Crews Fortify Levees in Texas, Arkansas as Floodwaters Crest

Cresting floodwaters in Arkansas and Texas surged southward Thursday, leaving behind hundreds of evacuees and untold millions of dollars in property, crop and livestock damage.

The Red River crested early Thursday near Texarkana, and the levees there, heavily sandbagged for two days by National Guard troops, Marine reservists and volunteers, appeared stable.

Crews continued to sandbag levees in the southern reaches of the Arkansas, Red and Trinity rivers, authorities said.

The Army Corps of Engineers prepared to cut back the flow of water at several dams in northern Arkansas to help relieve flooding on the Red River. Brig. Gen. Robert C. Lee, commander of the Corps’ Southwest Division, said the action would lower water levels by several feet in the next day or two.

The Arkansas River crested earlier at Little Rock and Pine Bluff, Ark., at somewhat lower levels than anticipated and headed through farmland toward the Mississippi River.

At least 12 people have died in Texas in two weeks of storms and flooding. About 800 head of cattle in Texas and Arkansas drowned, and thousands of acres were flooded in southwestern Arkansas.

Elsewhere, a storm dropped up to 7 inches of snow on eastern Wisconsin. The 2.8 inches of snow that fell in Milwaukee broke an 88-year-old record for the latest snowfall in the season.