WEST MEMPHIS, Ark. — West Memphis Mayor Marco McClendon is sending a strong message as the city faces unprecedented flooding.
“When I say stay at home, I really mean stay at home,” McClendon said. “This is a life-or-death situation.”
The flooding has resulted in dozens of early morning water rescues.
Near the corner of Avalon and Jefferson Avenue, you can see how far the water has risen but this is nothing compared to the height of the water in the surrounding community.
WREG spoke to the West Memphis Fire Chief, and he told us this morning they’ve had to rescue more than 100 people.
“About 4 a.m. this morning, we got a call from dispatch that we had some families that were taking in water in their homes,” said Fire Chief Barry Ealy. “We began our rescue missions, our water rescue.”
Multiple roads in West Memphis are blocked due to flooding.
According to the National Weather Service, the city received up to 10 inches of rain overnight.
This comes after days of severe weather.
Chief Ealy said that there were no reported overnight injuries.
However, first responders are on standby.
Those needing housing were taken to the Roberta Jackson Neighborhood Center by bus.
Adanna Robinson says she left her home just before water came rushing in.
She said she noticed the water rising around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
“Everybody on Mimosa like flooded,” Robinson said. “Like our house flooded. It’s over with.”
Mayor McClendon said some flooding in this area isn’t uncommon, but it’s never to this extent.
“All our pumps have been working. It wasn’t a wastewater or drainage stop-up,” McClendon said. “It was just an unprecedented flood for our city.”
He said the evacuations are voluntary.
However, he wants people to use caution.
According to Chief Ealy, an adult and three children had to be rescued from their vehicle.
He said the driver was attempting to drive through a flooded roadway near the intersection of Mimosa and Maple Drive.
“I know it’s going to frustrate and inconvenience some of the people in our city, but they just got to understand right now that we just can’t keep going back and forth through this water,” McClendon said. “As we are making evacuations, we don’t need to create more evacuations by people going and getting stuck in this water.”
Mayor McClendon said crews are on standby using a drone to fly through the neighborhood in case anyone wants to evacuate.
He could not give a timeline on when the water may recede.
