ROGERS, Ark. -- As the floodwaters continue to recede, some Carroll County residents are wondering why they were not notified sooner of the major flooding earlier this week.

Opening Of Beaver Dam Floodgates Floods Downstream

Some residents who live near Beaver Dam had no idea flooding was on the way when the dam's floodgates had been opened slightly Thursday morning.

Around 7 p.m. Thursday, engineers realized they would have to open the gates to 4.5 feet, the level where flooding downstream tends to increase greatly. That left only an hour or two to notify residents that flooding was imminent.

"The Corps was trying to assess minute by minute how much rainfall was coming in the lake, and it was beyond expectations,” said Beaver Lake Project Manager Sean Harper.

With the lake filling up with water, the floodgates had to be opened to unprecedented levels, and fast. Sunday, the results of that were evident.

“You can see we had a flood here, up about 4 feet inside the cabin here. We had people in there, and we had to get them out, evacuate them,” said Ronnie Siler of Spring Creek Resort.

Siler said they had little notice of the flooding, like many residents below the dam.

"Perhaps what people would have liked to have seen was like a forecast, Thursday morning, ‘Hey folks, by Thursday night, we're going to have to open the gates 9.5 feet.’ The reality of it is we didn't know that,” Harper said.

When the decision to open the floodgates was made, a notification process began. City and county officials started making phone calls and going door to door to tell residents to get out, but some fell through the cracks and were never notified.

"That didn't necessarily help every single homeowner that's downstream of the dam, but everyone was fully engaged. Can we do better? I'm sure we can, and that's what we're going to work towards,” Harper said.

Beaver Dam officials say most of the properties that did not get notified were built recently, and might not have been added to the contact lists.

If residents want notification when the dam opens the floodgates in the future, they should contact emergency management in their county, officials said.

Officials also contacted the weather service to get warnings posted on local television channels, something they're planning on stressing more in the future.