The remnants of Hurricane Beryl brought at least five tornadoes to Arkansas and saturated the Natural State with large amounts of tropical rainfall, the National Weather Service said early Tuesday morning.
Beryl slammed the Texas Gulf Coast before sweeping in a northeasterly direction, dumping torrential amounts of rainfall over the ArkLaTex region and spawning tornadoes in its wake.
The tropical system produced some damage, but the big story was the amount of rain received. Widespread swaths of 4-6 inches fell with locally higher amounts. Since the ground was so dry before the rain fell, only localized flooding was reported.
According to 24-hour surface observations posted on the National Weather Service website, between 2.5 to 3 inches of rainfall was recorded at Arkadelphia’s airport. Further west, 4.76 inches of rain was recorded in Antoine, located at the Clark/Pike county line.
There were isolated tornadoes Monday in central/southern Arkansas, mainly in Columbia, Dallas, and Jefferson counties.
One of those storms believed to be a tornado caused damage in Sparkman, about 25 miles southeast of Arkadelphia.
Flash flooding also occurred in central sections of the state, including the Little Rock and Bryant areas given rainfall rates over 4 inches per hour at times.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, July 9, the Ouachita River at Arkadelphia was observed to have spiked to 10.2 feet, roughly double what it had been the evening prior. The flood stage at Arkadelphia is 17 feet.
The latest National Water Prediction Service forecast showed the Ouachita to crest at 11.18 feet at about midday Tuesday. Normal levels should resume by Wednesday evening.
Looking ahead, highs for Wednesday across the state will top out in the 80s and 90s under mostly sunny skies.
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