Emergency crews rescue 2 from flooded Crooked Creek in Harrison, Ark.

HARRISON, Ark. (KY3) - Rescue crews with the Harrison Fire Department successfully pulled two people from Crooked Creek Wednesday.

The area is about a mile south of Lake Harrison. Harrison Fire Department sent crews out along State Highway 7 South after calls from a homeowner saying they’d seen a car swept into the current. When rescue teams arrived on the scene they quickly discovered the car empty.

“Well anytime we have these types of hard downpours, these people even mentioned when they crossed the creek it wasn’t doing anything and could watch it come up,” said Fire Chief Marc Lowery. “So it’s a typical flash flood. You know always be aware of your surroundings and be prepared for that, especially when that’s the only way out.”

Lowry says a successful rescue is good news, but should also serve as a lesson to others.

”They weren’t injured just cold and wet and tired,” he said. “We actually hauled them off the property in a pickup of ours and then turned them over to the sheriff’s office for their investigation as to why they went off in the creek.”

Flash flooding is something personal to Harrison after a drowning back in 2018. Lake Harrison had to be drained during the search for John and Amy Villines who drowned in the flooding. The city is looking to remove the lake’s dam and revert it to a creek.

“Low-head dams across the country are causing drownings all the time,” said Darrell Bowman, from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, at a public forum in October. “It’s a huge problem because the design is water flows across the top of it, so the more water flowing across it, the worse the re-circulating current is that can trap people.”

”During flooding at this time I don’t think it’s an issue,” said Lowery. “But I do see the danger of that being there, you have that potential. Anytime you have water going over a weir or a levy you create turbulence or suction could trap people and drown them.”

Lowery ultimately said he would be in favor of seeing the low water dam removed. The two individuals rescued are both in stable condition, their identities have not yet been released. According to the Harrison Fire Department at least one of the individuals rescued did have a warrant out for their arrest.

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