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Long Awaited...the floods.
July 14, 2007I'm going to ease into this over a couple of days though...try to interject a few stories along with the pictures.
So bear with me...
After a few days of waiting, here are some of my images from the flooding in late June around these parts.
It all started on Tuesday the 26th of June. It was raining like crazy around here. I've never seen rain like this in this town. There were things and parts of town flash-flooding that I didn't even know COULD be under that kind of water.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Brown-stained water rushes down Jacksboro Highway as a motorist zips by in the heavy rain Tuesday morning.
This was Kemp....now, we all know that Kemp can get a bit of water on it, but this was crazy. The cops and fire dept. were al over the place with high water. The water was rushing about 2-3 feet deep at the intersection of Fairway and Southwest Parkway.....I thought that was a high spot.
So...of course...who do they sent out into the monsoon weather....me. Yay.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
A motorist drives slowly through high water on Kemp near Hampstead as a heavy rain flooded many parts of town Tuesday morning.
The next thing we here....they are flooding down along Garfield and Grant near Kemp. The drainage ditch there is backing up like a sink and they've already evacuated the Dr's office on Kemp near Big Five.
About the same time...they start calling for a water rescue out at Fairway...there's literally no way I can get down there. Every way to that part of town is completely underwater. We were stuck. (Boy...did I ever miss my 4x4 Escape about now).
So, the firefighters start asking for a boat on Garfield, they need to rescue a wheel-chair bound lady out of her home. I take off for the area, knowing that I'm probably going to be wading in water that could be 3-4 feet deep.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
A Wichita Falls fire truck drives through several feet of water with a rescue boat in tow on Garfield near Kemp Tuesday afternoon after a strong thunderstorm dropped several inches of rain over the city and surrounding area.
SO...I'm already standing in water up to my knees for that picture....and they get the boat out and start walking up the street, all the while saying they were going to another house further away from me...I was going to have to A: switch lenses and B: go wading
Jason Palmer/Times Record News Wichita Falls firefighters use a boat to rescue Bettie Allen, 76, after heavy flooding on Garfield near Kemp flooded her home Tuesday afternoon during a strong thunderstorm dropped several inches of rain over the city and surrounding area.
FINALLY....the rains stopped for the moment. We heard reports that the water was already coming over the Lake Wichita spillway (that's always breaking news around here). So the office wanted me to head out that and get a few shots.
When I made it out there....what suprised me more than the water going over the spillway was the amount of water coming out of the storm drains just down-creek from the dam. So, I decided to photograph them instead.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Water pours over the Lake Wichita spillway and a drainage ditches that feed into Holiday Creek Tuesday afternoon after heavy morning rains brought flash flooding and road closures all across the region.
Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Water rushes beneath a pedestrian bridge near the Lake Wichita dam Tuesday afternoon following a morning of heavy rains that brought flooding to much of the region.
Of course...the only reason I was out there shooting all of this rain stuff, was the Texas Oklahoma Junior Golf was completely rained out on Tuesday, freeing me up.
Wednesday...it rained again, but the really bad stuff was still draining out of the fields to the west and starting to fill into Beaver Creek and the Wichita River......
Posted by Jason Palmer at 05:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Comments
I thought we had the exclusive on rain this summer here in Scotland but you guys sure had plenty.
I have whipped on of your lightening pics in an email for my blog. Hope you don't mind being a pro and all.....
you did a great job catching the human element. they are all very epic images...
