Flash Flood — Bradley, Arkansas

2019-04-13 · near Ingalls, Bradley, Arkansas

Event narrative

Water was over several county roads neare Ingalls.

Wider weather episode

While it seemed the region was in the clear on the 13th, rain and cool air kept the pressure elevated. At the same time, a storm system strengthened in Texas, and the pressure fell to the southwest. This created a pressure gradient, and this often leads to increased wind speeds. Gusts exceeded 40 mph in the southern half of the state during the afternoon/evening, and this went on for several hours.

A 47 mph gust was measured at the airport in Hot Springs (Garland County) at 240 pm CDT. A couple of hours later, a gust reached 53 mph at Little Rock National Airport (Pulaski County). Numerous trees (200 to 300 trees) were downed on the west side of Lake Ouachita at the Little Fir and Tompkins Bend Recreation Areas (both in Montgomery County). Trees were also toppled at Hot Springs (Garland County), Houston (Perry County), Maumelle (Pulaski County), Pine Bluff (Jefferson County), and west Little Rock (Pulaski County). Some trees were on homes and blocking roads. At least 30,000 power outages were reported.

More rain was on the horizon by late on the 17th, and it was expected to be heavy. This was preceded by a few severe storms in the west. Golf ball size hail was reported at Dover (Pope County), with half dollar size hail at Atkins (Pope County), and quarter size stones at Clarksville (Johnson County) and Russellville (Pope County). Following the hail, the deluge commenced.

Three to more than five inches of rain dumped in central and western Arkansas. Forty eight hour amounts through 700 am CDT on the 19th included 6.02 inches just northeast of Bryant (Saline County), 5.44 inches at Little Rock (Pulaski County), 4.89 inches at Benton (Saline County), 4.50 inches at North Little Rock (Pulaski County), 4.50 inches at Crystal Valley (Pulaski County), 4.01 inches at Big Fork (Polk County), 3.77 inches at Conway (Faulkner County), 3.48 inches at Waldron (Scott County), 3.34 inches at Bogg Springs (Polk County), and 3.30 inches at Booneville (Logan County).

The 5.44 inches of rain at Little Rock (Pulaski County) not only shattered a daily record on the 18th, it was the 15th wettest calendar day on record locally and the 5th wettest April calendar day.

Given so much rain, there was high water along Interstate 30 near Vimy Ridge (Saline County). All lanes were closed for at least a couple of hours. In Macon (Pulaski County), flooding along Highway 107 stranded a vehicle, and people needed to be rescued. Many roads were flooded from Benton (Saline County) to the Little Rock (Pulaski County) area. Highway 11 near Hazen (Prairie County) was under water, as was Highway 31 around Woodlawn (Lonoke County). Many farm fields were converted into lakes.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.3800, -92.1500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 817588. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.