(TWC) – More rain is expected to fall Tuesday on the Arkansas River, which has already reached levels not seen for decades in Oklahoma and Arkansas. “The levee system is still operating as designed,” Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said Monday, but he added that could quickly change. “We are asking for everyone to prepare for the worst-case scenario … the worst flood in our history.” Widespread flooding has already occurred along the Arkansas River in parts of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Several times in the past few days, officials have increased the amount of water flowing from the Keystone Dam into the river.
Engineers are trying to prevent the even more catastrophic flooding that could come if the lake overflows its floodgates, the Tulsa World reports. More rain will make that more difficult. “This is the culmination of a flood that is now in its fourth week,” David Williams, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District chief of hydrology and hydraulics engineering, told the newspaper. “I know that it seems like only a weeklong event or so, but we’ve had excessive rainfall in the basin for a month now.” The Arkansas River has already flooded hundreds of homes in a neighborhood in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, just west of Tulsa. More are expected to be flooded as more water is released from the dam, the Tulsa World reported. READ MORE
