Heavy rain caused a moderate flood on the Poteau River near Poteau.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.
Heavy rain caused a moderate flood on the Poteau River near Poteau.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 18, 5:40 PM CST, 1 hour 5 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
640 PM CDT TUE MAR 18 2008
.UPDATE...
AS THE FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS EXPIRE OVER THE NEXT TWO HOURS,..THE FLASH
FLOOD WARNINGS WILL BE CONVERTED TO AREAL FLOOD WARNINGS THROUGH
7 AM WEDNESDAY MORNING. AREAS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN IS EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE AND THEN SLOW DIMINISH AFTER MIDNIGHT. FLOODING PROBLEMS
WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT OVER MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THROUGH THE NIGHT. FLOODING WILL BE DIMINISHING
WEDNESDAY BUT WILL NEED TO BE CONTINUALLY MONITORED UNTIL FLOODING
SUBSIDES. MAIN STREAM FLOODING WILL LIKELY CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL DAYS
WITH INDIVIDUAL FLOOD WARNINGS FOR THE RIVER FORECAST POINTS.
&&
.TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 7 AM WEDNESDAY FOR OKZ049-OKZ053-OKZ054-OKZ055-
OKZ056-OKZ057-OKZ058-OKZ059-OKZ060-OKZ061-OKZ062-OKZ063-
OKZ064-OKZ065-OKZ066-OKZ067-OKZ068-OKZ069-OKZ070-OKZ071-
OKZ072-OKZ073-OKZ074-OKZ075-OKZ076.
AR...FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 7 AM WEDNESDAY FOR ARZ001-ARZ002-ARZ010-ARZ011-
ARZ019-ARZ020-ARZ029.
&&
LONG TERM....15HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 509 PM CDT TUE MAR 18 2008 ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-191000- ADAIR OK-BENTON AR-CARROLL AR-CHEROKEE OK-CHOCTAW OK-CRAIG OK- CRAWFORD AR-CREEK OK-DELAWARE OK-FRANKLIN AR-HASKELL OK-LATIMER OK- LE FLORE OK-MADISON AR-MAYES OK-MCINTOSH OK-MUSKOGEE OK-NOWATA OK- OKFUSKEE OK-OKMULGEE OK-OSAGE OK-OTTAWA OK-PAWNEE OK-PITTSBURG OK- PUSHMATAHA OK-ROGERS OK-SEBASTIAN AR-SEQUOYAH OK-TULSA OK-WAGONER OK- WASHINGTON OK-WASHINGTON AR- 440 PM CDT TUE MAR 18 2008 ...SEVERE WEATHER THREAT DIMINISHING...FLOODING CONTINUES... THIS OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AS WELL AS MUCH OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. RISK...LIMITED. AREA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA THROUGH NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. FLASH FLOOD. RISK...SIGNIFICANT. AREA...EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. HEAVY RAIN. RISK...SIGNIFICANT. AREA...EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS. ONSET...ONGOING. DISCUSSION... THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT CONTINUES TO DIMINISH LATE THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY NOW SOUTHEAST OF THE FORECAST AREA. RAIN WITH EMBEDDED ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES IN A SWATH FROM NORTHEAST TEXAS...ACROSS SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS AND INTO NORTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS. RAIN STILL IS FALLING OVER NEARLY ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA BUT WILL BE STARTING TO END FROM THE NORTHWEST THIS EVENING. THERE REMAINS A SMALL THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING WITH HAIL BEING THE MAIN THREAT. A LARGE SWATH OF 3 TO 5 INCHES RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE LAST 24 HOURS ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA INTO NORTHWEST ARKANSAS...WITH A FEW ISOLATED SPOTS RECEIVING OVER 6 INCHES OF RAIN. THIS HEAVY RAINFALL IS OCCURRING IN A LARGE AREA OF ATMOSPHERIC LIFT...MAINLY NORTH OF A SLOW MOVING FRONT LOCATED OVER FAR NORTHEASTERN TEXAS INTO NORTHERN ARKANSAS. THE AXIS OF HEAVY RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO GRADUALLY SHIFT EAST INTO FAR SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN ARKANSAS THIS EVENING. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS...WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING...MAINLY ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA AND WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS. ROAD FLOODING ALONG WITH MAINSTREAM RIVER FLOODING WILL OCCUR DUE TO THE EXCESSIVE RUNOFF. SPOTTER AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY. WEDNESDAY...NO HAZARDS. THURSDAY...NO HAZARDS. FRIDAY...NO HAZARDS. SATURDAY...THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. SUNDAY...NO HAZARDS. MONDAY...NO HAZARDS. EXTENDED DISCUSSION... A PERIOD OF QUITE AND DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK. AN UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM MAY AFFECT PARTS OF THE AREA OVER THE WEEKEND...WITH A LEAST A SMALL CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ON SATURDAY. WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA CONTAINS ADDITIONAL TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL INFORMATION.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
157 PM CDT TUE MAR 18 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1200 PM FLASH FLOOD TURNERS BEND 35.67N 93.83W
03/18/2008 FRANKLIN AR EMERGENCY MNGR
HWY 23 UNDER WATER DUE TO MULBERRY RIVER.
&&
NMMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
242 PM CDT TUE MAR 18 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1010 AM TSTM WND DMG 2 NE RATTAN 34.22N 95.39W
03/18/2008 PUSHMATAHA OK LAW ENFORCEMENT
TREES DOWN NEAR RATTAN AND CLOUDY. ONE TREE FELL ONTO AND
DAMAGED A TRUCK.
&&
NMMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Poteau River near Poteau rose above its flood stage of 24 feet at 7:45 p.m. cdt on March 18th. The river crested at 28.78 feet at 8:00 a.m. cdt on March 19th. This crest classified the flood as a moderate flood. The river fell below its flood stage at 10:15 p.m. cdt on March 22nd.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, March 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 88713.