City, county crews prepare for White River flooding

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

The White River isn’t expected to crest for another three days, but city and county crews are already preparing for flooding.

As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, the river remained well below the 27-foot crest forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The ’82 flood was over 29 feet, but that flood wall wasn’t here then. We don’t know what that flood wall is going to do — there’s no way to know,” said Johnny Coles, Batesville streets supervisor.

Major flooding is defined at 22 feet, five feet lower than the level expected late Sunday night or early Monday morning.

Coles said the city began filling and distributing sandbags on Thursday. By Friday, attention had turned to the area behind Peco along Stadium Drive, where crews were installing the flood wall.

The city is asking travelers to avoid Stadium Drive and Southerland Drive while crews install floodgates.

The flood wall is composed of hollow steel beams stacked horizontally and covered with industrial-grade plastic to prevent water from leaking between the beams. The plastic is secured by sandbags as water is diverted into the river.

Coles, who will mark 45 years with the city on May 22, said full-scale flooding preparations like these are rare.

“We’ve never sandbagged this whole wall,” Coles said, as crews worked in the rain. “We’ve had this wall since 1991 or ’92, but we’ve never activated the whole thing — just portions. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Batesville Fire Chief Mark McCollum said the city filled sandbags Friday morning for the flood wall and also distributed bags at the county fairgrounds, with a limit of 20 bags per household.

“The city’s fire, water, sanitation, streets, and cemetery and landscaping departments all chipped in to fill sandbags,” McCollum said. “We had off-duty fire personnel who volunteered to come in and help.”

Crews even repurposed a concrete truck loaded with sand, using a makeshift funnel system of upside-down traffic cones to fill bags. Eighteen pallets were filled, each holding 40 to 50 bags, he said.

Meanwhile, Independence County Office of Emergency Services crews were working in Oil Trough. The county had requested a sandbagging machine from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers capable of filling 1,200 bags per hour, according to County Judge Kevin Jeffery.

Jeffery said the Corps, county crews, and Oil Trough residents pitched in on sandbagging efforts until rain halted work.

Colton’s Steak House donated lunch to the crews.

The Corps also loaned four pumps to help the city of Batesville move water from inside the levee into the river, Jeffery said.

Even at the county yard — typically not staffed on Fridays — activity was high.

“We’ve had several working today,” Jeffery said.

Crews also worked near the county jail. Jeffery said he removed a couple of training vehicles from low-lying ground at the shooting range. If floodwaters reach the jail, he and Sheriff Shawn Stephens have a response plan in place.

The worst flood on record for the White River occurred in February 1916, when the river crested at 43.8 feet at the Lock 1 staff gage. That’s equivalent to a 31.9-foot crest on the newer gage at the U.S. Highway 167 bridge. According to the Corps of Engineers, a staff gage is a long, vertical ruler placed in the water to measure surface elevation or track changes over time.

Storm shelters available

Batesville Fire Station No. 3, located at 590 White Drive, opens its storm room when a tornado watch is issued. Other designated storm shelters include Southside Preschool, Southside Elementary, Cedar Ridge Preschool, and the Charlotte Volunteer Fire Department.

Additional shelters opened during severe weather include the basements at Central Avenue Methodist Church in Batesville, Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist Church in Bethesda, Assembly of God in Cushman, and the storm cellar behind Cushman Country Store.

City of Batesville officials have also been in the process of testing the tornado sirens on Friday afternoon.

Independence County Judge Kevin Jeffery pulls a training car from low ground behind the Independence County Jail

Above: Independence County Judge Kevin Jeffery visits with Col. Damon Knarr, Little Rock District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at Oil Trough

Images: City of Batesville, Independence County Judge Kevin Jeffery, Andrea Bruner