Flooding

[Edith K. Thurmond]

OKC is experiencing flooding all over the metro from the massive rains that have accompanied the tornadoes in the area. Sirens were on this evening in the southern and eastern sections of the city but are off now. Damage was done in Edmond with more power lines snapped into and lying on the ground. However, sirens and tornado warnings are still going for areas just east of OKC. All local television stations have had total weather coverage all evening - too much tornadic activity to not do so.

Many intersections (major and minor) are closed from the flooding, with some places having 3-4 feet of water rushing about. Curbs could not be seen on my street all afternoon and a car was floating up the street about 5:00. This rushing water was the scene in many neighborhoods.

The intersection of 50th and May had five cars that were floating about and taken away by the water. At the Golden Corral Restaurant on May Ave. near 63rd, cars parked there had water half way up the sides; the same scenario at Britton Rd. and May Ave.

The area has been in a dought for a very long time; now we have too much rain all at once. Perhaps it should be noted that our prayers for rain have been answered. Now our prayers are for steady rain because it does need to soak into the parched ground.

Just since I have begun this thread, the rain has eased a bit and for that I am most grateful.

Thanks for your prayers and concern,

[Betty Bolerjack]

We are definitely in a weird weather pattern! :fav01 I think today was almost overkill by the TV stations to make up for yesterday. Two of the local networks are still having storm/flood coverage while the third has finally gone back to regular programming.

On the up side, at least a tornado watch was issued for today so that we knew to be alert. There were NO watches yesterday for the metro area. I double-checked the National Weather Service website today to be sure I hadn't just missed something. One of our weather guys today commented that this was not the kind of weather pattern that usually produced severe weather, but that you can't always be sure! Duh! :eek:

Mark and 5 of his co-workers had to go to Durant today down in the southern part of the state. They didn't have much rain there today, but they sure came through it coming home. He's not here just yet, but we've been staying in touch on the phone so they would be aware of the weather. They actually came up I-35 as a very long band of heavy storms passed over it. That was what was spawning all the little funnels that were causing the sirens to go off. A funnel was spotted to the east of I-35 not too long after they had passed through that particular area. I think they were a little too anxious to get home!

Well, the important thing is that we are safe. It is a little scary, though, when you realize that the Weather Service can't always predict the serious storms!

:fav11

[Judy Hamilton]

Hello Edith and Betty

I am high and dry here in San Diego

I did make a call to Natlie the gal who lives in my home
to make sure she had turned the sprinkler system off:fav01

Judy

[Edith K. Thurmond]

We are definitely in a weird weather pattern! :fav01



More weird than one might think at first glance! Let's count what has happened in just the last 6 months:

severe drought
massive wildfires
tornadoes
floods
earthquakes (yes, multiples)Perhaps we will escape hurricanes, cyclones, tsumanis and volcanoes. :)

[Betty Bolerjack]

Perhaps we will escape hurricanes, cyclones, tsumanis and volcanoes. :)

Let's hope so!!! :fav17

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

Signs of last days.
Dwayne was pastoring in E. Tn. when my dad passed away. We went to SC for his funeral. When we came back, we came in on the opposite side of town than usual...so we did not see the streets that we later heard people were swimming in. Later, the phone rang from a state office for Dwayne to tell them what he thought of the situation there, so they could evaluate thre situation-I guess. Dwayne also worked for the state and was over Welfare, Food stamps, Foster Care, Adoptions, etc. for the county. I don't remember if Dwayne gave the man another person to call or not.

[Betty Bolerjack]

8.02" of rain in the month of March. That's a new record! The old was 7.85" (didn't catch when that was set). 3.5" of that came yesterday, setting yet another record! The old record of 1.82" was set on March 30, 1963. So, is the drought over? Not completely, but we're getting there. Lake Hefner, which is just behind the housing addition we live in is still almost 6 feet below normal, although it has risen just over 2 feet since Wednesday and continues to rise. Maybe the cracks in our house will finally go away!! There are still parts of the state that are abnormally dry, but no extreme drought conditions according to the U. S. Drought Monitor. It's been a wet few days!!

(Facts taken from the News 9 10:00 News and an article (http://www.newsok.com/article/3034576) on their website.)

[Betty Bolerjack]

Yikes!! Even wetter than I realized! The neighbor behind us told Mom today that he had 2' of water in his house! Yep, you read that right... two feet!! He also had to rescue his dog from her kennel because the water was up to her belly. :fav01

I really wasn't too concerned about water coming into our house because we seem to have good drainage here although it was sort of lapping at the door. (Meaning it was up to the top of that black plastic edging stuff we have around the patio.) But, we've seen it that way before. The neighbor said we must be a little bit higher than him because he peeked over into our yard and we didn't have a problem.

It really would have created a soggy mess, but we sure could use new furniture and flooring. Oh, well. As Mark pointed out, it is kind of like the hail storm shortly after we moved into this house that clobbered our old Dodge Intrepid that was limping around with a broken transmission. We had dropped comp and collision on it less than 6 months earlier because we only drove it around the neighborhood just to keep the motor running. Who woulda thunk it would get totalled by hail and we could have driven it just a few blocks away and gotten a check for it on the spot?? :fav03

[Jim Franklin]

I remember when we lived on 59th in Warr Acres in 1973-75 when a sudden heavy rain storm sent water down the street. The lawns on both sides were slopped down to the street and the water was half way up to the middle of the lawns and the flood water in the street was about 2' to 3' deep.

Sometimes weather forecasters will not predict the probablility of a tornado when much of the violence is expended on heavy rain and/or hail but those kind of cloud formations often have a surprise. Meterology is a science because it uses a lot of scientific facts to make projections but it is not a precise science.