Saline County residents start to clean up after flash flooding caused by Beryl

BENTON, Ark. – Many Saline County residents are cleaning up after the county faced flash flooding that impacted drivers, homeowners and those living in apartments.

Beryl brought heavy rain and damaging winds in parts of Arkansas. Saline County Emergency Management Director Stuart Duke said the rain was significant and caused the flash flooding.

“Approximately 30 roads had issues,” Duke said. “We had some calls in the county that required some evacuations.”

Duke said on Tuesday that crews are still assessing the area after much of the flood water has receded. As for the evacuations, he said they did around 10 at the Revive Benton Apartments but there are no reported injuries.

Jasper Wolcott lives at the apartment complex and said the water that was coming into the apartment got “worse and worse.”

“It was coming in through the front door, it was coming in from underneath the walls, in every single room,” Wolcott said.

Wolcott said when the water kept coming in the apartment, they chose to leave through the window instead of opening the front door to avoid more rushing in.

“The water was literally rushing past here (the front door and parking lot),” Wolcott said. “We had to go towards the flow because if we had gone against it, it probably would have swept us away.”

Tanisha Lews said she hunkered down when her apartment started to fill with water.

“It was like a little river in here,” Lews said.

Kevin Belt and his family live in a home a few minutes away from the apartment complex. He said their entire house was flooded and parts of their fence was brought down by the strength of the storm.

“We had about six inches of water in our garage, and it pushed under the door into the walls,” Belt said.

Belt said his family is now in clean-up mode.

“We had to get the mud up off the floor, get the carpets out, the beds out so get the living place as clean as possible,” Belt said.

Those living in the apartment complex said they are doing their best to clean up and save what they can.

Duke said as of Tuesday there are no injuries reported but if people need to report any damage they should contact the county emergency management office.

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