LITTLE ROCK (AP) _ Empty grain elevators surrounded by a swollen White
River await a harvest that may never come as floodwaters drown wheat already
planted this spring.
Last year, Arkansas produced about 28.7 million bushels of wheat. Now,
muddy waters have run through fields for days, taking with it expensive
fertilizer treatments already applied to the soil.
Some of the wheat, green this time of year and looking like tall grass,
has survived, wheat expert Jason Kelley, of the University of Arkansas
Cooperative Extension Service, said Thursday. But grain under water for
a week or more likely won't make it.
"You could really tell the plant had been suffering," Kelley said. "They
were actually wilted and looked like they were running out of water, but
they had no oxygen."
Any real estimate on the damage will have to wait until the floodwaters
drain, Kelley said, a process that may take days.
The flooding in Arkansas began with storms March 17 in the Midwest,
and federal and state officials have been able to assess the damage only
where the water has receded. Thirty-five counties - nearly half the state
- have been declared federal disaster areas. One person was killed in the
storms in Arkansas, and another remains missing.
Recent heavy rains also flooded parts of other states, including Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. The weather has been linked to at least
17 deaths in the region.
The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning Thursday for
the White River downstream from the town Des Arc, northeast of Little Rock,
and forecasters said flooding at Clarendon in Monroe County could be the
worst in 25 years.
Residents along the White River National Wildlife Refuge near Clarendon
will see water rise a foot a day, said weather service hydrologist Steve
Bays.
"One thing that we are trying to do around here is keep people concerned
about what's going on but not inflict a panic, and it's a fine line. It
certainly bears monitoring by people along the river," Bays said.
With waters still rising under sunny skies, forecasters called for a
50 percent chance of thunderstorms Friday and a quarter-inch of rain or
more.
Jaysson Funkhouser, a surface water specialist with the U.S. Geological
Survey, said preliminary figures showed that the White River surge from
last week's storms and flooding upstream could, in coming days, reach the
100-year flood stage - meaning it has a 1-in-100 chance of being flooded
this badly in any given year.
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