Record flooding decimates parts of Texas and Oklahoma

 


Meanwhile, an Oklahoma emergency management official said a 33-year-old woman died in a weather-related traffic crash on Saturday. In Wagoner County, thousands of acres of farmland have been swamped, reports Rachel Calderon, of CBS Oklahoma City affiliate KWTV.
This is already the wettest May on record for several Plains cities, with days still to go and more rain on the way. Oklahoma City set a new monthly rainfall total this weekend - 18.2 inches through Saturday, destroying the previous record of 14.5 in 2013. So far this year, Oklahoma City has gotten 27.37 inches of rain. It got only 4.29 inches all of last year.
The National Weather Service says el Nino and an active southern jetstream are to blame for the historic may rain, Calderson reports.
Forrest Mitchell, a meteorologist at the weather service's office in Norman, Oklahoma, said it looks like the recent rainfall may officially end the drought that has gripped the region for years, noting that many lakes and reservoirs are full. But one month's weather can't predict future events, so Mitchell says it's still too early to tell for sure.
Wichita Falls was so dry at one point that that it had to get Texas regulatory approval to recycle and treat its wastewater as drinking water dried up. By Sunday, the city reached a rainfall record, nearly 14 inches so far in May.