Flood Of 86

Sometimes old Mother Nature upsets our lives a little and sometimes she upsets them a lot. This was one of those doozies for the Bartlesville area., but our family managed to survive without too much hardship.

Flood Of 86

 

In early October of 1986, the Caney River Flooded dividing Bartlesville in half. They had had something like a foot of rain on the water shed to Caney Lake so they opened the flood gates and the Caney River rapidly backed up into the city of Bartlesville since there was flooding downstream also. I could not get to work for several days until the flood water subsided since the Caney River was between our house and the downtown area.there was a lot of talk about whose fault the flooding was, but the truth is old Mother Nature was to blame. We lived in the highest part of Bartlesville, so there was no danger off our home flooding.

 

 

 

The roads into John and Sues House were flooded. So they came over and stayed with us. John was a volunteer fireman in Dewey, so he worked for about 36 hours straight before he got to come in and rest.

 

 

That’s Sue, Pam, and Kristi standing on Adams Road just west of the Church Of Christ. The flooded area is the soccer fields and area across the street from the present Lowe’s Store. That’s the top of an oil storage tank just to the left of Sues head. The pumping unit is under water.

This is Highway 75 between Bartlesville and Dewey. There was about a foot of water on the highway. As you can see there is about four feet of water in the barn to the left.

A view from the opposite side of Adams Road from the first picture above. If you look closely you can see a horse standing on top of that barn.  Now don’t strain you eyes too much,  just kidding about the horse. The Lowe’s Store did not yet exist on that side of the road.

The flood damaged hundreds and homes and businesses along the Caney River area and severely disrupted life for weeks afterward.

Thanks for reading Flood Of 86′ Hawg Jaw Bill