In the News

5 p.m.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joined U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, Sen. John Boozman and Reps. Rick Crawford and French Hill in a helicopter tour of flooded northeast Arkansas to view what Crawford called a terrible situation.

Storms that began April 26 led to what Hutchinson said Sunday were nine deaths and an estimated $21 million in damage, not including damage to agriculture.

Perdue said at a news conference after Sunday's aerial tour that county and state officials will provide damage estimates to both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and to the agriculture department and he promised to expedite as quickly as possible any requests for federal assistance.

Hutchinson has declared 36 counties and the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock as disaster areas because of the storms.

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2:45 p.m.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has added 16 counties and two cities to the list of declared disaster areas because of severe storms that brought flooding and tornadoes to the state.

Hutchinson on Saturday added Carroll, Clay, Cross, Drew, Faulkner, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Ouachita, Prairie, Pulaski, Saline, Stone, Washington, Woodruff and Yell counties to the list. He also added the cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock.

He had earlier declared disasters in Baxter, Benton, Boone, Cleburne, Conway, Craighead, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Madison, Marion, Mississippi, Montgomery, Newton, Perry, Randolph, Searcy, Sharp and White counties.

The declaration makes state aid available to the cities and counties and Hutchinson said additional counties may be added to the list as damage is assessed.

The body of an 18-month-old Arkansas girl who was swept away during flooding more than a week ago has been found.

The Madison County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Sunday that the body of Krystal Wiggins was found Saturday afternoon about 10 miles from where the vehicle she was riding in was swept off a bridge.

The body of the girl's 4-year-old brother, Damien Wiggins, was found earlier this week just more than three miles from the bridge near Hindsville.

Authorities have said the children were with their mother on April 29 when the vehicle was swept off the bridge during heavy rain and flooding. The sheriff's office says the mother, who survived, tried to carry the children to safety but they were pulled into a swift current.