With 18 Fatalities Arkansas Tops in Flood Deaths Last Year

Eighteen Arkansas residents died in floods last year, the most in any state in the nation but fewer than in the year before, the National Weather Service said.

The deaths happened in March through May. Six were in Benton County, including two on April 25, 2011, when a vehicle carrying two men went around a barricade in Bentonville and was washed off a low-water bridge, according to the weather service. Almost one month later, near Gallatin, two women and two children were killed when a car washed off the road.

The weather service said most of last year’s deaths were a result of motorists trying to drive through high and moving water.

The year before, 20 people were killed during a single flood at the Albert Pike campsite. There were 22 deaths from flooding that year. Nationwide, 113 people died in floods last year.

The weather service anticipates “an average flood potential” in Arkansas this spring.