It is horrible and getting worse. We are about to get hit by a severe TStorm with torrential rainfall that is part of a line that already has dropped a lot of water in the Lake Texoma watershed. The last thing we need is more water flowing into the lake. We already had 1-3" rainfall in the area this morning, so more rainfall is just a worst-possible-case scenario.

The Roosevelt Bridge now is closed, which I find both amazing and terrifying. You can Google to read about the Roosevelt Bridge at Lake Texoma if you aren't familiar with it. It is a very large bridge and water is about 8" over the bridge roadway now.

Places near the lake, like HIghpoint Marina, that rebuilt after the 2007 flooding, now are underwater again, and it is heartbreaking. The rebuilt restaurant was so beautiful. Lake Texoma has gone over the top of the spillway only 4 times in its history, and we have been here for two of them: 2007 and 2015. This is worse than 2007. I feel a great deal of concern for everyone near the lake, and "near" isn't as close as you'd think. People who had at least 100 yds between their homes and the lake now, in some cases, have water right up to their homes' foundations. Ranchers have been moving cattle to higher ground for weeks, but may be running out of higher ground.

People with homes along the Red River and near Lake Texoma have done everything within their power to protect their homes, including building their own extensive flood dikes or levees, and it likely will not be enough in most cases.

It is astonishing how much the river is rising and, of course, it flows into the lake, as does the Washita River. The last time I checked, the flood level was 644.19. That was during the evening news. The record, dating back to May 6,1990, is 644.76' We are expecting the lake to surpass that sometime in the next 18-24 hours.

If I had plans for a summer vacation at Lake Texoma (and the tourism people will hate for me to say this), I'd make new plans. The lake is going to remain high and dangerous.

Lake Texoma is so gorgeous and has had low lake levels due to drought for so long. Now it is at the opposite end of the spectrum---water overflowing everywhere.

Man oh man, my weather radio is going off nonstop. What a horrible night. I am thinking the lake will set a new record sooner rather than later.

I guess if you build near the lake you have to know it will get near 644 every decade or two so that is just part of the decision making, but just the Red River by itself right now seems to be flowing into the lake more volume than is currently going over the dam so the flooding can only get worse above and below the dam tomorrow.

I spent a big chunk of my childhood at Lake Texoma. I remember the Willis Bridge mostly. In fact, still in my mind that is how you get to Texas. I'm not sure of the Roosevelt Bridge--I do remember another large bridge, but not it's name. It had "structure" (not sure what that is called in bridge talk) above the road and the Willis Bridge was just like a road. My cousins and I tried to hold our breathe as we were driving across it. My Great Grandma lived in a community on the south side of Willis Bridge and to the west. In my memory. I was 7 when she passed, so I could remember incorrectly. I do remember Juniper Point and Cedar Bayou--a hiking trail that ran between the two. Getting lost on the trail a couple of times. This was back when parents and grandparents just let you fun free without worry. The only thing they worried about was waiting 30 minutes after eating before getting into the lake??? My grandparents had a "lake" house in Lebanon, OK. Spent a lot of time there, but my memories are a child's memories. Oh! and there was a water slide. Not Whitewater quality. And a place to ride horses.

Sad it's flooding now.

At 0800 this morning, the Lake Texoma Lake Level is 644.96. The question now is how high can it go, and I sort of don't even want to know the answer.

I think that anyone who builds a home within 100, or maybe 200 yards, of any body of water needs to study the flooding data available for that area and choose an elevation that they think is safe, and then build even a few feet higher than that. Look at what is happening in the Twin Lakes Community there in central OK. Many of those homes were safe from routine flooding, but the sort of flooding we have this year is anything but routine.

Sometimes, no matter what you do, a flash flood will get you anyway. Look at what happened with the Blanco River in and downstream of Wimberly, TX. That flash flood swept through like a tsunami. Who ever would have expected that sort of flash flood, even though it is, of course, in a part of Texas where flash flooding is a constant hazard and a well-publicized one.

I think we are venturing into territory with many of our bodies of water in both TX and OK, where we are in uncharted territory now. Not only is rain falling in record amounts on heavily-saturated ground, but it is falling on newer communities where homes did not exist during prior decades of heavy flooding. Every time we pour any bit of concrete for roadways, home foundations, sidewalks and driveways, we are covering up soil that used to absorb water. Over the years and decades, what we do as we develop our communities does indeed make a difference with respect to how and where the water flows.

With regards to Lake Texoma, the Corps of Engineers works very hard to balance public safety and the needs of people around and above Lake Texoma with the safety and needs of people downstream from Lake Texoma. They started releasing water slowly, trying to safely lower the lake level as much as possible without flooding out individuals and homes downstream. I remember at one point that had some flood gates open and were releasing 20,000 cubic feet of water per second, but the problem at that point was that 100,000 cubic feet of water per second were flowing into the lake. We have had a lot more rainfall since then. Yesterday's and last night's rainfall caused the flood to set a new record crest this morning, hours earlier than expected. Now, every height it reaches is a new record.

Since yesterday morning, we have recorded 3.3" of rainfall at our house. Folks south of us, and particularly in and south of Thackerville, had over 4", all of it flowing right now to the river sooner or later. Heavy rain is expected today, tonight and tomorrow.

I haven't heard a whole lot about Kingston, but that community probably is enduring a great deal of flash flooding now. My heart goes out to everyone fighting to save their homes and their property.

Last night, they interviewed a guy from Gainesville, TX, a few miles across the river from us. They had massive flash flooding in some parts of that community yesterday, and when they asked him about his home, I don't remember him saying a single word about his house, but what he said was "almost my whole garden is completely under water". When he said that, he was speaking a language I understood!

To me, the amazing thing is that there have been relatively few high water rescues in Love County despite a lot of flooding and flash flooding. I feel like the people who choose to live here in relative close proximity to the lake, river and creeks are fairly savvy about the caution you need to exhibit when flooding and flash flooding are occurring or are imminent. It probably has been a lot worse closer to Lake Texoma than we are. Only a small portion of Lake Texoma's 89,000 acres lie in or adjacent to Love County.

Here's your morning lake report. At 0700 the lake level was 645.62' and they continue to release water from the flood gates. Since the spillway height is 640', water continues to flow over the spillway and huge numbers of people are flocking to the spillway area just to stand and watch the massive amounts of water being released. For anyone who's wondering, the dam itself it 670', so there is not even a remote chance that the entire dam will be overtopped by the water---the spillways exist to prevent that from occurring.

I believe that the Red River near us crested overnight, at a height that meant all cattle formerly kept in bottom land pastures that now are flooded had to be 11' above the nearest river bank to be safe. This year, that 11' is the highest "safe area" I've seen mentioned in flood warnings, and now we should start seeing that number drop a bit every day. Now, although the river will remain at flood stage for some time to come, the river level will slowly begin to drop and that means less water will be flowing in Lake Texoma. I don't know about the Washita River though. With all the rain that fell in its watershed, I bet it still is sending tons of water into the lake.

Fishing must be really good right now. People are flocking to any area where it is possible to fish from land and seem to be catching plenty of fish.

Tonight the lake level is only 645.63', so maybe it is close to reaching its highest point. That would be great for the homeowners fighting to save their homes from the lake. A lot of them already have lost their gardens, landscaping and probably their lawns (which are under water).

I haven't seen it in the news yet, but we heard of 2 more deaths today in this area.

The lake level at Lake Texoma this morning is 645.71' according to a website I just checked. Wow. The rivers are starting to drop here though they'll remain at flood stage a bit longer, but I wouldn't think Texoma will rise much more unless they start closing the flood gates that currently are open and I don't know why they'd do that.

Most all the lakes to our south in Texas are in flood as well, and all that water is flowing downstream, much of it through various forks of the Trinity River, so ongoing flooding is occurring, particularly in Dallas and points below Dallas. We tend to stop worrying about the water in the Red River and Lake Texoma once they have crested, but there are people downstream who will be on the receiving end of all that water as it continues to flow downstream for hundreds of miles yet.

I wouldn't be surprised if they start finding more drowning victims as the waters recede, Carol, especially if y'all had flash flooding. It also seems like people are really eager to get out on the lakes, rivers and creeks as soon as possible, which seems dangerous to me with all the debris the flooding has carried into various bodies of water.

Part of my family were trying to make it home from the coast over the weekend and missed a turn in eastern Louisiana and then decided to com through Shreveport and Texarkana. Big mistake! They got to the Red River north of Paris and found the bridge closed, so they had to go all the way over to Bonham to cross. It ended up being a two-hour mistake missing that initial turn.

Scott, Oh wow, that was a mistake. I'm glad they didn't try to drive up through Houston or Dallas, where downstream flooding and flash flooding continue to happen because traffic tie-ups there related to flash flooding have held up people for 5-6 hours or more on a highway without moving at all.

The lake has been falling at a rate of about 9" a day, and as inflow drops, the lake should fall at a higher rate. Still, roads and bridges remain flooded and/or washed out, and some folks have to take 2 hour detours just to get to and from work every day.

The Red River was just a little over flood stage at the last report, and should be back below flood stage (25' at the Gainesville-Thackerville I-35 bridge) by tomorrow, if not sooner. However, the river is often just a trickle that you can pretty much walk across, from sand bar to sand bar, without getting your feet wet, so at 25' it still will seem incredibly high.

Today on the noon news, they showed an image of a restaurant at the lake that still has a lot of water in it. The good news? The water had receded enough so that now you could just barely see the canopy that extends out over the first floor windows. You still couldn't actually see the first floor. This restaurant was rebuilt after the 2007 flood, and I am sure it will have to be largely gutted and rebuilt again. Two major floods in less than a decade seems like a bit much, but I guess we're paying for the fact that it didn't flood like this in the 1960s or 1970s. The law of averages catches up with everyone sooner or later.

Dawn

Sardis lake is still over hwy 2 at yanush. I know the back roads to get around it but still not fun.

I googled 500 year floods in Tulsa, and google says they have one for 70% off if any one is interested. We went through some really ugly floods, notably Memorial Days 1976 and 1984. Much has been done to prevent floods like that here, especially along Mingo creek. But apparently the Arkansas river levee system, which is 70 years old is the next likely failure and we were very lucky we didn't get as much rain as every where else. And they want to put huge developments right in the middle of the river here. Go figure.

Today Lake Texoma quit spilling over the spillway at the dam, which has an elevation of 640'. The 1 pm lake level reading was 640.02' and at 2 pm the lake level is 640.00'. So, in one sense the worst of the crisis is over. To be clear, though, the lake itself is roughly 21' above what is considered normal and some lakeside businesses remain under water. The lake is expected to slowly fall, which isn't good news for the folks downstream, particularly in Shreveport where the Red River continues to cause major flooding.

Amy, It is crazy that they want to put huge developments in flood plain land. It just makes you wonder what they're thinking or even if they are thinking.

It is hot, dry and my ground here is cracking. I wouldn't mind a minor flood here now, but I doubt we're going to get one any time soon.

Cracks everywhere here, too. It looks like a dried up lake bed.

The meterologist-who-shall-not-be-named said we should be getting some good rain from the weekend through the middle of next week. I am ready, I have cracks too. So unfair. We had enough rain last month, I shouldn't have to water for the whole summer. :P

I agree. Sadly, the sort of rain we had in May was just too much at once and a lot of it ran off. My ground actually started cracking about a week ago. I knew it would happen, but was hoping it wouldn't happen so very quickly.

The good thing about heavy rain that runs off is that it fills up ponds, rivers, creeks and lakes. The bad thing thing, at least from a gardener's point of view, is that it runs off so much of the time instead of soaking in. So, while it was drought-busting rain, I wonder how quickly drought returns if the good rain that we get is scattered or spotty and misses lots of areas.

It hit 100 degrees here at our house yesterday, though I think it only made it to 96 at our Mesonet station. At 100 degrees, I generally have to water the plants in containers daily, and sometimes twice a day if there is wind along with the heat. I've tried to only water the younger plants in the ground that were transplanted after the rain ended and have been letting the older, larger plants survive on whatever soil moisture remains (which is less and less daily). I hope to get away with that until the next rainfall arrives.

At this time of the year, my garden activity switches to harvest-and-survival mode where I run outdoors around sunrise, do the harvesting, water the container plants, and try to make it back inside before it gets too insanely hot out there. Then I spend the rest of the day working on cooking the day's harvest for lunch and dinner and then processing, via canning, freezing or dehydrating, the rest of the day's harvest. After dinner, I run out to the garden again and water the containers if they need it, or any young plants that have dry soil. What's missing from all that? Enjoying being out in the garden for hours at a stretch. It is hard to relax and enjoy it when it gets so hot.

The soil in my garden is cracking. But its never done that before, even at the height of summer in drought.

There's something else to that, other than lack of soil moisture. I dig a trowel in my garden and the soil is wet few inches down. But some places have huge cracks.

I'm not scientist enough to explain it, but the cracking is not from drought. My garden drained well during the rains, it only had standing water for short periods till it seeped deep in the ground, and its situated where it does not run off.

Maybe the heat plays a role. I have dense, slow-draining red clay that expands quickly in wet periods and contracts just as quickly in dry periods. I do know folks here in our area who are seeing significant cracking in their sandy soil, though, and they usually do not have the constant cycle of expansion and contraction like we do with our clay.

lcdollar, I can only speculate. I'm seeing cracks in unusual places, too. I can only surmise that the excess rain washed away many of the soil microbes. Basically, it killed the dirt in those spots. However, the surrounding areas - like yours - are still healthy and I trust with a bit of mulch they'll be right as rain by fall or next spring.

I think the standing water causes changes in the air content of soil and changes in how the soil particles are aligned so the cracking is more pronounced when it finally dries.

When a pond dries up, the bottom will crack easier than the surrounding soil, and it will crack in a different pattern. Why it does that, I've no idea.

We do have different kinds of cracking on different parts of our property depending on whether an area had pools of standing water on it from the May storms or whether it just was saturated and had a new layer of silt on top of it. Before yesterday's rain, things here were almost back to normal as viewed from the surface (though still much wetter down deeper in the soil). Now we're right back in the same condition we were when the May flooding had just ended.

As for Lake Texoma, it has risen almost two feet in the last day or so. I think it was at 637' yesterday morning. This morning it is just over 639' and expected to start going over the spillway (640') again sometime today. This will be the fifth time in its history that water has gone over the spillway, and will be the first time it has happened twice in one year.

Texoma did make it back over the spillway during June's heavy rainfall and flooding, marking the first time it has topped the spillway twice in one year (and, in fact, twice in less than a month). It didn't get quite as high the second time, falling less than in inch short of tying the record set in early June.

This morning, at the 10 a.m. reading, the lake had fallen to 639.98' and no longer is falling over the spillway. The lake is still very high, though. Its normal elevation is around 619' so life for folks who live very close to the lake won't return to normal for some time yet.