Another cooler day is forecast, at least with temperatures below 90.
A 30% chance of thunderstorms stays with us, like the photo of Saturday’s storm front seen moving north at the airport.
This photo was taken behind the Drew County Courthouse, Tuesday around 5:15, showing the storm clouds that passed from Pine Bluff, to Warren, but missed the Monticello area.
This photo was taken by Mark Cater near Florence Road, Saturday evening.
Betty Jean Lewis, age 53 of Crossett (this is not the Betty Lewis that lives in Monticello), thought more of her “lovely nails” than her pet Schnauzer, yesterday afternoon around 3:10, as she left the little fellow inside of her Monte Carlo for over 20 minutes, with no air, and according to sources, no water.
Monticello Police and an animal control officer responded to the call, and Lewis came out of the nail salon, long enough to crank the vehicle and turn on the air conditioner, before going back into the business. Someone at the scene said, “when she came out, she didn’t even pick up the little pooch to pet, pamper, or apologize to him.”
Lewis was cited for “cruelty to an animal” for putting the pet through the smothering hot ordeal. Even though the passenger’s window was rolled down a couple of inches, the extra heat caused by the window tint would have added to the neglect.
Whenever someone would get close to the car, the dog would begin barking and running around the vehicle, and it wouldn’t have been safe to open the car, to let him out.
HWY 425 Near Old Warren RoadCity Park
City Park, submitted by Donna Norris, of Haird Du Salon.
Strong thunderstorms rolled into the Monticello between 4 and 6 pm, and strengthened, bringing with them heavy rain, thunder and lightning, a flash flood warning, and a power outage over much of Monticello.
Arkansas State Police, assisted by Drew County Sheriff deputies, worked the scene of this wreck, Friday evening around 7 p.m., near the intersection os HWY 172 and Ozment Bluff Road, south of Wilmar.
The driver of this Ford pick-up, whose name was unavailable, had already been taken to the Drew County Detention Facility for an alcohol test.
No one was injured in the collision, as the truck crashed into a group of trees at the bottom of a ditchbank.
A HOT DOME OF HIGH PRESSURE IS REBUILDING OVER THE ARKLAMISS, AND HEAT STRESS LEVELS HAVE RETURNED TO MORE DANGEROUS LEVELS.
MAXIMUM HEAT INDICES SUNDAY WILL RANGE FROM 105 TO 110…WHILE LOW TEMPERATURES TONIGHT WILL RANGE FROM 75 TO 79.
From MonticelloLive on Vimeo.
Although no wreck or “trees down” calls have been reported, electricity has been off over the northern half of Monticello since around 7:30.
Areas without electricity includes North Gabbert, North Chester, and North Cooper streets, as well as portions of the country club area, among others.
A call to Entergy explained that their crews are currently working on a main feeder line, repairing damage caused yesterdays storms, and power should be restored by 11 a.m.
Approximately 1,766 Drew County customers are affected by the outage.
The tree shown above fell across West Bolling, near South Hyatt, around 9 o’clock, last nigh, causing a brief power service.
This photo was taken around 6:30 pm on St. Patricks day, by Vicki Keene-Donaldson of “Keene’s Photography“ .
Two weeks to the day after he disappeared, searchers recovered the body of Dustin Evans, 19, from the flooded backwaters of the Saline River on Friday morning.
Here’s more on the article from the Ashley County Ledger’s website.
Even though this wreck took place on New Year’s Eve afternoon, the photo is still a good reminder to be careful, and drive slower than usual while traveling the next couple of day, with the wet, cold, and likely freezing conditions that cover the Monticello area.
The Mercury Grand Marquis was being driven by a lady from Louisiana, who was not injured in the accident, which occurred a couple miles south of the White Hall area on HWY 425 South.
Monticello’s Fire & Rescue was paged to the scene, which was worked by the Arkansas State Police, assisted by Drew County Sheriff’s deputies.
Rod’s Wrecker sent a couple of wreckers to remove the Mercury.
Flood waters are finally dropping in the southwest corner of Drew County, following last week’s heavy rains.
HWY 172 in closed south of the Possum Valley Pavilion, and many county roads are still underwater, as well.
Boats were again used to move residents across flooded areas to their vehicles, and farm animals were led, as best as they could be, to higher, dryer land, although some didn’t survive.
A local farmer explained the December flood, had caught many folks unaware, since local creek flooding was followed so closely to backwater flooding from the Saline River.
The top photo shows HWY 172, still underwater, as of Saturday afternoon. The next photo shows a flooded pasture, and an underwater fence line, north of HWY 172.
The south side of the highway is shown in the third photo, where the floodwaters stretch as far as the eye can see, into the distant forest, and beyond.
The last picture shows Ben Loveless Road, which runs north of HWY 172, just another example of the many county roads, such as Ozment Bluff Road and Gees Landing Road, that are closed due to the slowly falling floodwaters.
The driver of this Chevy Cavalier was not injured Friday morning around 6:30, when she tried to cross an underwater section of HWY 35 North, around its intersection with HWY 133, and was washed off of the highway.
The Chevy began to leak water through the door seals before it began to float out of the roadway and into a nearby line of trees during the driver’s Christmas morning trip from Rison to Hamburg.
The driver climbed out of the car, and was picked up by family members following in another vehicle.
The roadway remained under water Friday afternoon, as shown by the bottom photo.
These photos were taken during Thursday morning’s severe thunderstorms and flooding.
These pics were taken near the Dead Man’s Curve area, approximately two miles east of Monticello, on HWY 278.
Friday, a vehicle attempting to cross a wide wake of water on Winchester Road was washed off the highway, prompting Monticello Fire & Rescue to respond. They were able to get the stranded motorist back to safe ground. They were also dispatched out again late Friday afternoon.
HWY 83, approximately a mile past Rose Hill Cut-off Road, is shown here. Notice the shoulder of the highway has been washed away by the fast moving flood waters that poured across the pavement.
The construction signs on HWY 278 can be seen at the far side of the bottom photo, taken Friday by a MonticelloLive reader.
Thanks to everyone who sent in photos.
Judge Damon Lampkin urges everyone traveling around Drew County today to use extreme caution, and watch for the many roadways that have water across them, He also told MonticelloLive that many county roads have been closed to traffic.
According to reports, most roads in Drew County have places that are under water. Hazardous roadways include HWY 138, HWY 278 East, HWY 35, HWY 83, as well as many city streets and county roads.
Drew County remains under a FLASH FLOOD WATCH through Saturday morning.
1-2 inches of rain are forecast for our area out of the thunderstorm pattern.
Keep checking back to MonticelloLive for updated road and weather conditions.
At 8:20, this morning, South Main St. was re-opened, after the street was cleaned with a street sweeper, and the businesses around the square and on S. Main Street were told that they could safely re-open.
The sidewalk on the West side of Main St. next to the building remains closed, and parking on the east side of S Main is closed for 1 block.
Local businesses on the south side of the square, and on Main Street, between Gaines St. and the railroad tracks were closed Wednesday following the collapse of the old drug store building at the intersection of Gaines and Main St.
A structural engineer inspected the damaged building Tuesday, and after spending several hours in and around the structure, William M. Bollinger, on behalf of EFI Global found that “the remaining front (sections) of the building appear to have adequate structural stability for their current loadings to allow the reopening of the closed streets and front side walk.”
He also recommended the closing of the east sidewalk, next to the building, restricting use of the building, and closing the alley behind the structure until the damaged portion is removed.
The heavy rains accumulated at the back of the sloping roof, causing the roof to collapse.
No decision has been made as to the future of the building.
The back section of the former Thrifty Chicks, also known as the old Tree-0 and Apples & Amens building collapsed, shortly after noon, Tuesday afternoon, likely under the weight of heavy rain.
Monticello Police and Fire Units responded, and Drew County Deputies also assisted.
The front of the top floor was reportedly being used as an office by Judge Clifton Bond, a retired attorney and judge.
Centerpoint energy was also called to the site to turn of the natural gas supply, which was smelled immediately after the rumble of falling bricks came to an end.
The building collapse was covered on TV by KATV-7 and KLRT-16, who used photos provided by MonticelloLive.com
Channels 4 & 11 were also reported on the event.
Around 4 o’clock Tuesday afternoon, the driver of this Chevy Z71 was traveling north around the Campground Loop area, when she lost control of her vehicle, likely because of hydroplaning, and crossed into the deep west ditch, and rolling down the embankment, coming to rest on top of a tree.
Monticello Fire & Rescue responded to use the Jaws of Life to cut the top off of the truck, and remove the 3 occupants from it.
MASI transported 1 injured party to Drew Memorial; Drew County Sheriff Mark Gober and 3 deputies responded to work the scene, and ease the heavy traffic flow: J.A. Goad Towing removed the Chevy from the deep embankment.
After closing school at 1:30 Tuesday, because of heavy rains and flooding of county roads, Drew Central Schools will cancel classes on Wednesday, as well, due to concerns over bridges that have been underwater, and will need to be inspected before putting heavy vehicles like school buses on them, Superintendant Wayne Fawcett told MonticelloLive.
Monticello Schools have announced that their classes will be in session on Wednesday.
UAM has made no announcement about any closing.
Head of the Class and Monticello Christian Academy will be having classess.
As strong thunderstorms continue to fall on southeast Arkansas, Monticello Police Dispatch wishes to advise the public that many local highways, as well as city streets are becoming dangerous, to attempt to travel.
HWY’s 172, 138, and 425 South (around the Lacey area) have had multiple complaints about water being over the roadway in areas.
Midway Route has been described as “very dangerous” in several locations.
Numerous Monticello city streets are also under water in places.
While work crews have marked some locations with signs, all dangerous spots have not been identified.
PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS FLOWING WATER ON STREETS AND ROADWAYS.
Other roadways to avoid include East McCloy and East Gaines, and E. Shelton St.
Updates will be posted on MonticelloLive.com. as the weather continues to affect Monticello and Drew County.
This photo shows an uprooted tree, approximately 5 miles north on Monticello on HWY 425. You can compare the size of the tree to the size of the residence behind it.
These photos were taken on HWY 425, between Monticello and Montongo, Friday around noon.
A strong thunderstorm system rolled across the area, reportedly causing more damage to Bradley and Cleveland County, than to Drew County.
The photos show a downed tree, which fell across power lines, causing a nearby power pole to snap, pulling the electric line from it’s residence.
Shortly after Thursday night’s thunderstorn, a small alligator was seen crossing East McCloy Street by Drew County Deputy Steven Mitchell, near the city warehouse around midnight.
The alligator, estimated to measure around 2 1/2 foot long, was detained by city employee Charlie Hammock, with local law authorities present, and turned over to the Arkansas Game & Fish Commision.
S
hortly after 10 p.m. Thursday night, a line of severe thunderstorms rolled across Monticello, leaving many electric customers without power. Most had service restored by 2 a.m., but Entergy’s website estimates that approximately 189 Drew County electric customers are still with service, as of 6 a.m.
Power to the South Main St./Jackson St. intersection is still off, including the Drew County Courthouse.
Storm damage reported to law enforcement included: a tree fell on a vehicle on Bowser Road,
Waff-L-Inn’s roof was damaged, and a large section of a tree fell on S. Gabbert near E. College,
Around 6 o’clock Sunday morning, a strong thunderstorm passed through Monticello, leaving many residents without electricity.
Entergy estimates that around 1300 Drew County customers are without power, and that power will be restored to most customers by midday.
The primary area affected is east of Hyatt St, both on the north and south ends of Monticello.
Please do not call the police dept. to report power outages. They also are without electricity, and are running on backup generators.
To report an outage, call Entergy at 1-800- Entergy, or 1-800-368-3749.
Following last week’s strong thunderstorm, most damage has been repaired and/or replaced. However one trash can lid still hasn’t found it’s home yet.
Also, one of the roadside signs across from Young’s Country Cooking & B-B-Q was blown down.
The National Weather Service issued a SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING for Drew County Thursday evening, which left storm damage as the strong system swept across the area.
Damage was reported in Monticello, as well as the eastern half of the county. (more…)
Top, left-large limb in jail courtyard.
Top, right, N. Hyatt Street.
Allen Street at N. Gabbert.
Godbold Street at Cooper.
HWY 425 & 278, with no lights.
Tree on N. Main.
Transformer on N. Main.
Car hit by tree on S. Wilmar Road.
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