Monitoring Flooding in Oklahoma and Arkansas

GIC activated to Level 3 – Enhanced Monitoring on 26-May for monitoring record-breaking flooding conditions along the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and Arkansas. Areas of Oklahoma’s second-largest city Tulsa have already flooded and evacuations are underway. Downriver in Arkansas’ second-largest city Fort Smith, between 100-200 residents have evacuated their homes and many more evacuations expected.

With the Army Corp of Engineers expected to increase the release of floodwater from upriver dams further affecting Arkansas’ levee systems, the National Weather Services expects the river to reach 41 feet near Fort Smith by early Monday morning, setting a record 3 feet higher than the previous record set in 1945. This would cause “near catastrophic flooding” in Fort Smith. Oklahoma has extended their state of emergency declaration to include all 77 counties within the state due to flooding, severe storms, tornadoes and straight-line winds that began in April. The Oklahoma state emergency operation center remains activated. Arkansas has declared a state of emergency and activated the state emergency operation center to Level 1 – Full Activation.

If you have requirements for aerial imagery over these areas, please reach out to graysky@geointel.org.