Flood in Oklahoma, March 19 to 20, 2008

Name: Flood in Oklahoma, March 19 to 20, 2008
Start: 2008-03-19T14:00
End: 2008-03-20T05:30
Location: Oklahoma

March 19 to 20, 2008 · NWS TSA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Heavy rain caused a major flood on the Illinois River near Watts.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.

Heavy rain caused a major flood on the Illinois River near Watts.

What forecasters said that day

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 19, 10:24 AM CST, 3 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 19, 10:24 AM CST, 3 hours 36 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
1124 AM CDT WED MAR 19 2008

.UPDATE...
RAINFALL HAS ENDED ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA
WITH LINGERING LOW CLOUDS ACROSS WRN AR AND
ADJACENT AREAS OF ERN OK. CURRENT HOUR TEMP
TRENDS (ALONG WITH PERSISTENT CLOUDS) SUGGEST
HIGH TEMPS NEED TO BE NUDGED DOWN A FEW DEGREES
OVER THE ERN AREAS.

UPDATE WILL BE OUT SHORTLY.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
TUL   62  40  72  52 /   0   0   0   0
FSM   59  33  71  42 /  10   0   0   0
MLC   62  39  71  51 /  10   0   0   0
BVO   62  35  72  45 /   0   0   0   0
FYV   54  29  69  43 /  10   0   0   0
BYV   55  30  66  44 /  10   0   0   0
MKO   62  37  71  47 /  10   0   0   0
MIO   59  35  69  48 /  10   0   0   0
F10   62  38  73  49 /  10   0   0   0
HHW   62  36  70  45 /  10   0   0   0

&&

.TSA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...NONE.
AR...NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...18
LONG TERM....21

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 18, 4:09 PM CST, 21 hours 51 minutes before

HAZARDOUS 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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Mar 19, 8:58 AM CST, 5 hours 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
958 AM CDT WED MAR 19 2008

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0200 PM     FLASH FLOOD      4 N RATTAN              34.26N 95.41W
03/18/2008                   PUSHMATAHA         OK   POST OFFICE

            NEAR RATTAN AND NORTH...MANY ROADS IMPASSABLE BY MAIL
            CARRIER BY MID AFTERNOON.

0300 PM     FLASH FLOOD      FORT TOWSON             34.02N 95.27W
03/18/2008                   CHOCTAW            OK   COUNTY OFFICIAL

            WATER OVER SOME ROADS AND CREEK OUT OF BANK AND INTO
            YARDS

0520 PM     FLASH FLOOD      GRANT                   33.94N 95.51W
03/18/2008                   CHOCTAW            OK   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            WATER OVER COUNTY ROADS NEAR GRANT

&&

SAA

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Adair

When: March 19, 2:00 PM CST to March 20, 5:30 AM CST
Where: Adair County, Watts to 5 mi W of Watts
Cause: Heavy Rain
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 36.120, -94.570

The Illinois River near Watts rose above its flood stage of 13 feet at 3 p.m. cdt on March 19th. The river crested at 24.73 feet before falling below its flood stage at 5:30 a.m. cdt the next day. This crest classified the flood as being in the major category. This crest tied for the 3rd highest crest recorded at this site. Flooding occurred from near the Arkansas border to near the Chewey Bridge. Cabins were flooded with several feet of water in the Fidlers Bend area.

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Oklahoma in 2008 Every state in 2008 This day in weather history Warnings in Oklahoma, March 2008

Sources

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: 88657.