Flash Flood — Adair, Oklahoma

2010-09-09 · near Bunch, Adair, Oklahoma

Event narrative

Numerous roads in the southern portion of the county were flooded and closed. Several county roads and low water crossings were washed out. A nineteen year old drowned when his vehicle was swept off the road while he tried to drive through a flooded low water crossing.

Wider weather episode

Shower and thunderstorm development on the northern periphery of the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine affected portions of southeast Oklahoma beginning on September 7th, while the center was still over central Texas. Light to moderate rain continued through the 8th over much of the region and then became much heavier as the center of the storm moved from southwest Oklahoma into northeast Oklahoma late on the 8th and during the early morning hours of the 9th. The heaviest rainfall totals occurred just east of the storm track.

Rainfall rates of over two inches per hour and rainfall totals of eight to fourteen inches across east central OK and northwest AR led to widespread flash flooding during the morning hours of the 9th. The heaviest swath of rain occurred across southern McIntosh, northern Pittsburg, southern Muskogee, Haskell, Sequoyah, and southern Adair Counties in eastern Oklahoma, and some of the worst flooding occurred in these areas. The following locations received in excess of seven inches of rain during the event, much of which fell during a several hour period during the early morning hours of the 9th: 13.42 inches in Whitefield in Haskell County, 11.25 inches in Stigler in Haskell County, 10.41 inches in Sallisaw in Sequoyah County, 10.35 inches in Eufaula in McIntosh County, 9.60 inches at R.S. Kerr Reservoir in Sequoyah County, 8.40 inches in Short in Sequoyah County, 7.69 inches in Scipio in Pittsburg County, and 7.40 inches in Webbers Falls in Muskogee County.

Many small creeks and streams rose very quickly from this rainfall. Businesses and residences in Sallisaw, Oklahoma were inundated by high water, forcing schools to close. Emergency officials performed numerous swift water rescues and many roads were closed due to the high water throughout the area. A 19-yr old male drowned on the morning of the 9th as he tried to drive through high water over a low water crossing seven miles south of Stilwell in Adair County, Oklahoma. Several small bridges and low water crossings were washed out, especially in Muskogee and Sequoyah Counties. Mainstem river flooding was minimized since much of the rainfall and runoff was contained by Eufaula Lake and R.S. Kerr Reservoir.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.6800, -94.7700)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 263044. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.