Flash Flood — Mccurtain, Oklahoma

2016-03-08 to 2016-03-11 · near Holly Creek, Mccurtain, Oklahoma

Event narrative

A 30 year old male drowned after his SUV drove through a low water crossing and was swept into a flooded Lukfata Creek on Tebo Jones Road south of Broken Bow. A 36 year old male passenger was able to exit the vehicle and swim to shore.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level low pressure system settled over northern Mexico on March 8th, and became stationary through March 12th as it was cut off from the upper level jet stream, with a blocking upper ridge having developed over Florida and the western Atlantic. Meanwhile, a weak frontal boundary entered the region from the west on the 8th, and became stationary over Deep East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas. Upper level disturbances ejected northeast ahead of the Northern Mexico low pressure system, resulting in periods of showers and thunderstorms containing heavy rainfall to move repeatedly over these areas. The air mass was most unstable on the 8th, where several severe thunderstorms developed and produced wind damage across portions of Northwest and Northcentral Louisiana, as well as East Texas. However, widespread heavy rainfall was relentless along and ahead of the surface front over Deep East Texas, all of North Louisiana, Southwest Arkansas and extreme Southeast Oklahoma where widespread flash flooding occurred. In McCurtain County, a flash flood fatality occurred when a driver drove through flood waters south of Broken Bow. Widespread rainfall amounts across the county during the 4 day period ranged from of 4-5 inches, with 5-10+ inches falling across Southwest Arkansas and Northeast Texas. Some of the more impressive 5-day rainfall totals were as follows: Mount Hermon: 4.34, Idabel: 4.27, Valliant: 3.95.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.9696, -94.7669)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 617096. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.