Rising Waters
I just got an email from my mother in Oklahoma. It seems that with the recent rains, the old home place where my brother still lives may be flooded. If so, this will be the second time since the Oologah damn was built around thirty-five years ago. The first time was in 1986 and was basically the result of mismanagement of water levels in the Oologah lake.
This time seems to be somewhat the same situation. From what I understand, there has been very little water let out for various reasons as the lake level continued to rise. But when you can wade the river at the riffles and not get wet above your knees, I think a little water could have been discharged to get a jump on potential problems down the road.
The flood of ‘86 saw a foot of water in the old house, which sat atop a two cinder block high foundation. They are saying now that if people were flooded in ‘86, chances are good they’ll be flooded again, and at least as bad as before and probably even worse. And adding even more trouble to the equation, there was an oil spill upriver of Oologah damn on the Verdigris river in Kansas. Talking about a sucker punch when already down.
In the email, my mother said they had started moving things out yesterday and would keep doing so until it was all out or they ran out of time. The damn is letting out 22,000 cubic feet of water per second now, and that amount will double to 44,000 cfs on Thursday. I assume that is so people at least have a chance to get as much as they can out before they let out enough water that they get flooded.
I wish I was able to be there to help, but I’m 1200 miles away and I’m not. All I can do is sit here and hope for the best. If they do get flooded, I hope they are able to get everything out before it happens. My heart goes out to them, and they’ll be on my mind every second until I find out what is happening.
hunting, hunting sense, floods, Oklahoma, Kansas, Verdigris River, Oologah Lake, rains
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Wow Cliff, that doesn’t sound like much fun. I’ll keep your family in my thoughts. I hope everything turns out o.k.
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Cliff, sorry to hear about your brother’s place. Its especially frustrating when problems come up that appear they could have been prevented by some forethought by the people in charge. Hang in there.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I wanted to say (Thank You) to everyone for
keeping us in you’r thoughts.
Cliff,the oil is in Oologah Lake now.
Would be nice if you were here,but we’re in your heart so that works well for us.
Lots of love
Mom,Robert
July 5th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Kristine and Darrell, I want to say thanks for the thoughtful posts and well wishes. As of now, the water still hasn’t made it to my brothers house, but they are saying the worse is yet to come. They have gotten most everything out and now it’s just a matter of sitting and playing the waiting game to see what does or doesn’t happen. It’s predicted it could happen today, and with the amount of rain they have been getting, with more on the way, when it does happen, it’ll be there for awhile.
Cliff
July 5th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Well at least it hasn’t happened yet.
Keep us updated.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:11 am
The river water levels are falling, but lake levels are still rising. Doesn’t make sense, since the water will have to be let out eventually and the lake is now over 25 feet above flood stage. Guess it’s still a waiting game.