Riverfront work accounts for flood risk at Fort Smith

FORT SMITH, Ark.-With three historic floods in 2015 and three flood-stage crests already this year, inundations from river rises around Fort Smith and Van Buren have become more of an annual concern.

Engineers for the U.S. Marshals Museum and those bidding on a future bike-and-skate park on the riverfront in Fort Smith are taking this into account.

Pat Mickle of Mickle Wagner Coleman Engineers, the firm working on the museum project, said the 50,000-square-foot museum will be built about 3 feet above the floodplain line. The city requires buildings along the riverfront to be constructed at least 1 foot above the floodplain, which is 418.3 feet above sea level. 

The museum will be built on a pad at 421.5 feet above sea level, putting it at the "500-year" floodplain level where there is a 0.2 percent chance of flooding.

"It's not a terribly expensive thing to do and there will be a lot of valuable artifacts in there," Mickle said.

The engineer noted, "There's always a bigger storm."

Patrick Weeks, president and CEO of the U.S. Marshals Museum, said building up the museum's pad well out of the floodplain was something they are "not taking lightly," and it was critical to the museum's experience to have it on the riverfront facing Oklahoma, where 50 percent of the U.S. Marshals who died in the line of duty lost their lives serving justice.

"It's the right place for the museum and for Fort Smith," Weeks said. "It's sacred ground."

The Times Record reports that it's also on higher ground with the amount of fill being placed there over the years. In October, the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a Letter of Map Revision to remove that area of the riverfront from the 1-percent-annual-chance floodplain that was updated with a flood insurance study in May 2010.

"However, we encourage you to require the lowest adjacent grade and lowest floor (including basement) of any structure placed within the subject area be elevated to or above the Base (1-percent-annual-chance) Flood Elevation," the FEMA map revision states.

David Mackey, a technician for the Fort Smith Engineering Department, notes that people who do not live in the floodplain are not required to get flood insurance. Homeowners inside the floodplain are required to carry flood through an insurance agency, he adds. And the city does take part in the National Flood Insurance Program.

As far as riverfront development in Fort Smith goes, Mackey says "it's easy to build up" and feels "they are not going to have any problem building there."

FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) "strongly recommend that everyone have flood insurance," according to the 2012 insurance flood study. This is perhaps going to the extreme, according to Mackey, but the technician admits there is potential for "localized flooding" outside of the floodplain.

A flood map revision was also issued in January 2015 for Mill Creek to reflect improvements made by the city. The Mill Creek area revised on the FEMA flood map is from about 1,130 feet downstream of South 28th Street to a point about 640 feet upstream of the upstream crossing of South 28th Street. The 2015 map revised a 2012 flood insurance study which prompted FEMA to encourage Sebastian County homeowners, business and residential renters, and business owners who did not have flood insurance to buy coverage.

The latest Sebastian County flood maps from that study went into effect on March 2, 2012, and predominantly affect the corporate limits of the city of Fort Smith. FEMA notes that anyone who hasn't had a chance to participate in local flood insurance meetings or to review the new flood maps is encouraged to contact their floodplain administrator to determine if they have been removed from the floodplain and may be able to have their premiums reduced accordingly.

In mid-August, the Times Record reported on the U.S. Marshals Museum Foundation having signed an offer and acceptance letter with the city of Fort Smith to sell about 3.5 acres of riverfront property formerly tagged as the future site of the museum. Mackey noted that recreational parks are not required to obtain flood insurance, and that's why these kinds of developments are often found along rivers.

Seeking new downtown area projects to accomplish, the Central Business Improvement District Commission discussed the bike and skate park at its monthly meeting. Bill Hanna, a CBID member, brought up the project during an informal brainstorming session.

Jim Dunn, president of the Marshals Museum Foundation, said an offer and acceptance letter had been signed. The city would provide infrastructure, but development of the park would be provided by the public sector.

The National Weather Service uses a point on the Arkansas River at Van Buren to measure flood stages for the Fort Smith. According to National Weather Service data, the river at Van Buren crested at or near the 22-foot flood stage this year on May 21 (26.32 feet), April 30 (24.31 feet) and April 26 (22.58 feet). Last year was drier and the river crested just once at 21.68 feet on April 30.

In 2015 the river crested above flood stage 11 times, more than any year on record with the National Weather Service. The Dec. 30, 2015, crest of 34.63 feet was the ninth highest on record.

Other years with the highest number of flood stage events in one year include 1999 with eight events, and 1998 with nine events.

The highest recorded crest at Van Buren on the Arkansas River was 38.10 feet on April 16, 1945. The second highest was 38 feet on May 12, 1943. The third was Nov. 3, 1941, at 37.3 feet.

 

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