Rains sink August record
Rains sink Oklahoma's August record

By John David Sutter and Augie Frost

Published: August 20, 2008

Chad and Valerie Wagner have had enough of the flooding — they're moving.

For the second straight year, and the second straight Aug. 19, the couple were forced from their El Reno home because of flooding. Tuesday's departure marked the third time in 11 years they've been flooded out of their home on the northwest corner of Banner Road and State Highway 66, Valerie Wagner said Tuesday.

"It's really baffling,” she said. "It's devastating. We're not sure where to go from here, but we're definitely out of here because this is too much to withstand.”

The story was the same for much of the state as floodwaters rolled through Tuesday as if to mark the one-year anniversary of a drenching tropical storm that killed six people in the state.

This week's rainfall pushed Oklahoma City to its wettest August on record — with nearly two weeks left in the month. So far in August, 9.43 inches of rain have fallen on Oklahoma City. Normally, the city sees only 2.48 inches of rain in August, which typically is the driest month of the year in Oklahoma, said John Pike, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norman.

The previous record for August rainfall in Oklahoma City was 8.34 inches set in 1906, Williams said. August is typically the hottest, driest month of the year, he said.

There were reports of nearly 10 inches of rain in southern Oklahoma, near Waurika, this week. According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, 6.77 inches of rain has fallen in Waurika.

No widespread damage was reported Tuesday, and the floods were isolated to low-lying areas, according to the weather service. River levels were expected to wane overnight.

Temperatures have been unusually cool for August, with Tuesday's high temperature in Oklahoma City climbing only to 70 degrees. Highs in the 90s are the norm for August, and triple-digit temperatures are not uncommon.

The slow-moving storm system was expected to settle over eastern Oklahoma by this morning and should move out of the state by late Thursday or Friday, said Daryl Williams, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norman.

Forecasters expect a respite from the rain to come Friday and into the weekend. Flooding is possible today if the storms keep up, however, and a flash flood watch for southern and central Oklahoma was expected to continue this morning. Unless the storm system stalls unexpectedly, the worst of the flooding should have passed for most of Oklahoma, Williams said.

By 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, it was too late for Valerie Wagner and her two sons, Cole, 10, and Cameron, 8, to get out of the house. Water was seeping through the home's floor vents and through the bathtub drain, Valerie Wagner said.

"It looked like a lake rising,” she said. "It's really unexplainable.”

By 9:15 a.m., the El Reno Fire Department was on the scene with a rescue boat. The trapped family was "really thrilled” to know they were about to be rescued.

A short time after 9:30 a.m., Valerie Wagner, her sons and their dog were standing with Chad Wagner on a bridge watching the rising water swallow up their home.

The flooding claimed the roadway in all but one direction at the intersection. To the north on Banner Road, only the top of a full-sized pickup showed from out of the water.

The highway to the east of the intersection was completely flooded, and the creek below the bridge swirled like an angry river.

Chad Wagner had been at work when his wife called. He rushed home but could do nothing but wait for rescuers to arrive. They set out toward his home in waters estimated to be about 4 to 5 feet deep.

The family tried to set items left in the home — including furniture they'd gotten the other day to replace what was damaged last year — out of the harm's way, said Cameron, 8.

"I'm pretty upset,” he said.

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