GREENWOOD, Ark. — Early Friday morning until about one in the afternoon, the City of Greenwood was dealing with road closures, water rescues and neighborhoods under water.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this type of flooding and today, I’ve seen parts of Greenwood that flooded that I haven’t seen in the past,” said Greenwood Police Chief Will Dawson.
The southwestern part of Greenwood took the brunt of the flooding as the Greenwood Fire Department assisted in water rescues near W Denver Street along W Atlanta Street neighborhood as Hester Creek rose in the heavy rainfall.
"I know there were several boats out there that were bringing full families on to Atlanta Street from back in those neighborhoods,” said Chief Dawson.
Shortly before noon, the Greenwood Fire Department said they weren’t sure how many water rescues they made but estimated the total number to be near one hundred.
A little south on Highway 71, residents along Vineyard Creek were stuck in their homes until water began to fall.
One resident had his mailbox ripped from his yard and was found about a tenth of a mile down the road later in the afternoon. On the other side of his home, the bridge that spans Vineyard Creek was completely underwater and even washed away the road leaving it to look like a carpet.
“My grandpa has owned this property since I was about ten and that’s the highest I’ve ever seen the water,” said Jeremey Richey. “The water was probably, maybe, six-foot from my house. It came flowing down through here, literally the whole street was a river. It evidently picked up the road and moved it out of the way.”
Before the water fell later in the afternoon, the same area was extremely cautious of the situation unfolding. Propane tanks were carried away by the water and eventually made their way to the bridge where they got stuck underneath until water levels dropped and they could be pulled out.
Once the water cleared up, cleanup plans began.
“We’ll check on the places that we haven’t checked on and then it will be on the street department to check the roads to make sure they’re safe and they’re not going to give way if traffic gets back on them,” said Chief Dawson.
Around 3 p.m. the City of Greenwood Water Department issued a statement saying the department is, “requesting all water users to conserve water as repairs are being made to infrastructure at the lake due to damage from recent flooding. We are asking customers to use water sparingly for domestic purposes only. Irrigation of lawns, shrubs, washing pavement, etc. are prohibited.”
The department says they will notify customers once the repairs have been made and use can return to normal.
For now, residents will use the warm weather this weekend to continue to dry out and clean up from Friday’s storm. They will lean on the City of Greenwood and Sebastian County for guidance and a timeline for certain repairs.
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