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Bill’s remnants deliver strike to Oklahoma and Arkansas

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OKLAHOMA CITY – The remnants of a tropical storm that moved in from the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week focused most of its fury on Oklahoma and Arkansas Thursday, pushing rivers to record-high water levels and causing flooding as it crawled northward through the nation’s midsection.

There were no reports of injuries caused by Tropical Depression Bill, but a 2-year-old boy who was swept away by a fast-running creek in the southern Oklahoma city of Ardmore remained missing Thursday. An estimated 10 inches of rain fell overnight on that area north of the Texas border and forced the closure of a section of a major interstate highway.

Farther north, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were bracing for flooding throughout the weekend.

“The water was just flowing like a river down the streets,” Amber Wilson, the emergency manager in Ardmore, said after the overnight downpour. Even giant trash bins gave way to the water.

“It was so forceful that it washed away the barricades and pushed manhole covers out of the streets,” she said.

Bill came ashore as a tropical storm Tuesday southwest of Houston and dumped more than 11 inches of rain along the coast before racing north and eventually slowing as it crossed into Oklahoma. The Washita River basin, which largely runs along Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma, absorbed the heaviest rains.

Elvin Sweeten, whose family owns a 600-acre homestead a few miles from the Washita, said the floodwaters had surrounded his ranch.

“I see water everywhere,” Sweeten said Thursday. “The entire ranch is under water.”

He said he and his son spent the night cutting fences so their cows and horses can escape to higher ground.

“We just stay here and hope that the water doesn’t get too much higher,” Sweeten said. “We have a boat. If we have to get out, we can.”

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation shut down I-35 in the Arbuckle Mountains north of Ardmore due to water and fallen rocks on the four-lane road, which connects Oklahoma City and Dallas.

“I had to turn around. I couldn’t drive on the whole 10-mile stretch,” said Kristen Greenwood, 20, from her job as a supervisor at Original Fried Pies in Davis. She took a backroad to work because a lake was backing up onto the highway.

“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,” she said. “I’m staying at work until they tell me to leave.”

Gazing out the pie shop window, Greenwood estimated that the water on the other side of the parking lot was several feet deep: “Probably waist-deep on me, but I’m short.”

Heavy rains from a separate weather system hit northern Indiana on Thursday, forcing hundreds of people from their homes near the Iroquois River even before the remnants of Bill move in Friday and Saturday. The Kankakee River was at risk, too.

Oklahoma and Texas experienced their wettest months on record in May, when rains throughout the Southern Plains triggered floods that killed more than two dozen people, undermined highways and threatened to collapse dams. Texas avoided major problems with Bill – pockets of dry air limited rainfall away from the coast – but a waterlogged Oklahoma had few places that could handle more water.

“There’s going to be little capacity to store (the water) if we get additional rains,” Le Flore County Emergency Manager Michael Davidson said Thursday before Bill’s remains made a turn to the northeast. He was optimistic that the weather pattern would break at some point, and joked that he was “hoping for a drought.” Last month’s storms and Bill ended a yearslong dry spell for the region.

The Washita River was expected to crest 22 feet above flood stage at Dickson, 2 feet above its previous record crest, the National Weather Service said.

Managers at the Shangri-La RV Resort located south of the Arbuckles ensured all campers and their gear were moved to higher ground.

“It’s just a precaution; we have some areas that are a little bit lower, it’s just that (the water) comes so fast,” co-owner Julene Potter said. “We’re ready for some sunshine.”

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