10 Oct 2018
Posted by Curtis Tucker 
ENID, OK – The “Enid Flood” took place October 10 and 11 of 1973. The storm was caused by a locally intense thunderstorm that was centered over Enid. This storm produced the greatest urban rainfall on record in Oklahoma. Rainfall accumulations were 15 to 20 inches within a 100 square mile area. A recorded 2 inches fell in 3 hours.
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The cause of the storm was a low pressure center that moved northeastward along a slowly moving cold front. These two systems stalled over north-central Oklahoma, depositing record-breaking rainfall. The 24-hour rainfall total at Enid of 15.68 inches exceeded the previous record which occurred September 3-4, 1940 (at Sapulpa). Unofficial reports have put the amount at 20 inches of rain.
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The rain in Enid actually fell in about 12 hours, with 75 percent of it falling in 4 hours. The severe flash flooding that resulted from the rainfall in Enid destroyed or severely damaged 300 homes and 40 businesses. The rainfall also contributed to nine deaths. In Garfield County alone, property damages were estimated at 8 million dollars, with damages to crops and land that climbed to some 13 million.
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South of St. Mary’s. Photo courtesy Mike and Wilma Nixon.
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11 Comments
Thanks. I was not living in the area at the time of this. I learned about it, because my aunt, uncle, & cousins were living in Brookside and flooded there. My take has always been that the flooding was mostly there in Brookside, but this set of pics adjusted that idea.
What an interesting story John. I never knew about the flood because I was living in Nashville, TN.
I remember this well. We lived at 1205 W. York. We were in the basement watching TV. Our basement had those windows that were kind of like a hole in the ground, right next to the foundation, allowing light into the basement. My little sister, 3, said “Look at all the water”. We all looked and the window ‘boxes’ had filled with water and it was starting to pour into the basement. Basement flooded a bit. Next day no school. I was in 5th grade. Rode my bike around the next day. Lots of sand in the road. Found a $5 bill in the sand. Took it to Next Door and had lunch, just like a big kid!
We were in Fairmont, planning to go to Enid for a church music event. My mom called and told us not to come because Enid was floodingn. We didn’t believe her because it wasn’t even raining in Fairmont!
I was 5 at the time and remember my grandma, who worked at St. Mary’s, getting stuck at work and people taking boats to pick up others stuck there as welll.
I was at St. Mary’s hospital, my husband ( at the time ) had been in motorcycle accident. I was there the night of the rain, went out to move my vehicle away from the creek around 7 PM. The water picked me up and moved me about 10 inches. I decided to leave my car Where it was. When the hospital lost power the generator came on and immediately drowned out, The next morning I found my car domino stacked on top of several others. The rear wheel was over my head, I stand 5 foot two. The National Guard brought boxed meals over for the patients, I helped deliver them to the rooms and checked on patients as the call lights did not work .
We had 3 1/2 feet of water in our new home in Valley View addition near Boggy creek. We had to lock arms and Wade out in water to our chest in an emergency. The water came in so fast. Got to end of street, and spent the night with several other people. No power.
I was living in Enid then. I have many memories of that evening and night and the next day.
I remember that day pretty well, I was a paperboy tho had a route on the East side and when I got out of school that day the clouds were building like crazy over Enid. I never liked throwing papers in the rain and by 7 pm that evening our VW bug we threw the papers out of the moon roof was floating in water over the curbs on North 18th street. We never finished the route that evening.
By midnight I was trying to make it home from the 2800 block of East Maple and the intersection of 26th and Maple was a raging river nearly 100 feet wide…..we turned around and went to 30th street and the water had begun to cover the highway.
A firetruck was already trying to either rescue someone on the bridge south of Market St. or they were trying to get Into the Brookside Addition….I know you could hear people screaming for help that were as we found out later, on the roof of the houses near the creek.
To put it mildly, the event was traumatic. People blamed the city for not keeping the creeks free of tree growth. You never knew who was going to be found next, the missing person list was long.
It took several weeks for our yard to dry out.
My brother-in-law was stationed in Turkey on a missile base and they got news of the flood a day or two later in a military paper.
Everyone called it a 100-year flood but I think Fairmont for a rain that nearly rivaled it just a few weeks later.
Ironically, a flood back in 56-57 provided us with a home that my father salvaged by moving an old shotgun style home that had washed down a creek.
He had it moved onto a tax lot He had bought and we lived there for the next 8 years.
We had two children at the time Angela and Dustin. The water was coming up so high at the house I decided to drive about a block to my parents house ( bad idea to drive through water ) we had to cross the Boggy Creek bridge on West Oklahoma. There was already water running across the bridge. When we got to their house I had to carry the kids through about waist deep water to get in the house . The water was up almost to the car windows . We were very lucky God was with us .
We were in the Navy in Japan when this happened. My MIL sent us the ENEAGLE and still have it now.