Record rainfall has caused severe flooding this morning in the southwest part of the city, weather officials and police said.
Between 2 and 5 inches of rain fell in a two- to three-hour period early today, primarily west and southwest of Will Rogers World Airport, causing area creeks, streams, storm drains and ditches to fill rapidly. As a result, water flooded roadways throughout the area bounded roughly by SW 119 on the north, SW 134 on the south, Interstate 44 on the east and County Line Road on the west.
There were several instances of law enforcement officers assisting motorists trapped in high water. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. today, 2.73 inches of rain fell at Will Rogers World Airport, the city's official weather reporting site for the National Weather Service. That broke the mark for Sept. 10 of 2.4 inches that had stood since 1925.
But weather officials said additional rainfall had increased today's total to 4.82 inches by 6:45 a.m. and more was falling.
Today's total also is the second greatest September daily precipitation total on record behind the 7.53 inches of Sept. 22, 1970.
Thus far, the annual precipitation for Oklahoma City stands at 49.17 inches, ranking as the second wettest year on record behind the 52.03 inches of 1908.
Oklahoma City's weather records date back to November 1891.
There were reports of rainfall of 2 inches or more in nearly every community around the Oklahoma City area.
Rainfall overnight and early today continued a pattern from storms that have struck the state the past 36 hours, causing flash flooding across the state.
The weather service said "rain and a few thunderstorms will persist in the vicinity of two stalled surface boundaries, one from central into southwest Oklahoma, the other near western north Texas.”
The storms and rain are expected to continue throughout the day.
