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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

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Flooding in Oklahoma

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Ericson33
Admiral

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USA
892 Posts

Initially Posted - 07/08/2007 : 23:09:52

Well in the last couple of weeks I really have had no sailing at al but have been around the water a little too much. This all started about 6 weeks ago with lake Keystone's water coming up to where the water was at our Pavilion floor, this means that all of the Catwalk's going out to the docks were under the water and that you had to get onto a dingy to get out to your boat. The water soon went down enough for Windycrest to host the Santana 20 Nationals, then it seemed that the rain was non stop for the last 4 weeks.

The lake was really not that big of a concern as the water has been up really high in the past, and I was more concerned about how high my grass was getting in the front yard. (i got to mow it today) We were invited out three weeks ago for a moonlight sail, and our boat has been ready to go, so my wife, son, and a couple of friends headed out. There was allot of logs floating in the water, and we had to navigate thru a couple of jams near the dock, but we had a blast. This was really one of the fun-est times I have had on our boat as we tied up with two other Catalina 25's another Capri (Mike's) and another couple of boats 12 total.

Two weeks ago on Thursday our son had gone to Coffevile,KS. On Saturday there were flash floods all over Northeast Oklahoma, and I told my wife we had better just stay home and wait for the rain to stop. Coffeville on Sunday had flooded and the town was half under the water. The worst was the oil tank that had leaked, and the towns water supply had been shut down, the sewer system was now shut down, and my son, and Wife's family were now land locked right in the middle of a disaster.

It was Tuesday night before we could get our son, and we made plans to spend the night at a resort on Grand Lake on Wednesday night. We drove up to the lake Wednesday morning, and had to take a small detour to get to our cabin. My two brother were up at Grand, and we spent the day driving around in the Ski boat looking at the water damage. Grand Lake in my eyes was a total mess, I have never seen the water up so high. There were a ton of huge logs floating in the water ways, and the water level on Grand was coming up 3" per hour.

At this time Lake Keystone where I have our boat was at the top of the flood level on the dam at 754.00' I was going to the Windycrest site every hour looking for updates, and around 7:00 we made our 1 hr boat ride over to Duck Creek to watch the fireworks. It was going to be Oklahoma's largest Show at a 70,000.00 price tag.

We were having a great time relaxing on the boats, and watching the old WW2 planes fly over at 30 to 50' off the water. At dusk 4 F-16's flew thru the crowd and then turned one by one with the afterburners lit up, Simply breath taking. Well about this time I made it over to my other brother's boat, it was an open bow, and my brothers kids were all up front, as I made my way towards the back of the boat. That's really the last thing I remember as I woke up flat on my back with my brother looking down at me, I had hit the wet fiberglass floor and my legs went for the sky as my left side got ripped up. Under my armpit all the way down my ribcage there was a nice cut from a fiberglass stop for the windshield. It still hurts. I was not drinking BTW.

So the show went off with a bang, and we headed back to the cabin's as I laid in the back of the boat, and my wife had the search light showing my brother the way home. Once back at the cabin I had my first look at the cut and cleaned it up. We spent the day Thursday riding around on the boat and went to the dam to take a look, all of the cabins on the port side when looking at the dam had some kind of damage. We pulled really close up to the dam and you could see right over the cars, I have been at Grand Lake all of my life and have never seen it so high. There was about 4 ft till the water was going to go over the spillway, and you could see and hear the water on the other side, as the water sprayed up in a mist over the bridge.

Friday, we were back at home, I had gone into work and the waters at Keystone was still rising, It finally crested Friday night at 755.--
I still have not made the trip bake up to our club, I know that I would be in the way right now and that the our facilities manager has everything under control. My In-Laws have now backed up their 2 horse's five dogs, and 5 cats, and have moved into the Tulsa area, and I am designing them a new home to be built in Owasso. It truly has effected us as a family, and as boaters.

follow link, photos listed in days
http://www.windycrest.com/pages/photogallery.html

C.S. McKillip
Ericson 33

Edited by - Ericson33 on 07/08/2007 23:19:14

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 07/08/2007 : 23:41:28

Yowser. Drought to Floods...

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Sea Trac
Master Marine Consultant

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Vanuatu
1357 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2007 : 06:38:19

Sorry to hear you got hurt on the 4th, Chris, and I hope you've recovered.

I pulled Sea Trac into Duck Creek around 2 p.m. to get the prime spot for our annual ten boat raft up, and promptly snagged a large submerged tree on my CQR. That little ditty took an hour and a half, a kedge line, and another large sailboat to rectify. We finally got anchored and tied up around 4 p.m.

Friday on Grand Lake the water was within a foot of the top of the dam (quite the sight from the deck of a boat) and many of the flood gates were open, and full-sized trees were beginning to float down the current of the main river channel. We spent the weekend walking through water and then UP our ramp from the shore to the docks.

The last straw for everyone at our marina came on Saturday afternoon when the power company came and began threatening to shut off the electricity due to the fact that one of the transformers had finally been completely surrounded by water as the lake level hit 754.54 feet of the dam's available 755 feet.

Edited by - Sea Trac on 07/09/2007 10:48:16

cat1951
Admiral

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USA
636 Posts

Response Posted - 07/09/2007 : 15:06:57

JB, Wish we could have been with you at Duck Creek this year, but as you know we are up to our ears in other projects. Trying to sell our current house, and finish building the new one. Not only has the wet weather cut into our sailing, the house building is behind schedule because of it as well. The inside is only a week or two from completion, but it is the outside that is way behind. Still have to install the aerobic septic system, pour the patio, the front porch, the sidewalks, the driveway, and we have yet to paint the siding that has been on for almost 2 months.

I am extremely happy that I am not a general contractor. Trying to keep construction on schedule in this type of climate as got to be a nightmare. We are "supposed" to close on our current house next Monday, but we still don't know if the buyers are going through with the deal. It's a long story and one that will be told over a case of beer some day. Right now we are not laughing.

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At Ease
Admiral

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672 Posts

Response Posted - 07/10/2007 : 16:25:06

Lake Tenkiller (north of Vian) is up a bit, but the higher water has not affected boating at all.

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