The '82 flood

[T Yamashita]

I heard on the news last night that it's been 30 years since the great ozark flood of 1982. I put up a notice on my Facebook page and got some pretty neat responses. I was a 2nd year at Hendrix college and don't recall much, anybody got some good recollections about it?

ty

[Flapjack]

If I remember right it was over I-40.

[prophet]

If I remember right it was over I-40.

that all i knew about it for years before paddling came in the picture. down around Conway

[maggiepowell]

I was only 6 went that happened but I do remember my dad driving us down to Murray Park and around the underwater parking lot. I was afraid he would miscalculate and drive us past the bank into deep, deep water. It was at night and I have no idea how he could tell where the land ended and the bank dropped down into the river. Scary for a 6 yr old.

[Shark Attack]

I was in college at Tech & It was not possible to get to Springfield for Christmas without a huge detour. I enjoyed a great Christmas party at the Oyster Bar in LR.

[Bozman]

I was going to AR Tech at the time too. I'm thinking, that's the flood where you had to use a canoe or wade waist deep to get into Turner dorm. People were paddling around a couple of dorms. We had a formal at LR and drove there on I-40, but had to detour part of the way back on 64, cause the interstate was under water. We even had to drive through water over the highway on 64. I still remember all of the rats, as they were everywhere along the highway, and covering round hay bales along the road. All of the Tech farm was under water. Just think, alot of us had lakefront dorm rooms. It was cool.......for a day or two

[sig]

Here are two photos I have at work from the '82 flood. I believe both photos are of the old Hwy 14 bridge over the Buffalo River and I believe they have raised the bridge since then. The '82 flood is the flood of record in a big part of the state.

[sig]

Here's the 72-hour rainfall map from that storm. This came from a report on the flood event in question and was written by the USGS.

[SteveGabbard]

That is an amazing map Sig. I could not imagine 15" of rain in 72 hours.

I guess my memories of that flood were watching cars float off the parking lots of car dealerships along University Ave in Little Rock. I suppose it must have been along Rock Creek? I'm not sure if this was during the same flood we are talking about or not. Just a vague childhood memory

[canoe]

If I remember right, 1981 was a big water year as well. The 82 flood found me running Rock Creek in LR, eddying out behind semitrailers that had been washed into the creek. I remember running Piney a day or 2 behind the peak. We put in at Longpool, with about 2-3 inches of water below the rock wall that is above the 1st rapid below the pool. Took 12-13 minutes to run down to Moore's, and most of that time was spent eddying out in the pasture on river right across from Bate's hog farm, where a huge reflection wave(30 ft?) was bouncing off the cliff, while we watched massive trees being thrown out of the reaction waves and eddys. One of the scariest runs I have ever done. There were 3 of us, and we had the plan that one would lead, 2nd would watch both 1&3, and 3 would watch for trees. One of the dumbest plans I've ever been a part of. dale

[George Locke]

When I tried to get to our cabin, directly across the creek from Turner Bend, I had to wait for the Highway crew to guarantee the bridge was safe. The creek had removed most of Eli(?)Turner's bend and the creek had plowed right through where Brad's west campground is now. The creek removed all of the southbound lane on the south side of the bridge. When i was given the goahead, hiway trucks were dumping rip rap into the hole. Highway 23 on the north side of the bridge had all of the asphalt ripped up and deposited hundreds of yards down stream in complete sections 20 to 50 feet long. At the cabin i could not get the front door open because i thought it was swollen shut when it was actually the refrigerator blocking the door. All of the furniture was deposited on the downstream side of the cabin. The water flowed effortlessly through the chinking of the log cabin. Close to three feet of water had been in the cabin shown by high water marks left on the fireplace door grate. Brad had just recently purchased TB and this flood was the impetus for the engneering to fortify the existing Turner rock wall we all love to sit and walk on now. It was competed in '85 and had a drain valve put in so that if the water breached the wall it would have a way to go back to the river. A down side to this arrangement is that if the valve is open and the water doesn't go over the top, the creek will flood the campground through the open drain. If the drain is closed and the water comes over the top, the wall holds water like a swimming pool and Brad gets to do just that... Dive and open the valve... Decisions Decisions... The plan the Highway department devised to fix the breach was to disregard any possible environmental/sediment/habitat problems by letting the Farm Bureau lobby propose and implement a plan to remove the island under the bridge and pile it up where the old Turner Bend Wall had been with the pretense of saving " Valuable Vineyards" that had not produced a harvest in years ( Thank you Al Wiediker). At the time this caused major sediment load with out any oversight. Oh for the good ol' days.

[L.A.paddler]

If I am looking at the map correctly ( I am probably not??) It looks like the area that recieved 15+" is right on the Tot watershed. I am correct in my assumption? If it did man what a sight that must have been!

cheers, Terry DeMoe

[CAPTAIN ALEVE]

And don't forget about the 13" in about 36 hours in Little Rock in September 1978. Rained so hard on the second morning you could not see a building a 100 feet away. Talk about a flash flood! Eight people drowned in LR after being swept off Asher Avenue by Rock Creek swarming over the road. I-430 went under at Highway 5; I-30 was submerged at too many places to count. I-40 went under, too, isolating the city, a fact that was broadcast on NBC national tv news. I lived near the top of a hill and water ran down against my house so hard that it ran up the foundation far enough to flood the rooms on that side of the house. It was a big 'un, by cracky.

Captain Aleve, alias Mike Coogan