Helena river gauge stays well below flood stage, easing concerns in Phillips County
Helena’s gauge sat at 21.25 feet, 22.75 feet below flood stage, leaving the floodwall and riverfront businesses on steadier footing.
Helena’s Mississippi River gauge stayed far below flood stage on May 13, giving Phillips County a calmer read on the riverfront and fewer immediate worries for businesses, shippers and residents watching spring water levels. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers station at Helena showed 21.25 feet at 11:00 p.m. CDT, while flood stage is 44 feet. That left the river 22.75 feet below the level that would trigger official flood concerns.
The distance matters in a county where the river is part of daily planning as much as the landscape. Helena grew as a river port after its incorporation in 1833, West Helena was incorporated in 1917, and the two cities merged on January 1, 2006. Phillips County’s Mississippi River location has long shaped transportation and supply lines, and the river still anchors freight activity around the Helena-West Helena/Phillips County Port Authority.
The lower reading also sat well under the local flood thresholds watched by emergency managers. NOAA lists 59 feet as the point when water touches the bottom of the Helena floodwall and 65.3 feet as the point when it tops the wall. Against those markers, the May 13 level was 37.75 feet below the floodwall and 44.05 feet below overtopping. The Corps page also lists Helena’s record high stage at 60.20 feet, a reminder of how much higher the river can climb in a bad run of weather.
For local commerce, a steady or falling river usually means less disruption for riverfront operations, port activity and the freight schedules that move through Helena. That includes the industrial base that has built up along the river, where Helm Fertilizer Terminal Inc. completed a $12 million project that more than doubled its capacity and Poinsett Rice & Grain Inc. was nearing completion of a $9 million makeover. John Edwards, the Helena-West Helena/Phillips County Port Authority’s economic development director, said rail volume was nearing five-day-a-week service, a sign of how closely river and rail logistics are linked in the county.
The next point to watch is whether recent rainfall or new upstream runoff pushes the river back toward flood thresholds. NOAA’s Helena gauge forecasts are built from recent precipitation and expected precipitation about 48 hours ahead, so a turn higher would show up quickly in the outlook. For now, the river stayed in a comfortable range well below flood stage, giving Helena and West Helena room to focus on shipping, industrial operations and other routine riverfront business rather than flood preparation.
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