Gustav causes flooding

What's left of Hurricane Gustav spun off a portion of its remaining energy over central Arkansas on Wednesday.

The storm was a shadow of the monster that tore into the Louisiana coast, but it still packed enough punch to make Wednesday a very busy day for Faulkner County emergency and utility workers.

The worst of the storm hit central Arkansas at about the time most commuters were heading to work. Blinding rain and high winds hindered traffic on Interstate 40 and all of downtown Conway was closed to vehicles twice, mostly out of concerns that cars motoring through deep standing water would generate a wake that could wash into businesses. Chestnut Street was closed for most of the morning.

Siebenmorgen Road was closed between Museum Road and the roundabout at Bob Courtway Drive as waters washed over a small bridge at the west leg of the roundabout.

Sandbags were available to residents at the Conway Fire Department Central Station, but the stock was gone by early afternoon and Faulkner County Office of Emergency Management personnel had to spend much of the afternoon filling more. Fire Chief Bart Castleberry said between 1,500 and 2,000 sandbags passed through the station before more arrived.

"People came and picked up sandbags and got really prepared," Castleberry said. "We had a number of calls from businesses, and made a lot of deliveries to elderly or disabled residents. When businesses called, we made deliveries to them too.

"We've had flooding in several areas where it doesn't normally flood."

Castleberry said firemen had their hands full Wednesday morning blocking off downtown Conway.

"It's tough because people want to get to school and work," he said, "but it's the only way to keep flooding out of the businesses."

The department remained in contact with schools concerning bus routes and staged firemen at various creeks, including one by Bob Courtway Middle School, in order to maintain safety.

Castleberry knew people were concerned about getting where they needed to go but implored drivers to keep out of blocked-off areas.

"Please, if the city street department or police have blocked off streets, do not attempt to go around them," he advised. "Likewise if there are barricades. We have a lot of trouble with people going around them.

"We're trying to protect everybody."

Winds driving rain from east to west, contrary to the area's usual weather pattern, meant that rainwater found some new routes onto the floors of some businesses, including the east side of the Conway Chamber of Commerce and a few persistent drips at That Bookstore and Caf at Mountebanq Place, but only one downtown business, Pearce Heating and Air on Deer Street, reported extensive flooding.

Business owner Sharon Pearce said she believed the flooding was due to a change in drainage patterns resulting from the construction of the new police station, but she was quick to add that after a phone call to the Mayor's office, the city came to her aid.

"I haven't had any flooding as long as I've been here, and I bought the building in 1978," she said. "We've had water up to the top of our steps and never had water in the building."

She went on, "Everyone with the city's been very cooperative. They dug a ditch temporarily, and they're going to do more. The Carpet Center was here vacuuming water from 8:30 a.m. until 2 (o'clock). It was coming in on the west side. It was going under the building and coming in on the other side. It is a mess. We've got fans on there tonight. We think they've got it diverted enough that we can leave."

Pearce added the city's response was quick and satisfactory, saying she understood that the rainwater mitigation features of the construction site are "a work in progress" and that she was sure the city will "take care of me 100-percent."

Other downtown business owners reported a close brush with flood waters but no damage.

"It got close, but it didn't get us," said Ray Kordsmeier of Kordsmeier Furniture on Oak Street. "We put our bags out last night."

Leslie Marshall of Bob's Grill said, "It got up to the door, but it didn't come in."

She said she did not know of anyone on the block who had experienced flooding.

It was also something of a close call for residences near Tucker Creek, which cuts through several neighborhoods in Conway.

"It got pretty close," City Engineer Ronnie Hall said, but the creek stayed inside its banks.

Homes in the Krooked Kreek and Royal Oaks subdivisions, which have been prone to flooding in the past, stayed dry despite intense, persistent rain. Jack Bell, assistant to Mayor Tab Townsell, said the Mayor visited this area Wednesday morning and commented that a network of rainwater detention ponds incorporated into the Links at Cadron Valley golf course and apartment complex, which was completed in late 2006 after a lengthy, troublesome design process seem to be working to perfection.

Though neighboring propertyowners turned out en masse to say that the proposed development would put more floodwater on their property, Bell said, it seems that floodwater control features mean that the subdivisions now have less chance of flooding than they did before The Links opened for business.

Still, orange Conway Street Department barricades could be seen at-the-ready alongside low-lying roads in the subdivisions.

An unsettling flash of blue light above College Avenue a few hundred feet west of Locust Street at about 9:30 Wednesday morning, accompanied by a deafening and unearthly hum, meant power outages for a chunk of Old Conway.

Conway Corp CEO Richie Arnold said electric crews have been working almost continually since Tuesday night to mend power lines damaged as wind and rain lashed the Old Conway tree canopy and sent rain-soaked limbs or entire trees crashing down onto live wires.

"We had crews out all night," Arnold said Wednesday afternoon. "Between the wind and the weight of the water on the trees, it's been tough today too. We're ahead of it right now; we just hope we won't have any more bad weather tonight."

Citizens are strongly urged not to approach downed power lines and immediately report them to Conway Corp. or other electric utility providers.

Maj. Bob Berry of the Conway Police Department said officers were also hoping that the tattered remnants of Gustav would peter out over the evening, but were preparing for the worst. The night shift, he said, was clocking in a few hours early in anticipation of a repeat of Wednesday morning's on-again, off-again street closings and to provide extra patrols of areas likely to hold water.

Luckily, he added, CPD had a few extra hands on deck during the worst of the storm Wednesday morning. The METRO Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team, he said, was scheduled for training/practice at the time, and was called to assist with the flooded roads.

Officer Sharen Carter, CPD interim public information officer, said the city seemed to have gotten through the day without any major injuries as a result of the storm, though tragedy was narrowly averted at Bob Courtway Middle School after a seventh-grade student dropped a flute into a raging drainage ditch and apparently slipped while trying to retrieve it.

Berry said the girl was in extreme danger. The waters of the ditch were likely deeper than the girl is tall, he said, but the swiftness of the current meant that she couldn't have stood up at any rate. Students quickly notified school resource officer Bruce Childress, who Berry said can be credited with heroically saving the girl from drowning.

School administrators said the girl was shaken up, but unhurt.

Flooding was worse in other Faulkner County communities.

"We got three or four homes that have been flooded, and we shut down the Kiddieville Day Care Center due to flooding," Greenbrier Mayor Melton Cotton said Wednesday. "Our police department, fire department and water department are all out helping."

Vilonia Fire Chief Keith Hillman said firemen and others barricaded at least five houses with over 200 sandbags and closed several roads in the city.

"We started out at 9:00 this morning and we are just now done," he said Wednesday evening, adding all roads except one off of South Church Street were open to traffic.

County Judge Preston Scroggin said his office's phone lines were alight with calls to report flooding throughout the day.

"We've given out a couple thousand sandbags, getting more from Corps of Engineers," he said. "We're doing what we can."

Reports came in from all over the county, he said, from every city.

"We had to send a trackhoe to Vilonia Elementary because of water in the cafeteria."

He echoed Castleberry's warning to motorists.

"Make sure that if you do think you're going to have problems to call us and let us know," he said, adding he and his staff had to fish two cars out of flooded areas before 11 a.m.

In the interest of public safety and keeping emergency workers at their posts rather than rescuing motorists who do not heed barricades, Scroggin put it simply: "Do not drive through flooded roads."

Mild rain showers were accompanied by a light breeze at press time Wednesday night. Radar images at conwayweather.com showed what seemed to be the last heavy rainfall of the night rising northward past Interstate 40. By Friday, it should be mostly sunny.

However, Hurricane Ike strengthened to a category-three storm Wednesday, and some forecasts indicate that it could approach the Florida coast early next week.

(This story was generated by the Log Cabin Democrat newsroom staff. Managing editor Waylon Harris can be reached at 505-1236. Staff Writer Rachel Parker can be reached at 505-1277, Staff Writer Jessica Bauer can be reached at 505-1236, Staff Writer Jerrica Ryan can be reached at 505-1266 and Staff Writer Joe Lamb can be reached at 505-1238. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)