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A Boys & Girls Club in Oklahoma had to evacuate about 50 children early on a Tuesday morning due to flash floods caused by a sudden storm. This occurred shortly after devastating floods in Texas resulted in the tragic deaths of 120 individuals, including 27 young campers and counselors.
The Boys & Girls Club in Sallisaw, located close to the Arkansas border, made the decision to evacuate swiftly as heavy rains led to flooding in the town center.
Nearly a foot of water blew in from under the doors in just 15 minutes while a storm pounded overhead.
The area, while prone to flooding, had never seen anything like Tuesday’s flash flood, locals said.
Laura Kuykendall, the CEO of the Sequoyah County Boys & Girls Club, explained to 40/29 News that they had been monitoring the flood situation and decided to close down the Club and evacuate the children when the flooding became severe.
A joint effort between local police, firefighters and clubhouse staff escorted the 50 children out of the Club — where some rescuers even hoisted kids up onto their shoulders to carry them to safety.
“We had to carry the kids out because they couldn’t get in the water. It was very deep outside. We were trying to keep them calm because they’re scared, they’re afraid,” Kuykendall said.
Many of the children were sobbing and screaming all the way to their parents’ waiting vehicles at the fire department, in part because some had heard about the disastrous flooding in Texas’s Kerr County just one state over, Kuykendall said.
Early in the morning on July 4, flash flooding surged through Kerr County after the Guadalupe River flooded, rising more than 20 feet high.
Residents of the county, namely the pods of summer camps located by the river’s edge, had no idea the flood was coming until it was at their doorsteps.
Rescue crews from across the country are still in the Lone Star State trying to find the estimated 173 people still missing, almost a week after the water dragged entire cabins downstream.
So far, 120 people have been found dead, including more than two dozen campers and counselors with Camp Mystic, a century-old all-girls Christian Camp.
Fortunately, at the Oklahoma Boys & Girls Club, all 50 children were safely evacuated and reunited with their guardians.
Oklahoma is one of at least four states that have experienced flash flooding this week.
Rushing water tore through a mountain village in New Mexico on Tuesday, killing at least three people.
North Carolina could flood again this week after Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall Sunday and forced water rescues that stretched up into Southern Virginia.
Meanwhile, wildfires are breaking out across California and even Alaska.