Flood — Woodruff, Arkansas

2008-03-18 to 2008-03-31 · near Fitzhugh, Woodruff, Arkansas

Event narrative

Heavy rain caused the White River at Augusta to go above major flood level. The river was above minor flood level at the start of the event, but continued to rise due to heavy rains. Houses on 4th Street in Augusta were surrounded by water. The Horseshoe Lake community was underwater. About 30 homes, most of them in the Taylor Bay community, were flooded. Agricultural losses were to winter wheat and delayed planting of corn and grain sorghum. Many acres of wheat were also recently fertilized to compound the losses. County roads were flooded, especially in the Taylor Bay portion of the floodplain. Portions of Arkansas Highway 33 north of Augusta were flooded. The flooding continued into April.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.3415, -91.3170)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 89247. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.