailing cold front. Tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, flash flooding occurred as a result of the severe storms. Heavy rain from the continuous rounds of severe weather eventually resulted in record river flooding on a number of rivers in the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.4137, -90.7210)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 296130. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.