My town is underwater.

[Shavethewhales]

So I woke up this morning to reports that half of my home town, Bartlesville OK, is underwater. 3,000 people were displaced just this morning, and because they have to keep letting water out of several local dams, many thousands more are soon to follow. The flood waters won't even begin to go down for another couple days, and the effects will take over a month to get over.

 

One of the sadder things about all of this is the effect the floods will have on Kiddie Park, located just on the river in downtown Bartlesville, where the waters must be 10 feet high. Most of Kiddie Park's rides are classics, that can't be replaced, so this flood might wipe out practically the whole park. The 1946 Hershell little dipper probably isn't faring too well either.

 

Sooo... Look for us on the news and pray for us/ wish us well/ whatever.

[texashorns82492]

Ah, sorry man. We've been getting a crud load of rain down here as well (TX). I hope everything gets better!

[IceDragon]

Ouch that sucks... It's supposed to flood in Essex too which is where I live...

 

The only fun house, virginia reel, spiral slide and ferris wheel I know about will probably be destroyed as they sit on the seaside... *sigh*

 

What a shame... I hope they can replace them... I grew up and love those rides...

[Shavethewhales]

So I've been on a very long bike ride around town, and although quite a few houses and many streets are underwater, it's not as bad as I thought. Many, many houses have been flooded out, and the evacuations are still going on.

I couldn't get very close to kiddie park, because it was deep into the floods. I'm guessing all the rides are a few feet underwater right now.

 

What's worse is that we haven't even begun to see the worst of it yet: the river has yet to crest. It'll be tomorrow night or even Wednesday before the floods really hit.

 

Man I wish I had my camera...

[the sound]

Its flooding all over as well an Australia. First Hunter Valley, bow Gippsland. We need the rain though.

[Shavethewhales]

Well, it's not as bad as we expected it to be. The river finally did crest today, but much of town will remain underwater for several days, and there will be a few new ponds around for awhile. Some of the thousands of dis-placed people will be able to return soon.

 

My town was one of the luckier ones though, just north of here, several towns are being evacuated completely, and in Coffeyville, a refinery is leaking a ton of oil everywhere, so when the floods go down, the town will be covered in it. Some of it may end up down here too... fun.

[lapseofreason]

Dude... that sucks. We could use some of your rain; we've only had 3 inches this year... the least in history, or so I've heard...

[Shavethewhales]

So I took another trip around town today, and the flood waters have pretty much completely dissipated. There are a few additional ponds here and there, but for most of it, a stinking layer of gooey mud is all that remains from the flood. Quite a few houses have been flooded, and the stench from the mildew, coupled with the mud and the occasional rotting fish is just unbearable in some areas. Everywhere the floods went, the grass died, so now we'll have loads of muddy fields everywhere for awhile as well.

 

Kiddie Park fared OK, but they'll still be closed for a few days to clean up and repair some extensive external rust damage to most of the rides. The train tracks have a large layer of rust all the way around, I wonder if that'll force them to replace some of them.

The little dipper seems to have made it as well, seeing as the track is supported just high enough in most areas to keep out of the water. The train was put at the top of the lift hill, so it didn't get hurt.

 

I just feel sorry for the people down in Coffeyville, not only did they get flooded out, but thousands of gallons of oil leaked out into the floods, so their town is coated in it. I don't know how they'll clean that up.