Ok/Texas flood potential

[matt patterson]

It looks like there will be a good shot of flooding rain several times this week across eastern ok and NE texas. We are seeing the deepest moisture of the season and there will be great lift to add to the flooding threat. The area has seen a lot of rain over the past month and the rivers and creeks are very full already, so any more could create a serious flood threat that the southern plains hasnt seen on several years due to drought... Places like Tulsa could get 3-4 inches of rain and areas like McAlister and Paris TX could get 4-5+ inches... This will be interesting to watch as we wait on the weekend severe weather...

 

[Doug Lee]

Thanks for bringing that up. It reminded me of May 6, 2000. Eight inches of rain fell on NE Creek County, just to the SW of Tulsa, during the night. I was a volunteer with the county emergency management then, and wound up blocking a section line road south of Sapulpa and west of Kiefer. I didn't know that the creek that flooded the road to my west has a curve that brings it close to the road to the east of where I was set up. Well, the waters backed up, and I was stranded.

I abandonded my post and took a very rough road, that was more like a trail, to reach passable pavement. I could almost hear the banjo music from the movie "Deliverance."

I hope you're right about the 3-4 inches, and it doesn't come to much more than that.

The Tulsa Stormwater Management System can handle 4 inches without much problem. Skiatook might have a problem, they seem to flood with a 1/4 inch.

 

[Chris Nuttall]

Skiatook might have a problem, they seem to flood with a 1/4 inch.

Don't you just love Bird Creek? Time to put roadblocks on highway 20 again. This is a lot of rain at one time, but I know we'll be thankful once we hit the summer months. Should help the fishing, too.

This is making me think about all that rain Oklahoma received sometime in the early-mid 90s...I want to say 1993? I think Keystone was almost at capacity, and the wind was blowing water over the top of the dam. Somewhere downstream on the Arkansas, all you could see was a flagpole at one of the locks.