MAJOR FLOODING(THE FLOOD IN LITTLE ROCK, AR.-1978)

We are experiencing major flooding in our city right now. We have already had over eight inches of rain in some parts of the city, since this morning. Hubby tried to get to work. He said he would go one direction and run into a flooded street, turn around and go another direction and then run into another flooded street. So, he finally gave up and called and closed his office. After three hours of trying to get to his office, he is now back home.

I think we are safe in our house, we are higher than most. But, the two major roads close to us are both flooded. All flights have been cancelled at Will Rogers airport in Oklahoma City.

This so reminds me of the big flood in Little Rock, Ar. in September of 1978. Tracy was 5 and Michelle was 2. We lived close to a creek. We received over 12 inches of rain in about three hours. I knew, probably within an hour of hubby leaving for work that morning, that our house was going to flood. I watched TV and paced and kept calling hubby and telling him that we were going to flood. Or course, there was no way he could get back home to us.

My neighbor's daughter had stayed home from school that day. So, our neighbor, who was at work, called and told her daughter to wade across the street to help me.  She knew that we were probably going to be evacuated and thought I would need help with the kids. The water was already up to her daughter's neck when she waded across.

I still remember hearing on TV that flooding in the Boyle Park area was imminent and evacuation procedures would begin immediately. Tracy was crying and Michelle was laughing, because she was too little to understand what was happening.

Then, there was a loud knock on the door. It scared the kids, but I told them it was probably someone to help us. No one else would be out in weather like this. It was our neighbor, Mark, who was a police officer and lived across the street from us. He said he would be back in a few minutes with a boat to get us out. I remember asking him where we were going and he said, as he was walking away, higher ground. He told hubby later, that when they said for all the police officers to start evacuating residents in our area, he thought of me first, because he always saw our little kids in the yard playing and knew we would be in the house.

So, like he said, he came back in a few minutes with a boat. He pushed the boat into our front door and Tracy,  Michelle, myself and our neighbor's daughter climbed in.  He then pushed the boat across the street to another neighbors house and Mrs. Johnson  and a woman and baby, whose car had flooded out in front of Mrs. Johnson's house,  also climbed in the boat with us.  He then pushed it over to another neighbor's house but they said they were going to wait until later.  Mark then said, well why don't you at least put your dogs in the boat.  So, they did go get their hound dogs and put them in.   He then pushed us up the hill. And, like he said, to higher ground. When we got up the hill, he said, all I can tell you to do is to start knocking on doors and see if anyone will let you come in. The first door that we knocked on was an older lady and she took us in and gave us all dry clothes and started making lunch for us.  I am not sure what he did with the dogs, because they did not go in the house with us.  Maybe they stayed in the boat.

But, oh what a chore it was, when the water finally receded. The first thing we had to do was go in and start ripping all the carpet up and throw it away.  It took us about a year to get the house restored.  But, it looked better than ever after we did.

Also, we survived and that was what was most important. There were some down the street below us who didn't. There were little children that were swept out of their mother's arms. 

(These pictures were published in the Arkansas Democrat in a special edition a few weeks after the flood).

This picture was taken on our street.  We lived on the corner of 32nd and Wynne Drive. (3123 Wynne Drive). This picture is of our neighbor, Mr. Johnson, who lived across the street from us.  He is the one with overalls on and also the older man is Mr. Smith who lived two doors down from us on Wynne Drive.  The younger guy is Mark, a policeman and our neighbor, the one who took us out in a boat to safety.  They are standing in front of Mr. Smith's house. This was after the rain had stopped and the water had started receding.

This picture was taking at the end of our street.  This is where two children were swept out of their mother's arms.

(I added this picture that was borrowed from The Daily Oklahoman. This is the recent flooding in our city. This is just like the boat we went out in. But, at least it had stopped raining. When we were evacuated, it was still raining so hard, that we had to put our hand over our nose in order to breathe.)