HUMNOKE, Ark. (KTHV) – Flood waters have devastated the small town of Humnoke for over a week after a levee near the town breached.
More than 100 homes are flooded in and around Humnoke. The Arkansas National Guard was called in Friday to help fix the broken levee.
"We're always ready, always there to come out and help out our neighbors and fellow citizens of the state of Arkansas,” CW-2 Officer Daniel Lankford said.
Two Blackhawks flew in from Camp Robinson to lift over 50 sand bags into the levee.
"We're going to go about 2 miles east of here and try and fill a 19 foot hole,” Lankford said.
The water in town is still rising. All the water from Jacksonville and Cabot is still draining through the city.
"We're going to try and stack the sandbags as best we can as we drop them about 110 feet into the hole to try to stop the breech,” Lankford said.
Chris Isbell's farm was the landing pad for the National Guard.
"This is the closest high ground to Humnoke so we're staging the sand drops here,” Isbell said.
He said others came out to volunteer their time to fill up the sandbags, so the National Guards could fly them over to the levee.
"I'm pretty impressed with everybody that's kicking in and doing what they're doing,” Isbell said.
Isbell has lived near Humnoke his life, but has never seen flood waters like this before.
"Bayou Meto has a relief ditch called Big Ditch. This is the first time its ever gone over that levee,” he said.
While it's unclear when the water will move out of Humnoke, dozens more are waiting to step in.
"We're community in the state of Arkansas. We always jump to help each other and that's what Arkansas is about,” Lankford said.
It took the National Guard about four hours to fill the broken levee Friday.
The Lonoke County Judge said it could take up to another week for the water to recede.