Flash Flood — Randolph, Arkansas

2017-05-03 to 2017-05-04 · near Pocahontas, Randolph, Arkansas

Event narrative

The levee east of Pocahontas broke in several places during the morning hours of May 3rd. Water poured south along the Big Running Water Creek across thousands of acres of farmland. Many small communities were flooded. Several water rescues occurred at the intersection of Highway 67 and Highway 90 in Shannon.

Wider weather episode

Very heavy rain fell across the Eleven Point River, Current River and Black River basins in Missouri and Arkansas at the end of April into early. As a result major river flooding occured in Clay, Randolph and Lawrence counties into early May. The levee along the Black River east of Pocahontas failed resulting in flash flooding across parts of Randolph and Lawrence counties. A major disaster declaration was granted for Clay, Lawrence and Randolph Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.2507, -90.9582)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 698108. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.