Flood in White County, Arkansas

Flooding occurred on the Little Red River at Judsonia due to heavy rain. The river briefly went below flood stage on March 20th through the 22nd, but rose back above flood stage on the morning of the 22nd. Levees protecting the Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge were overtopped. Numerous county roads were flooded and Arkansas Highway 36 was flooded just east of West Point. Some homes and recreational cabins and trailers were flooded near West Point. It is hard to delineate between the Little Red River flooding and backwater effects from the more substantial White River flooding downstream. While the crest at Judsonia was within minor flood criteria, the impacts were more than minor only a couple of miles downstream. There were some winter wheat losses in the area and pastures were flooded for a prolonged period of time.

Very heavy rain began developing late on the 17th in northern and western Arkansas, and continued on the 18th and early on the 19th as a powerful storm system approached from Texas. The system dredged copious moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, and sent it toward Arkansas with a deep southerly wind flow. Well above normal precipitable water was noted, which enhanced rainfall efficiency across the region.