Flooding Wreaks Havoc in County

RISON - With reports of as much as eight inches of rain falling in Cleveland County late Monday night through Tuesday morning, newly installed County Judge Jimmy Cummings was welcomed to the job with a number of washouts and flooded roadways across the county, including one that required a motorist to be rescued. Cleveland County Wildlife Officer Eric Rawls of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission said he was called out shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday from Rison to assist in rescuing a motorist whose pickup truck was washed off Hwy. 114 by floodwaters at the Hudgin Creek crossing just west of the Cleveland-Lincoln County line. When he arrived, Rawls said he found the truck off the south side of the highway, submerged in the flowing floodwaters with the water level up the windows. He said the driver had gotten out and was on top of the cab when he motored his boat to the truck to pick him up. Rawls said he was awaiting assistance from Lincoln County Wildlife officer Audrey Bush and Drew County Wildlife officer Austin Powell from the east side of rescue site, but with state police reporting that the water levels were rising, he decided to launch the boat on is own from the west side. He estimated the flood waters to be about five to six feet deep when he made the rescue. This was the third rescue of motorists washed off Hwy. 114 at this same location in the past few years. Meanwhile, Cummings found his first official day on the job as county judge much more eventful than he had imagined as he and the county road department scrambled to tackle washouts and flooded roadways across the county. While he did not have an official count available Tuesday af-ternoon, Cummings estimated there were at least 15 washouts along county roads. He said two state highways in the county, Hwy. 114 and Hwy. 11 were closed at some point due to high water while Rodgers Road East near the Randall community, and Dunkeffie Road at ...