Saline County didn't escape the floodwaters. The scenes Friday were becoming a frequent occurrence across central Arkansas. It’s been a wet few months, in fact, a wet couple of seasons. And by now those working and living in Saline County know what to expect when the water rises.
"This is something we trained for in the past and we were ready to deal with," says Captain Rusty Long with the Bryant Fire Department.
And this year scenes like this have happen too often in Bryant and Alexander.
"It is common in that area, with heavy rains, a short amount of time, that area will flood," says Bryant Fire Department’s Battalion Chief Mike McFarland.
"This is typical here, I've seen a lot worse," says Michael Borden.
There has been worse than flooded roads like Edison Avenue in Bauxite, and further east, just west of Bauxite high school, Reynolds Road.
"Had a gentleman that got off the roadway, had to use our articulated platform truck to pull him from the waters," says Capt. Long.
In the pictures you can see just how high the water was, and why the man needed rescuing.
"He didn't think the water was as deep as it was and he got off of it, and it was up the windows on his sport utility and then he was stuck, his engine stalled and we got there and got it out," says Capt. Long.
The rain turned Linsey Road into a river and created a lake that neighbors jokingly call Linsey Lake. By the weekend it won't be there anymore, but let's hope the neighbors are.
"We hadn't been able to get up to them at this point,” says Borden.
All this flooding happened despite the efforts of county work crews.
"This one heavy rain band however, the improvements and structures we have in place, just couldn't handle it," says Battalion Chief McFarland.
"When the school buses run when it’s like this, they can't run through that water with them buses. Them kids can't get up on Linsey to get through those houses," says Borden.
The heavy rain also hit subdivisions hard.
"All the subdivisions there were several people who we helped sandbag around their doors, notifications, lots of community contact, and helping out where we could,” says McFarland.
