| APACHE,
Oklahoma (AP) -- Thunderstorms dumped up to 3 inches of rain
on already soggy southern Oklahoma, bringing floods that lifted
mobile homes off their foundations, washed cars off highways
and trapped people in homes. And in western Arizona, up to
500 residents were evacuated Friday because of flooding.
A man
and his stepson were rescued Thursday after spending the
night stuck in a tree in Apache, about 60 miles southwest
of Oklahoma City.
"This
wasn't just standing flood water," Apache Mayor Jack
Roberts said. "It was moving fast, like white-water
rapids."
Fifty
homes in Apache were destroyed, along with 20 in nearby
Anadarko, and dozens more were damaged, officials said.
About 200 residents were evacuated.
The
damage was enough to drive some victims away permanently.
"My
parents can't afford flood insurance. They live on a fixed
income," Debra Love said. "This is our third flood,
and our last. We're leaving."
Donna
Ware, who saw her uninsured trailer destroyed, is also going.
"This
is too hard to come back to, trying to salvage what I can,"
she said.
As many
as 60 roads and bridges were damaged in the Anadarko area
after 16 inches of rain fell in six days, said Doris Huff,
a Caddo County Sheriff's dispatcher.
Floodwaters
rose as high as six feet in some houses before receding,
she said, and electrical power was still out in some areas.
In Carter
County, about 80 miles southeast, swollen creeks flooded
highways with up to three feet of water and carried away
cars.
"People
just don't listen. You tell them not to drive through the
damn water, and what do they do? They drive through the
damn water," said Ed Reed, the county's emergency manager.
Rescuers
pulled a woman and a family from their homes.
The
county seat of Ardmore received 3.2 inches of rain on Thursday
and has averaged 1.2 inches a day for the past week, Reed
said.
Highways
in Carter, Jefferson and Stephens counties closed by the
high waters were reopened by Thursday evening, officials
said.
In Wenden,
Arizona, as many as 500 people were evacuated as a storm
sent more water flowing through a normally dry river bed
that was the source of flooding earlier in the week.
A flash
flood warning was in effect for the area, emergency services
spokesman Cliff Pearlberg said.
Sunday's
flood caused an estimated $7.8 million in damages in the
town of 1,200 people. One person was reported missing, and
200 buildings were damaged or destroyed.
|
