Flash Flood — Faulkner, Arkansas

2011-05-01 · near Gold Creek, Faulkner, Arkansas

Event narrative

At 1:08 AM CDT, water was approaching the doorstep of houses in Mayflower. Around 1:20 AM CDT, an SUV went into flood waters on North Main St. in Mayflower and ended up in a ditch. The water was rising so rapidly that the vehicle was completely submerged by the time rescuers arrived. The 57 year-old driver of the SUV drowned. At 12:08 AM CDT, Numerous roads flooded around Vilonia; swift-water rescues became necessary by 1:00 AM CDT. A total of 29 people had to be evacuated from the Vilonia and Mayflower areas.

Wider weather episode

A nearly stationary front, extending from southwest Arkansas to the east central part of the state, served as a trigger for severe weather on the 1st. The front was also responsible for heavy to excessive rainfall amounts, which began on April 30th and continued through May 2nd. The rain triggered flash flooding, which added to the areal flooding and river flooding already occurring. Thus, additional rainfall was contributed to the Great Flood of 2011. Some of the larger rainfall amounts from April 30th to May 2nd included 12.52 inches at Marche, 12.00 inches at Maumelle, 10.50 inches 2.4 miles east-southeast of Mayflower, 10.40 inches at Walton Heights in Little Rock, 9.60 inches at Clarendon, 9.49 inches at North Little Rock, 8.26 inches 4 miles southwest of Cabot, 8.05 inches at Mount Ida, 7.39 inches 5 miles southeast of Mount Ida, 7.21 inches at Georgetown, and 7.03 inches at the Hot Springs Airport. Stations reporting more than 6 inches included the Stuttgart Airport, 3.6 miles west of Searcy, Des Arc, McCrory, Little Rock Air Force Base, Langley, and Adams Field in Little Rock. Stations reporting more than 5 inches included the Newport Airport, Washita, Nimrod Dam, Brinkley, 6 miles southeast of Clinton, 1 mile east of Hopper, Mammoth Spring, 2 miles northwest of Augusta, the Batesville Livestock experiment station, 1 mile southeast of Oden, Grubbs, 3.5 miles east-northeast of Pottsville, the Newport Water Plant, Hot Springs National Park, 3 miles northeast of Botkinburg, Dardanelle, and Hardy.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.0050, -92.4484)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 306515. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.