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I was 2 yrs old when that flood hit, But I remember standing in the entry way of our house waiting for my dad to come home. We lived at 510 nth harding. The street was flooded and the front yard and driveway was half under water. I remember watching my dad comeing down the street in his company 4 wheel drive truck and the water was up to his windows. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

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I did’t live in Enid at the time of the flood. But my grandfather ( Oley McCoy) told me a little about that day and he said that there was a zoo . It was by government springs park. He said most of the animals died that night. Any one know more about this?

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I was living at 121 N. Burdel Lane during the flood of 73 and in the fourth grade and right off Okwood road was a housing addition that was being built and remembered standing at the window and watching all the stuff float by. The Jewells(Band teacher and 9th Grade English teacher at Waller) lived accross the street and I watched their daughter run out into the street and try and collect stuff that was floating down the street. I wounder what she ever did with the stuff.

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I was 5 when the flood happened and lived on E. Beech St. I remember during the day going to our neighbors cellar because of a tornado warning and when we came out to go home there were a pile of gas cans sitting in our yard. I don’t know why they were there or where they came from but I can still see them clear as day. Then later that night we were taken to our other neighbors house while my dad went out in tractors from Maupin’s Ford to rescue people. My dad said he rescued people out of trees including a baby. My mom’s parents were at the country club for dinner and their car stalled and had to walk home from Oakwood and Chestnut to their home on Canterbury in the Village. My other grandparents were in the process of moving from a trailer on 30th Street to a house on Cherokee (I think). My grandma had gone back to the trailer to get another load and as she left the trailer broke apart and floated away. They found her refrigerator several miles from the house.

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I was 14 years old and a student at Carrier Junior High when the 1973 Enid flood occurred. Getting on the bus that afternoon, I told the bus driver, Mr. Parkinson, that it looked like it could flood because of how dark the clouds were. Little did I know that I had made a prophecy. That night, I went a block away to babysit two boys whose parents were on a bowling league. They made it home from the Shamrock Bowling Alley early because of the flooding. My Dad had to throw a rope to me on the other side of Columbia street and pull me over because the water was almost up to my neck. After he helped me get home, he left with a couple of other firefighters who were off duty to see what the could do. We had already heard that the Brookside Addition was having severe flooding. Dad and the others finally made it to the overpass on 30th Street. He said he could hear screams and cries from the rooftops of the houses in the addition, but there were also a couple of houses on fire. They manned boats but the currents were too strong, so they had to wait it out until the water started to recede. Dad said he never felt so helpless. Later, we would help a couple of Enid firemen rebuild their homes in Brookside. I remember the smell of those homes after the flood (smelled like mold and wet mud). My job was to try to get as much of the muck off the floors as possible. Well, Brookside was rebuild, but most of the deaths from the flood were from that addition; some from my Church. I remember that some of the homes looked like they had exploded from the inside out (the outer walls were rounded. I also remember sheetrock literally sliding off the walls from the weight of the water. When you look at Boggy Creek today, it’s hard to believe the water was ever that high.

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My family lived on the edge of Skeleton Creek in North Enid at the time. I was nine years old. Our house was on top of a good sized hill overlooking the creek and I recall watching the water slowly fill the field below us. We heard a radio report that a dam had given way upstream from our house and dad trundled us up in the car to head for higher ground. When we returned home the following day, the water was within a few feet of the house but never made it in.
Man, that was a lot of damn rain that night.

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I was a junior at Enid High when the flood hit. We lived at 1424 W Broadway and remember being amazed it could rain so hard for so long. After watching it pour from our front porch for two hours, we kept thinking it had to stop at any time. Two hours later when it final changed from a total down pour to a normal shower, we venture outside.

The intersection at Broadway and Garfield was flooded and kids where swimming in the water where the street gutter was blocked. It still amazes me how dangerous that really was.

I met up with a friend, Mike O’Neil, and we ran across an old man sitting in his car at the intersection of Johnson and Broadway. The water was up the top of the doors and he was sitting on the top of his bench seat with his feet up on the dash. We asked if we could help out and take him up to the hill to the Quick Shop at Randolf and Johnson, across from West Side Rec.

There were already a dozen stranded motorist gathered at the store and we wanted to get him out of his car before the water rose any further. After convincing him to abandon his car, he took what seemed like an hour, but was probably 10 minutes, putting on a pair of rubber boots, only to step out into four feet of water. Seemed really funny at the time.

We also walked to boggy creek at Owen K and Garfield and the water was over the banks and just under the floors of the new dentist offices that were built on stilts.

I also remember the frantic calls to the radio station talking about folks being trapped on the roof of the Wee Too (sp?) restaurant and of course all the reports of people trying to rescue folks on the east side where boggy creek did the most damage. They were saying not to bring any boats with less than a 150hp motor due to the strength of the current.

Anyway, a few random memories from a day I’ll never forget.

Good luck to all those in Moore and the OKC flood areas.

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Wow! Glad I wasn’t in Enid back in ’73. I was stationed at Pope AFB, North Carolina and my first daughter was one month old. Now look, after 44 years with the Air Force, I’m settling down in Enid, gotta buy a boat with at least 150hp to be prepared for the next weired storm…

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I remember daddy opening the garage door and as he did the water went up with the garage door. My dad had built a black iron fence around the porch that day ,and when I was coming home on the bus he was just finishing it. It was dark and we could see the water rising from our station wagon. We had my baby brother Ronnie and dad used that iron fence to push my oldest sister up then grab the baby on the roof ,then Debbie ,Liz ,and me. While up there Debbie started to grab my mom up but she couldn’t do it. Cheri had a hold of the baby and daddy tried to get mom up to but the water was to rough. See we were the first house on Dwelle DR.A brand new house and we were the houses that got hit first in that area. Then by the grace of God Mr. Lambert came in his boat and after going around in his boat around the house he saved us. we went to apts. up above the flood and stayed with two bachelors all night while dad went out to help others. He is gone now but that is just who he was. He saved lives even as a volunteer fireman. And without even knowing it he saved our lives on that day with that black beautiful fence he built that day. love you daddy.

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I watched the water come up my yard at 121 N Burdel Lane. The building materials from the housing addition west of us came down Randolf and starting coming down Burdel Lane. Timber broke the patio door at the house on west side of Burdel Lane and flooded the house. I watched the water come up half way in my yard on East side of Burdel Lane. THe big ditch was over it banks and could not get east on Randolf. The fire department called for boat and a friend who worked at the bank with me lived east f the ditch. He took his boat to help with the recovery. I had only lived in Enid two years and was ready to go back to OKC

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My mom and dad Alph and Maxine Shorter (and family) lived in Enid during the flood. My mom heard the call for boats on te radio and wanted my dad to go out, but he thought they would want “small boats”. Then they heard them call for boats with more than 100 hp engines, so he took his 18′ inboard/outboard 130 hp boat out to close to St. Marys’. He picked up Dr. Simon and his daughter trying to wade from his clinic to St. Marys’ and later picked up 4-5 other people. The current grabbed the boat and the engine could not hold; it threw them against a tree and everyone fell out. May have been the boat incident described in an earlier post. I have you beat though having been in the middle of TS Claudette in Friendswood Tx when we got 43″ of rain in 20 hours, in July of 1979. It is still a US (maybe world) record.

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the sad thing is Enid has not improved much since that flood

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I was 14 yrs old and living on Brooks Dr in Brookside (our back yard faced Boggy Creek) and our house was 2nd on the end by Hillcrest. I was babysitting 2 small children (The Hakens) at their house who also lived on Brooks. My Dad (Marvin Long) worked for Koch as a truck driver and he had been out with the tractor truck saving people out by Wee Too Resturant when his boss (Leon Judd who lived on Hillcrest next to Boggy Creek) radioed him and said get to Brookside. He stopped and got me & the 2 children and by then the water was about ankle deep. We got to our house and Dad discovered Mom and my 3 siblings and 2 small dogs had already went next door and were in the attic. By time Dad had gotten over there it was too late to get anyone down as the water was past his knees, he barely had time to get back to he truck, by then the water was waist deep. He pulled out of our yard and was attempting to get to higher ground but the truck got stuck at the corner of Brooks and Hillcrest. There we sit all night. My Dad OUR Hero was so smart, he managed to get the fuel tank lid off and thank God the tank wasn”t full so that gave us some extra weigh as the water filled it. As the water came into the cab of the truck, Dad lifted us to the very top of the truck, there we sit all night with a small blanket for cover against the pelting rain. We watched as a burning log came down the street from a house that had caught fire, and lodged itself on the porch next to a car where the rest of my family was, but finally extinguished before sitting the car on fire. We also watched in horror as the same house began falling down on the east side. We all survived by the Grace of GOD. Our across the street neighbors had seeked refuge in their small to medium sized boat that had been tied to a tree sapling. We again watched in horror as they eventually sailed down Boggy Creek. They also survived. I seen a poor little dog floating down on something and was howling… When the water started receding Dad put us back in the sleeper of the truck and eventually a boat came and rescued us. I will never forget how high the water was on Brooks, it was as high as the eaves of the houses, but behind the houses which used to be a park, seemed so much higher, and the water so swift and so loud, just like what you see and hear when you go to those dangerous rivers at Colorado . Unforgetable…….

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I was employed by the City of Enid as a heavy equipment operator. Got called back in to work at about 6pm that night. All who worked that night parked behind the old city garage. After working all night, we were told to go home and get some sleep. Only to find that everyone’s car had been washed away by the flood. What a night.

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I was nine years old and remember “the flood ” vividly. We spent most of the evening in the storm cellar as there were several tornado warnings accompanying the storm. My cousins were living in Enid at the time and came to our house as we lived on higher ground. I remember Jim Williams, Channel 4 weatherman coming on the TV and saying “a disaster has struck Enid tonight “. My cousin replied “well, my mother just passed out if she saw that!”

Later that evening, my dad tried to drive my cousin’s husband back to their house. They came up on the underpass on Grand and it was full of water. Jerry just gunned the car and pushed through the water, and they fortunately had enough speed to push the water aside, so they got through. I’d NEVER ADVISE anyone to do that…..they were lucky they weren’t swept away.

I remember the hail storm too. Softball sized hail propelled by 70 mph winds, as the hailstones moved mostly horizontally. Most every north facing window in town was blown out. My mom was driving in it and sped up the car to knock the hailstones off the windshield (another trick I would NOT advise) as she drove. My dad had me covered with a blanket in the hall of my grandparents’ house.

When you grow up in Oklahoma, you’re sure to have plenty of weather stories to tell!

Mark Holdeman, Ft Worth, TX

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I lived on Hillcrest Dr. My father Leon Judd worked for Koch Oil. When he heard they needed high water vehicles to help at St Mary’s, he and Marvin Long took off. We watched the water getting deeper and going over the curbs of Brooks Dr. My brother Mike Judd ran out and was able to rescue several people from their cars as they floated down the street . The wall of water came fast! We ran and got in the boat . We couldn’t get it off the trailer fast enough and it started to flip. Mike pushed my mom Loretta Judd, me, David Fulgum on the roof. It was cold and we had one jacket and Mike laid across us spread eagle for warmth. The rain would fill your ears, the Lightning, the flames from the house that burnt on Brooks Dr. It was like a nightmare that you couldn’t wake up from. We watched people’s possessions float by. The trees behind our house were full of things. Mrs Kiriokos float by and we told here when to grab the tree. There were also those that floated by that had lost their lives.. My dad heard Brookside was under water and the roads closed. He went thru a pasture to get to the highest point of Brookside. He could only see roofs. Out of desperation he pulled the air horn. We heard it and knew it was either dad or Marvin. We started yelling to the house next door. By the time it reach dad, all he knew was someone was still alive. We were finally rescued. A human chain with the water still chest high! That’s when I saw the other truck in front of our house where Marvin and his daughter, my best friend Rhonda Long Gallagher had spent the night. Somehow lodged.. Our truck was in our neighbors house, our car on the bottom of many others. ( like building blocks) My brothers truck was later found 2 miles away under a trailer house. My brother recieved an award after for saving 3 people’s lives. but always said ” I just did what anyone else would have “. I will never forget that night. We lost everything we owned like many others but we were blessed because we didn’t loose our lives.

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I had just started working at Southwestern Bell. We were sent from Woodward to Enid on Saturday following the flood. Our first job was going to Saint Mary’s Hospital to pull cable from the basement to the 1st floor as the basement was full of water and debris. Two of the victims of the flood were the wife and young daughter of an employee of Southwestern Bell. He was a Cable repairman. I believe his name was Jim Swartwood.
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I was 2 years old. I don’t remember the flood but my parents told me a story about it. We had gone somewhere (I don’t know where) and we could not go any further. My dad was 6’2 and he put me on his shoulders and they waded through the water and to our house. This is all I know of the story. Both of my parents passed several years ago so I can’t ask them. Thanks for the memories.

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[…]   –   http://enidbuzz.com/enid-flood-1973/ […]

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I graduated from EHS in ’69 and was living in the “new” “subsidized” apartments on 30th street when the storm hit. My prized ’66 GTO was caught in rapidly rising water on 30th St. and washed into the gully. (Submerged and totaled with an insurance payment of $600.). Some other Phillips boys and I borrowed a new tractor from a local dealer and pulled cars out of that gully for several days.

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Memories of the flood still haunt me to this day. I was 9 years old and my grandfather was in St. Mary’s hospital at that time. My mother and I went down the street to be with my grandmother on East Hemlock Street. We were worried when we heard that the hospital was flooding, but those worries quickly faded when we heard screaming and crying from the flooding creek area right behind her garage out back. My dad went out with a neighbor in a boat to find where the screaming was coming from. About an hour later, they returned with a yound couple and an infant. They were shivering and the baby looked bluish. They wrapped the baby in a blanket and my grandmother got her a baby bottle with warm milk. As the baby began to drink, there was a sigh of relief from the adults, and the couple told us they had been stuck in the top of a tree for over an hour trying to hold on to the tree and their baby as the current had swept up and their VW bug and turned it onto its side as it was carried away with the current. They barely escaped being swept away with it. The top of the tree was the only thing in sight that they could grab onto for safety, and they were terrified that their cries for help would not be heard. I will never forget that night and never forget the look on their faces.
The next day, I found out that my friend had lost her father that night, and her life was forever changed. It was my first realization that parents could be taken from our lives in the blink of an eye. I still remember how empty I felt because I didn’t have the words to say that would make it better and could do nothing to help her or her family. It will never be forgotten.

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My name is Loren Sieve,I’ve lived in the Midwest most of my life,but had the priveledge of living in Enid from 1971-1977.I lived up on nth.13th,I believe.The flooding in that area was very low compared to the most southen part of the city.Well,myself and 2 of my friends,I was 15.,and after having floods in Nebraska,did’nt seem to worry us much.We had heard that the flooding was bad,by te hospital,this was after it had rained a few hours.If I remember right,there was some kind of park starting from a street with business’s that dropped to the hospital that went to the Boggy creek.We heard metal grinding on metal ,as the cars floated away.We had heard that south of Market St. was really bad .We helped one family get out of their car on that street about 3 blocks Nth. of the St. Marys,by making a chain with ourselves,the current on the other side seemed a lot better.Well us being dumb kids,we worked our way East,and tried to get to the colleges,the main floe over seemed to be going threw the college ,down to the pond down there.When we were going to go home we walked by the park,and up that steep part of Randolph.St. the water was over our waist.When we got up by Longfellow,and we all went home,we had a chance to help others,and we felt good about.For some reason I remember walking home ,after school thinking what a nice day it was,I still love Enid and wish I hadn’t left.

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I graduated Enid High in 73 and joined the Army National Guard that summer. The Guard was called out the night it started raining and I was one of many put on detail of guarding Brookside. I ended up working nearly all night and then in the day time I was on a search and rescue team. This went on for a couple of days and when the water finally resided we were able to search the creeks and that is when my team found victim #9. I still remember his name but don’t want to say it here. I’m sure there were 11 people who lost their lives that night, the last two were found about a week or two later.

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Edit to my previous post
I guess there were 9 lives lost. I posted earlier that there were 11. So our team found # 7 instead of #9. Sorry

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Does anybody remember a Hotel named the President Hotel? in Enid, my grandmother was the manager there in 1974, please email me to let me know, Thank you, John Henry

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I was in high school at the time. I remember my sister could not get home from work, and a friend of mine who lived in brookside had to be recued off of her roof. Our church helped with the clean up , and it was really sad at everything the people had lost.
I also remember the next day Elivis Presley was to be in Oklahoma City . We decided that we had to try and get to the City so we could see Him. We had to leave very earlier and detour a lot of places, but we did eventually make it.
It was a very scary night when the rain kept coming. I hope and prayer we never have to experience that again

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What did the City of Enid do to prevent another flood like the one in 73….? I heard they built a Flood Control Canal or something….

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To the above comment from John R. Henry. The Pesident Motel had the best diving board Enid has ever seen.
My dad took my brother and I down to 2nd and Pine. Cummings Constuction had an office with a HUGE IBM computer on Pine. It was totally under water. ( next day IBM cards looked like wall paper). We watched Mistletoe trailers floating by and hanging up at the railroad trestle on Elm. Appliances were coming out of Gibson’s Store and floating away. We lived near Oakwood and Randolph and the water got up to the top of the curbs. My brother and I drove all over Enid the next day. The site of Enid was devastating. Funny, but remember “Schools out for Ever” by Alice Cooper playing on the radio while driving around. The memory of that night and the weeks following will be there forever.

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I was 10 when that flood hit. Our family had just moved to Enid and all of our belongings were being stored at a Bekins moving company storage facility. It flooded and destroyed everything. My sister was born on October 9th at St. Mary’s hospital and my Mom, Dad and sister were at the hospital when the flooding hit. Our car was washed away but everyone was ok. It was definitely a disaster for all of us but we recovered. I remember that night like it was yesterday.

Pat Rezler