Oklahomans Flee as Flood Cuts Community in Half

Hundreds of Bartlesville residents grudgingly left their homes Saturday, some by rescue boat, as the overburdened Caney River continued to rise after cutting the community in half.

“We’re talking worst-case scenario,” state Civil Defense Director Norris Price said of flooding that left eight to nine feet of water in parts of Bartlesville and swamped communities all across north-central Oklahoma.

The powerful current left some mobile homes listing, and several oil slicks spread out over the water from swamped service stations.

Water reached the roofs of some houses in low-lying areas when the river crested at 23 feet at noon, and the Caney was still rising toward a predicted weekend crest of 27 to 28 feet. Flood stage is 11 feet.

3,200 Leave Homes

Washington County Civil Defense Director Jim Willaford said an estimated 3,200 people in the area had heeded the call to leave their homes by Saturday evening, when the evacuations ended. Earlier, officials had estimated that 15,000 people could be forced to flee the town of 35,000.

Price said the flooding in Bartlesville, Tulsa and a dozen other communities around Oklahoma had stretched the capability of emergency teams. “We’re reaching the exhaustion point of all of our resources,” he said.

State officials are expected to seek a federal disaster declaration.

Up to two feet of rain in some parts of northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas last week filled Hulah and Copan reservoirs near Bartlesville and Keystone Lake near Tulsa, forcing the Army Corps of Engineers to open floodgates and make emergency discharges into the Caney and Arkansas rivers.

Water from the Hulah-Copan release began reaching Bartlesville late Friday, when the river was already five feet above flood stage.

Schools, Businesses Shut

Water spread over an estimated 60 to 70 square miles in Washington County, inundating neighborhoods mostly in northwestern and southern Bartlesville.

Floods have covered roads and fields with up to six feet of water and closed schools and businesses in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan and Missouri.

In Illinois, where a week of heavy rain has caused $40 million in damage, Gov. James R. Thompson asked President Reagan to declare a federal disaster in the northeast part of the state.

In Kansas, Gov. John Carlin declared emergencies in 13 counties in the southeastern part of the state.

Heavy rain also was reported in north-central and west Texas, where several roads were flooded.