Today's flood

[jbrown84]

This is really bad. Worst OKC weather year ever??

[skyrick]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

Are you getting the idea that Oklahoma wasn't meant to be inhabited?

I miss the severe, radical weather of OK. People in TX are such weather wusses.

[CO-To-OKC]

It seems like OKC has had a lot of bad weather over the last 6 moths. Is the weather down there always this unpredictable (and dangerous)?

[rondvu]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

Are you getting the idea that Oklahoma wasn't meant to be inhabited?

I miss the severe, radical weather of OK. People in TX are such weather wusses.

H-m-m-m-m-m I saw two grasshoppers in the yard yesterday. You think Locusts could be next?

[SkyWestOKC]

It seems like OKC has had a lot of bad weather over the last 6 moths. Is the weather down there always this unpredictable (and dangerous)?

No. This has just been a "Perfect Storm" year. I have never seen it like this before and would say this year has been an anomaly. Next year will probably be nice and quiet.

[okcpulse]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

Are you getting the idea that Oklahoma wasn't meant to be inhabited?

I miss the severe, radical weather of OK. People in TX are such weather wusses.

Right, but keep in mind that from 1999 to 2010 there were not any deaths from a tornado.

In all reality, it doesn't matter where you live. Natural disasters occur everywhere.

But yes, people in Texas are indeed weather wusses.

[MsDarkstar]

Right, but keep in mind that from 1999 to 2010 there were not any deaths from a tornado.

I'm going to assume you're referring to AFTER the May 3, 1999 tornado because 36 people died in that one.


A family friend lives in Luther, there's a creek that runs across the corner of their property. Around noon they started evacuating because the water was getting so high. She called to let my mom know what was going on and while they were on the phone she saw her hay baler floating off along with a bunch of her neighbors farm equipment.

[bluedogok]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

Are you getting the idea that Oklahoma wasn't meant to be inhabited?

I miss the severe, radical weather of OK. People in TX are such weather wusses.

The weather guy at the NBC affiliate here in Austin is from Lindsay, so we get quite a bit of coverage of Oklahoma weather down here. Hope everyone is alright up there.

The Guadalupe and Comal Rivers running through New Braunfels flooded after a 4 hour/10" rain last week, Schiltterbahn was flooded, some of the tubing companies had their buses wrapped around trees, this was after two years of drought at which the river was at historic lows...a bit of feast of famine everywhere.



Here it was after being righted....kind of a sign of how strong flood waters can be.



Here are the rest of the pictures: MySA.com - June 9 Flooding

[Camaro Z28]

Wow. Those buses show the power of flowing water.

[oneforone]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

Are you getting the idea that Oklahoma wasn't meant to be inhabited?

I miss the severe, radical weather of OK. People in TX are such weather wusses.

At this rate we might as well open a Disaster Training University here. The students might just get lucky enough to see some real world expierence before graduation.

I guess the only thing we have left to experience is:

1. Another land hurricane style system like we had last year (or was it the year before?)

2. An Extermely hot and dry July with wildfires in August

3. Maybe a volcano .... Why not we have had quite a few earthquakes over the last year.

[jbrown84]

No. This has just been a "Perfect Storm" year. I have never seen it like this before and would say this year has been an anomaly. Next year will probably be nice and quiet.

Definitely.

That is insane!

[Larry OKC]

^^^
And it wasn't just the 1 bus either, at least 2 more are in the background wrapped around trees

[Larry OKC]

No. This has just been a "Perfect Storm" year. I have never seen it like this before and would say this year has been an anomaly. Next year will probably be nice and quiet.

Don't know if this is worse or about average. Was it last year or the year before where we had a record number of State of Emergencies asking for Federal assistance. Can't recall the numbers now but like others have posted, there were wildfires, floods, tornadoes, ice storms (and I think it was the year of the remains of Hurricane Erin(?) may have been the remains, but the sattelite pics still showed a strong eye (don't think it was hurricane strength at the time but still did significant damage...the Watonga cheese factory).

[Thunder]

^^^ Flooded bridge and the streets. The water was spilling over the curbs.


^^^ This is a creek that is normally about 3 feet across with about 2 feet of water surrounding the Epperly Heights Elementary school. You can see its a raging river.








^^^ 15 feet deep storm drain that connects to the creek. If rain didn't slow down, all of that would be reaching up to the house.

[Spartan]

With the rain we got tonight I am seeing where the Oklahoma River is flooding. 3 feet above flood stage..more flooding along where it goes back to North Canadian River east of downtown. Expected to crest tomorrow morning.

[Larry OKC]

Does damming it up make it better or worse? Normally wouldn't the river be nearly empty and about time for its 1st mowing?

Article said (from yesterdays rains, not counting tonight) that a dock and training equipment was floating downstream (had recovered most of it)...at that point there wasn't damage to the structures on boathouse row. Does anyone know how elevated Boathouse row is? The finishline tower etc?

Oklahoma City flooding: Oklahoma River training site damaged by floods | NewsOK.com

The rain-gorged Oklahoma River on Monday swept away part of a dock, boats and a rowing barge used in training. ...

"The great thing about the river is ... it's controllable,” Knopp said.

He said there was no worry about the water jumping the banks or getting into the boathouses and it was already slowing down Monday evening.

Ooooops...never say never I guess....

[CuatrodeMayo]

OK, let me sort this out:
1. 19 inch snow on Christmas Eve.
2. Annual killer tornadoes.
3. Hailstones the size of soccer balls, two feet deep!
and now,
4. Flash floods.

5. SoCal-style wildfires a year ago.

[Spartan]

Does damming it up make it better or worse? Normally wouldn't the river be nearly empty and about time for its 1st mowing?

Article said (from yesterdays rains, not counting tonight) that a dock and training equipment was floating downstream (had recovered most of it)...at that point there wasn't damage to the structures on boathouse row. Does anyone know how elevated Boathouse row is? The finishline tower etc?

Oklahoma City flooding: Oklahoma River training site damaged by floods | NewsOK.com



Ooooops...never say never I guess....

Maybe it will take some gravel rocks with it...

[Casey]

Hem.

I'm moving to Edmond in July, and I recently called to set up my home insurance.

They asked if I wanted flood insurance. I said no, thinking that it was tornados that were the threat, not floods.

Think I'll be giving my insurance company a call back.

[CO-To-OKC]

Just out of curiosity, is tornado insurance more expensive in OKC just because of its location?

[redrunner]

I don't think there's a separate tornado insurance. Tornado damage is covered under regular home insurance. But home insurance rates in general are more expensive in Oklahoma because of the fact that we experience many tornandos.

[Casey]

Funnily enough though, my home insurance in OK isn't too much more than my insurance in Canada.

I was surprised.

[Paseofreak]

Larry OKC: The low water dams do occupy cross-sectional area that would otherwise be availabe to carry flow. However, the dam design project no doubt encompassed measures to assure containment of flow resulting from at least the 100 year storm occurring over a much wider area than Mondays storm. I haven't checked, but I'm thinking Monday's rainfall depth was 150-200% of 100 yr - 24 hour depth. Also, remember that the river has been channelized to reduce flooding by the Army Corps and no longer behaves naturally. Also, flooding could be caused by downstream restrictions resulting in a backwater condition. In which case the presence of the dams is largely immaterial.

Spartan: I've seen you gripe about the rock rip-rap in a couple of places on here. I agree that it's not the prettiest channel bank, but it's there on purpose for a few reasons. The least of which is not cost. The purpose of the rock is to armor the banks against erosion during extreme flow events. Grass channel lining can handle flow velocities up to about 4 or 5 feet per second. Beyond that some requires something beefier and much more costly. Rip-rap is usually cheapest. Rock size is a function of design velocity and slope of the sides of the channel. Steeper the slope, bigger the rock required to resist forces trying to dislodge it. Bottom line, I don't see the rock going away anytime soon.

[Larry OKC]

Paseofreak: thanks for the info. Didn't mean to suggest that Monday's rainfall was a normal occurrence by any means. My question about the damming process, is that the water that is dammed, (lets say 10ft depth), is another 10ft of water that would normally would have to build up to. With the dams, that is its new starting point (it has a 10ft head start in reaching flood stage). Doesn't it?

Does anyone of a link to an article or news report? I still haven't run across any about the Oklahoma River being above flood stage (didn't see anything in Tues paper, but may have gone to press before that happened). Will look again in Wed.

[JerzeeGrlinOKC]

Does anyone of a link to an article or news report? I still haven't run across any about the Oklahoma River being above flood stage (didn't see anything in Tues paper, but may have gone to press before that happened). Will look again in Wed.

I'm not sure if the "Oklahoma River" went above flood stage due to strong regulation, but the North Canadian River (same as the Oklahoma River) exceeded flood stage downstream at Britton Road and down by Harrah:

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Norman: North Canadian River at Oklahoma City

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Norman: North Canadian River near Harrah

Flow at the Britton Road gage was about a "25-year event" (4% chance of flow exceedance) and at the Harrah gage was about a "10-year event" (10% chance of exceedance). This may seem trivial compared to the 500 year 6-hour probability rainfall we saw, but if this rainfall event had extended into upper portions of the basin or weren't so localized, or we didn't have as much regulation, we likely would have seen far greater flows. Note that the annual peak flow at the Britton Road gage for this event exceeded what we saw in summer of 2007, and we haven't seen an event similar to this since 1995 (prior to MAPS river work).

Sources:

USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Publications Warehouse