© AP
Heavy rains in the Midwest are causing levees to breach along the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, which may eventually put thousands of homes in danger.
The Dardanelle Levee along the Arkansas River breached early Friday near the community of Holla Bend, sending water gushing into farmland that already had been saturated by leaks in the levee a day earlier, video from CNN affiliate KARK shows.
About 75 homes around Holla Bend, just downriver from the city of Dardanelle, have so far been impacted by flooding in a three-mile area, Yell County Emergency Management Director Jeff Gilkey said Friday. Yell County Judge Mark Thone told CNN affiliate KATV that he urged everyone in the area to evacuate immediately.
The rushing water is expected to spread to Smiley Bayou, an area of about 500 people. Because the terrain is hilly, only an unspecified number of people in low-lying areas are expected to evacuate, Gilkey said.
