Seminole County, Oklahoma Genealogy Trails

Wewoka Flood 1945

(source in Part from the Daily Oklahoman, April 15, 1945 edition pages 1 and 12)

On April 13, 1945 the county of Seminole was hit by a thunderstorm which dumped 12 to 15 inches of rain.  The Wewoka Dam failed flooding the area around Wewoka.  By the end of this storm system seven people were dead, two were known to be missing and hundreds of others were left homeless.  Those known to be dead were as follows:  Ellis Daniel Woods, 36, of Maud, driver of a highway department truck which was towing cars through high water on highway 99 south of Seminole.  Charles Harris, 45, St. Louis, Oklahoma, oil field worker, who was helping Ellis Woods.  Mrs. Ben Doyle, wife of a Wewoka deputy sheriff, who was one of a carload of persons being sought by Woods and Harris after a tow-line broke.  Opal Patterson, 28 year old Negro, killed when their house near Lima (northwest of Seminole) was swept away by flood waters of Wewoka creek, according to Otto Rousch, highway patrolman.  Paul Watkins, 18, Negro, who was in the same houseAn unidentified Negro man.

Those known to be missing were the son of Mrs. Doyle Burton, who recently was discharged from the army, was listed missing south of Seminole.  A Negro, Loa Gross, 60, who was in the house near Lima with the two dead women, also is missing.

At Shawnee, a sudden downpour of 6.07 inches sent Shawnee creek out of its bank, spreading three feet of water over six blocks in the downtown section.  Three miles north of Wewoka, the Wewoka dam were out early Saturday morning (April 14, 1945), sending Wewoka creek out of its banks at the edge of town.  The creek was falling in the afternoon, however, and there was no flood threat to the main sections of Wewoka.  Only 1.32 inches of rain fell within the city.
About half mile of the Rock Island track near Wewoka were inundated and the town was cut off from highway communication on three sides.  Roads remained open to the south of Wewoka.  Considerable stock was reported lost in the bottom lands and the Thomas Hedley Wholesale Company in the northern section of the town suffered extensive damage, when water covered the entire first floor to a depth of seven feet.  The pumping station at Seminole was under water and only an emergency supply of water was available.  Oil companies reported thousands of dollars worth of damage to wells, refining stations and pipe lines.  Four miles of the Rock Island tracks were washed out east and west of Seminole.  Shawnee's main business district was induated by waters of the Shawnee creek.  At the Taylore Lumber Company in Shawnee, flood waters washed out three carloads of lumber, which in turn blocked culverts and intensified the flood damage.  J. E. Earls, 29, employed by the Noble Drilling Company, west of Tecumseh was struck by lightning, but was reported recovering in a Shawnee Hospital. 

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