A stormy weather system that once was Tropical Storm Bill prompted flood
warnings across the Ozarks and mid-Mississippi Valley early Friday,
even before rains began to fall there in earnest.
Since coming ashore Tuesday along the Texas Gulf Coast, the tropical
system has claimed at least one life — that of a 2-year-old swept from
his father's arms as they tried to escape a raging Hickory Creek in
Ardmore, Oklahoma. The region just north of the Texas border had 10 inches of rain Wednesday night and Thursday.
"The water was just flowing like a river down the streets," Amber
Wilson, the emergency manager in Ardmore, said after the overnight
downpour. "It was so forceful that it washed away the barricades and
pushed manhole covers out of the streets," she said. Even giant trash
bins gave way to the water.
Forecasters said the worst weather overnight would be in the heart of the Ozark Mountains along the Arkansas-Missouri border.
"They're getting ready for the possibility of water rescues and things
of that nature," said Rick Fahr, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department
of Emergency Management. "When water hits a mountain, and the kind of
terrain in that area, it all goes to the same spot: down."
Missouri, Illinois and Indiana braced for high water through the weekend. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday declared a state of emergency after heavy rains earlier in the week and the threat of more from Bill.
"With more heavy rain in the forecast, we will continue to remain in
direct contact with law enforcement and local officials as we work to
protect lives and property," Nixon said in a statement.
Bill's remnants spurred at least one funnel cloud in Arkansas, on the
stronger side of the storm, but there was no proof that it had touched
down. Other strong storms raked the western half of the state in feeder
bands extending from northeastern Oklahoma to near the Gulf Coast. Up to
5 inches of rain could fall.
"Those 3 to 5 inches are on top of all that rain they saw in May.
Normally that wouldn't cause the concerns we have. But they're just so
wet and the ground is already so saturated," said meteorologist Joe
Goudsward at the National Weather Service office in North Little Rock.
Oklahoma was hardest hit Thursday, when heavy rains swelled rivers and
forced a rock slide that closed Interstate 35 for a time. Oklahoma City
to Dallas traffic was diverted to Wichita Falls, Texas, adding 70 miles
to the trip.
In Ardmore, near where I-35 crosses into Texas, authorities found
Jeremiah Mayer's body Thursday about 30 yards from where the boy was
last seen after being swept out of his father's arms. Police Capt. Eric
Hamblin said Hickory Creek, which rose 12 to 15 feet in an hour, swamped
the boy and his father as they tried to flee.
Further north, near Macomb, authorities on Thursday evening recovered
the body of an 80-year-old woman from a car partially submerged in
floodwaters, Pottawatomie County Undersheriff Travis Palmer told the
Shawnee News-Star. Her official cause of death has not yet been
determined.
In Carter County, Elvin Sweeten and a son cut fences at their 600-acre
ranch so their horses and cattle could escape water spilled out of the
Washita River's banks. "We have a boat. If we have to get out, we can,"
he said.
Kristen Greenwood, a supervisor at Original Fried Pies in Davis, had to
take the old road to work after the rock slide and high water from a
nearby lake cut off I-35.
"I had to turn around. I couldn't drive on the whole 10-mile stretch,"
she said. "I was lucky because my exit was just after the lake, so I
could get on, but all the rivers are flooding over the bridges and the
lake is overflowing."
Gazing out the pie shop window, Greenwood estimated the water on the
other side of the parking lot was several feet deep: "Probably
waist-deep on me, but I'm short."
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