12 dead in Arkansas flash floods

[sinkingfeeling]

Source: MSNBC.com

CADDO GAP, Ark. - Deadly flash floods triggered by up to a half-foot of rain swamped campgrounds in southwestern Arkansas, drowning at least 12 people that may have included children, officials said.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said he did not know if those killed early Friday were campers or area residents. He said officials were moving in a refrigerated truck to set up as a temporary morgue.

State police said others remained trapped and missing along the Caddo and Little Missouri rivers in the rugged Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37637416/ns/us_news-life/

[babylonsister]

1. Jeeze.

I didn't even know it was raining there. Sad.

[Soylent Brice]

2. .

K&R

[Old Vet]

3. This is a bigger deal then there reporting.............

There were 300 people camping next to a stream that usually has a depth of 3ft. Overnite it rose to 22ft high, Thats why theres all those bodies are wahing up down stream.

[Robbien]

5. Over three dozen missing still---OMG

Weather patterns are way out of synch and as you say, these occurrences are being under reported.

[Electric Monk]

4. CNN now saying at least 16 dead, 36 missing as well

[Poll_Blind]

6. Check out this AP infographic on how quickly the waters rose:

That is just astounding, both the rise and fall so quickly. What a frightening thing to happen and what a tragedy...

PB

[Old Vet]

8. I have never seen or heard of anything like that in the US.........

Before. Is a record of some kind? Those poor people didnt have a chance when you google the area, The bridges were probably washed out before they knew what was going on. Imagine the under current and how fast that water was moving....

[Dover]

9. A similar scenario just happened in Texas as well, though only one fatality reported.

Lots of property damage and big buses swept down stream.

Flash flooding is pretty frequent in the Texas Hill Country and so sudden rises in the rivers and streams often take people by surprise.

But the Arkansas fatality count is just devastating.




Austin-American Statesman

One person dead in flooding on Guadalupe River
By Andrea Ball | Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 05:07 PM

Fierce thunderstorms caused major flooding in Central Texas today, killing one person, trapping others in their homes and destroying vehicles as the Guadalupe River swelled beyond its banks.

Heavy rains in Comal and Guadalupe counties closed roads, flooded houses and triggered water rescues from houses and cars throughout the area. A body was pulled from the Guadalupe River in Gruene around 11 a.m., but details on the death were not released.

“It’s just total devastation down here,” said Terry Walling, who was trapped for several hours on the second floor of her New Braunfels house.

The flooding was caused after a storm dumped more than 12 inches of rain on Comal County and seven inches in Guadalupe, according to the National Weather Service in San Antonio. More than 800 emergency dispatch calls were received in New Braunfels, and about 100 were for evacuation or rescue, according to City of New Braunfels spokeswoman Vicki Brown. Reverse 911 reached 368 homes asking people to evacuate.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/entries/2010/06/09/fierce_thunders.html

[Nevernose]

11. No, it's not a record

One local paper said it was the second worst flood in the area since records have been kept -- but records have only been kept there since 1988 (one section) and 1993 (a different section). Flash floods like this are very common out west, too -- practically every time it rains in Nevada, there's a similar flash flood.

[Democat]

7. Any word from Pat Robertson yet?

Who is he going to blame this time?

RIP to all of those who lost their lives.

[Nevernose]

10. I camped there once a month, every month, for ten years.

It was where our family went camping. Flash floods are common, and scary. I remember one, maybe 1985 or so, where the water rose 12 feet overnight and turned our tent and parking area into an island. We were out in the woods, though, so only later learned that park rangers had cleared out the established campgrounds for safety. We stayed awake the whole night, checking the water level by lightning strike, watched the boulders roll and the uprooted trees float past -- absolutely terrifying. Those poor people...

[Odin2005]

12. I heard on MPR that people in the area could hear people screaming from there!

:cry: