Dateline: May 10, 2001

High water stalls cars, closes US 287 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

This car, driven by Josh English, was trapped under the footbridge south of the Lions Hall last Thursday by a flash flood. English escaped unharmed according to Sheriff Butch Blackburn. A total of 9.25 inches fell on the city in a very short time. Enterprise Photo

Heavy rain inundated the city of Clarendon last Thursday night, trapping one couple in a pickup and closing US 287 for several hours.

The official measurement in town was 9.25 inches.

According to information from the Donley County Sheriff’s Department, the National Weather Service warned local authorities of severe weather at 8:27 p.m. Heavy rain was reported four minutes later, and the flooding was recorded at 9:07.

The closest call was had by Vic Jeter and a female companion who were swept away by a torrent of water on Gorst Street. They were rescued by Sheriff Butch Blackburn and three other individuals.

Jeter’s wasn’t the only vehicle to be flooded, according to Blackburn. A white sports car driven by Josh English was swept away on Sixth Street near the City Park.

The sheriff said English managed to get out of his vehicle and escape before it floated downstream and crashed into a footbridge south of the Lions Hall.

Another vehicle, a Ford Explorer carrying two college students, was also stranded on Sixth Street near the City Park. The students managed to crawl on top of the vehicle to safety. An Army surplus six-by-six truck from the Clarendon Volunteer Fire Department was called into action to rescue the students, Blackburn said.

Law enforcement personnel also suffered their own automotive casualties. Deputy Jon Burrell’s patrol car was flooded and stalled near Third and Ellerbe streets, and DPS Trooper Tony Polito’s car also stalled nearby, Blackburn said.

The DPS car was reportedly still in working order this week, but the county car will likely be totaled out.

During the flooding, US 287 was closed early in the evening only to be reopened a short time later. But a second wave of water came through the city near midnight, prompting officials to close the highway again and divert traffic around Clarendon. The highway was not re-opened until 3:19 a.m. on Friday.

Several businesses and public buildings experienced leaking and minor water damage. The heaviest toll may have been taken on the city streets, where pavement was ripped up in some areas, and dirt streets were washed out. City Secretary Janice Barbee says City Hall has started the paperwork to apply for emergency funds.

Blackburn said the worst damage to a residence came at FM 1260 and County Road P. Water got up between three and four feet on the exterior walls of a home there, and as much as six inches got in the house, he said.

Greenbelt Water Authority reports the lake rose by 1.39 feet following the rain. The majority of that runoff came from Kelly Creek, which was still running two feet over the low water crossing on Friday.

Blackburn says he’s glad no one was hurt during Thursday’s flood, and he has a message for local citizens.

“When we have a heavy rain like that or when we blow the siren, please stay home and do not get out.”

He said people coming to look for a tornado or look at the floods creates more problems for his department to worry about.

“I probably offended some people last week by telling them to go home, and I’m sorry,” he said. “But that’s really the safest place.”

Thursday’s rain was the biggest since April 2, 1997, when 8.71 inches fell in one night. Following that flood, the city repaired diversion dams south and southwest of town and cleaned debris and vegetation from the main floodway.

Those flood structures were built in the 1920s and 1930s and today spare the downtown area from the devastating floods, which sometimes occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.