Wednesday and Thursday's storms drove many out of their homes and Saturday some began to return to the extensive damage.
A bumber of families in the Palarm Creek community near Lake Conway couldn't spend Christmas with their families because of the floods. Some had to abandon their homes Thursday; and even those who were able to stay, had to tweak their holiday plans, too.
Saturday may have technically been the day after Christmas but in Virginia Ann King's home the holiday dinner was just starting.
"Everything had to be stopped," she said, while surrounded by her friends and family. "We couldn't have Christmas dinner until today, which is the day after Christmas, because of the water and because no one could get in."
King was one of the lucky few the flood waters spared in the Faulkner County neighborhood. The home was still warm and dry two days after angry storms rushed through the state.
Andy Isbell lives across the street and has been getting around his yard to go to King's house using an ATV.
"I've been over here eating, i can't cook, i can't run the heat or even go to the bathroom down there," he said.
Since the storm forced many out, the friendly sounds of neighbors milling around went silent. Saturday, though, some of that began to come back as neighbors returned to pick up the pieces.
"We weren't prepared for this," said Mike Houck. "[The flood water] basically ruined the bed and all kinds of shoes and everything in the closets. So now we're just going to have to do the best we can once the water recedes."
This is the third time this year the area has flooded and residents say it is also the worst. But inside King's home, none of that was evident.
Her neighbors, along with her family gathered for their delayed Christmas meal; forgetting the mess outside; that is, until the doors opened again.
"It's just really sad that there's so much that's happened up here and that the families weren't able to be together at Christmas," said King.
The storm washed away neighbors' docks and ripped off their butane tanks.
The fire department was in the community Saturday morning to shut off the valves.
