Clarendon AR: Where We've Been: 1927 Flood

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Thousands of people worked on the levees to build them up to keep water out of their towns and homes. In many cases their work was futile. Inevitably many levees broke as the water continued to rise. On April 15, the first levee break occurred at Haroldton in Crawford County, and 400 yards of levee were swept away. On the same day the levee at Marked Tree also gave way. This trend continued throughout Arkansas, as levee after levee broke, allowing the Mississippi to reclaim much of its natural flood plain in the state. Over 6,000 square miles, or about 13 percent of the state was flooded in 1927. The population of the area under water totaled 362,560. The damage to the state topped $28 million, and at least 98 people died. Clarendon was one of the hardest hit of the many flood devastated communities.

The White River flows southward past Clarendon in Monroe County and eventually meets the mighty Mississippi. In April 1927, the citizens of Clarendon, like those of many other towns, fought desperately to keep the rising water out of their homes. On April 14, the 3,000 citizens of Clarendon received a report predicting the water would reach 37 feet on the Clarendon gauge by April 23. The Corps of Engineers based that report on the conditions at that time, which meant without any more rain the water would reach that level. However, the rain continued to fall. The call for watch care of the levees echoed through the city. Because of the enormous pressure on the levees from the high water, the importance for watch, care and repair of seep holes and minor breaks in the levees to prevent them from turning into major breaks increased.

Clarendon, as many river towns, had a levee commission responsible for levee maintenance. The members of the Clarendon Levee Commission included H.E. Lynch, R.F. Milwee, C.A. Wilburn, Frank Kennedy, and P.C. Ewan. This commission felt the levee could hold 41 feet.

On Sunday, April 17, following heavy rains, the people of Clarendon realized their situation. At all the churches, leaders announced that all the men were to report for duty on the levee the next day. Early the next morning about 330 men showed up armed with shovels. The men busily began filling sand bags. That morning the river level rose above the 30-foot mark, which was the normal Clarendon flood stage. About 10 a.m., the men ran out of sand bags, so they sat idle waiting for more to be brought by truck from Brinkley. Finally, about 3 p.m. the sandbags arrived. Unfortunately, work proceeded slowly because of a shortage of shovels. However, as the people of Clarendon later learned, the town could not have been saved with any amount of shovels and bags. According to R.W. Davis, a barber in Clarendon, that Monday morning Mr. Pierce, mayor of Clarendon, went to the levee commission, and asked that the levee be cut to allow the water to slowly back into the town. This would prevent a large burst of water from sweeping through the town, and doing even more damage. The levee board refused because they felt the levee would hold.

The citizens spent the remainder of Monday and Tuesday moving valuables to higher ground and repairing the many minor breaks and seep holes that developed in the levee. Many merchants built scaffolds five to six feet high and put their merchandise on them. They would later discover the scaffolds were not nearly high enough. Also, men went through the town looking for safe places for the women and children who would not evacuate. Many of them relocated to the upper levels of the Monroe County Courthouse, the Merchants and Planters Bank, and the Clarendon High School where they would later be trapped by the floodwater.

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