Flooding in Yellville courtesy of Shawn Beaver
According to Yellville Mayor Shawn Lane the City of Yellville has most likely experienced a 100 year flooding event from Tuesday and Wednesday’s heavy rainfall. in speaking with KTLO News the mayor cited a marker from a flood 100 years ago in the city that was under the raging waters during the latest deluge.
Mayor Lane was awoken at 4 Wednesday morning to a high water alarm from one of their city systems. He says he thought something was amiss as that alarm rarely ever activates. Heading down to the town branch area at approxiamtely 4:15 he witnessed for himself the entire area completely flooded. At one point flood waters were running down Highway 14 South and emptying over the bridge down into Crooked Creek.
Approximately 80 residents of Creekside Nursing Home in Yellville had to be evacuated due to the heavy rains. They were transported initially to the Marion County Fairgrounds in Summit, and Baxter Health Vice President of Marketing and Communications Tobias Pugsley says it was amazing how quickly the residents were safely transported.
For anyone wanting to check on their loved ones who were staying at Creekside, a phone number has been set up at 870-449-4202. Pugsley says at the last update, officials were attempting to get the Creekside residents placed at other locations.
Many downtown businesses and buildings where flooded with the Yelcot building at one point having one foot of water throughout the building. KTLO has also reported on Shawn Beaver’s barber shop seeing waters surging up 3 feet in his business directly in the path of flooding at the town branch. The area has not seen flooding at this scale since the floods of 1961 in Harrison that sent large amounts of water in Yellville.
Marion County Judge Jason Stumph says most roads in the county have been reopened with the exception of MC 8060.
Judge Stumph says he contacted FEMA to get an emergency declared early this morning once he found out about the bridge.
Mayor Lane says city crews have been busy clearing drains and ditches of debris to aid in water drainage. He says he is coordinating with local waste businesses to bring in dumpsters to the downtown area so that residents can have a place to bring debris. He hopes to have those in place by this afternoon.
In addition to the fairgrounds, Judge Stumph says Flippin Mayor Heith Hogan received permission from the Flippin School District to use its storm shelter, and Real Life Church has offered to utilize its Reach Center in Mountain Home for anyone possibly needing shelter.
With rain still forecasted through the day and the ground saturated Mayor Lane is urging caution to residents as it will not take much precipitation for local water ways to surge and flood once again.
Stay tuned to KTLO, Classic Hits and the Boot as we gather more information about this unprecidented 100 year event.
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