Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 16, 1990 TAG: 9005160347
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LIBERTY, TEXAS LENGTH: Medium
Parts of Arkansas flooded since May 1 were declared a federal disaster area by President Bush as National Guardsmen labored to shore up a weakened levee protecting a small town from the Red River, which continued its steady climb toward a 45-year high.
In neighboring Louisiana, residents stacked sandbags around homes near the Red River and some evacuated.
"It's bad," said Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La., who toured the flooded regions. "It's the worst flood we've had here in my lifetime."
Elsewhere, creeks and rivers rose sharply in western and central Missouri, including the Kansas City area, as thunderstorms continued to dump heavy rain throughout the region. Many streets were flooded and more rain was expected.
Residents of low-lying areas along the Trinity River in southeastern Texas braced for the worst as engineers at Lake Livingston Dam cranked open the taps to release a record flow of 85,000 cubic feet per second to protect the dam from a record flood. Releases of more than 20,000 cfs cause at least some flooding below the dam.
The river's crest was expected to reach the dam by today, and releases could reach 100,000 cfs that day or Thursday, causing the worst flooding in 80 years in the small communities downstream.
Many residents of communities south of the dam heeded early warnings and moved to higher ground, although there were last minute stragglers who called for help as water covered the roads out of their subdivisions.
"They chose to stay . . . now they've become frightened and they want out," said Jim Mitchum, Liberty County emergency management coordinator, adding that people were helped by the early warnings.
Flooding along the Trinity began two weeks ago in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, forcing hundreds of people from their homes.
The flooding and storms that caused the flooding killed 12 people in Texas and one in Oklahoma, and could cause up to $700 million in agricultural damage in Texas alone, officials estimate.
In Arkansas, agencies differed on the numbers of houses affected by flooding on the Arkansas and Red rivers. The state Office of Emergency Services estimated 493 houses sustained some kind of flood damage, said spokesman Gary Talley. Red Cross spokesman David Threkelsen said their count stood at 337 but that surveys were continuing.
The president's disaster declaration makes federal funding available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency to supplement the recovery of residents and businesses in Crawford, Faulkner, Jefferson, Little River, Perry, Pulaski and Sebastian counties.
The disaster declaration was requested last week by Gov. Bill Clinton, who renewed the requested Tuesday, saying, "devastating flooding unprecedented in recent history continues to this day."
Clinton estimated that losses to public and private property will exceed $20 million.
Sandbagging continued in earnest on a weakened levee protecting the town of Garland, Ark., from the Red River, said Talley. The river had crested in the area, he said, but it probably will be late today before it recedes.
National Guard Maj. David Lively said sandbagging along the Red River could continue until the weekend.
If the levee breaks near an Army Corps of Engineers' command post at Garland, a town of about 600 people, "we'll have time to sound a horn and tell people to get out," said Lt. Bob Page of the Miller County sheriff's office.
In Louisiana, about 300 homes have been evacuated along the Red River from Shreveport southward as the river climbed toward a 45-year high.
Emergency workers ringed homes with sandbags in a low-lying area of Shreveport, where the Red was expected to crest today at 34.8 feet, about 5 feet above flood stage. That will be higher than a 1957 flood, but not a record.
by CNB