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Several local, state, and federal agencies are working together to plan a solution to the current and eminent dangers that face Oklahoma, and Green Country, in particular.
Until the upstream precipitation diminishes, the Army will not slow the flow. Other stream conditions may help abate the downstream problems at Muskogee and Ft. Smith, but the Arkansas River remains a big problem to the West of Tulsa. The National Weather Service prepares its forecasts and other services in collaboration with agencies like the US Geological Survey, US Bureau of Reclamation, US Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resource Conservation Service, National Park Service, ALERT Users Group, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and many state and local emergency managers across the country. ​ |
Sadly we don't see a quick end to the flooding dangers. Water continues to enter the Keystone dam at rates faster than the dam is releasing.
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The flooding conditions of Oklahoma rivers & lakes can be accessed from the USGS. Tulsa & Muskogee are just a couple of the thousands of monitoring stations.
The Arkansas River at Tulsa can be up to 18 feet without exceeding the banks. Currently the river is about 5 feet above the banks and encroaching on low areas nearby. Streams, creeks, and drainage channels are now back filling with standing water while the flood conditions continue. These readings come from a measuring station near downtown Tulsa & Muskogee. This is not data from the Army Corps of Engineers, who control the dams and flow of water. It's from the US Geological Service which is part of the Dept. of Interior and simply monitors earth conditions at various stations. |
Gage height, feet
Most recent instantaneous value: 23.13 05-28-2019 08:30 CDT 
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This table of river flow is of particular interest to those who are evaluating the actions of the Army Corps of Engineers.
It shows us that they were already releasing very significant amounts of water before the Wednesday storms. The yellow triangles show us the median flow levels on this daily, each year. They were already about 8x that amount and the river levels have reflected that flow for weeks. When the Wednesday(22nd) rains were coming, the Dams were opened about 24 hours prior, to move the river flow to 100% of river capacity, but not exceeding flood stage. On Wednesday afternoon the decision was clear, that flooding the river was imperative to maintain a safe Keystone reservoir. On Thursday another adjustment was made, to bring the flow even higher.
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Muskogee Data
Even While the Arkansas River flow from Tulsa is still rising, Muskogee volumes of flow are dropping. the Neosho & Verdigris tributaries may have abated and thus account for the drop?
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Mskogee's flooding problems are improving, but are still 5 feet too high.
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| Min (2012) |
25th percentile |
Median | Mean | 75th percentile |
Max (2017) |
Most Recent Instantaneous Value May 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7110 | 16900 | 32300 | 48600 | 88600 | 120000 | 571000 |
