Inflow from tributaries key factor in Red River flooding
The rising Red River might be responsible for the flooded conditions in the Four States Area, but it always has help.
Smaller rivers and creeks known as tributaries pour in at various points along the 1,300-mile Red and fuel the overflow that has already caused several road and bridge closures in the area.
The river’s source is in New Mexico, and its drainage area is nearly 93,000 square miles, according to the Texas State Historical Association Website, and nearly half the river about a third of its drainage area is in Texas or on its border, mainly with Oklahoma.
Hickory Creek lies east of Gainesville and meets the Red River between the Addington and Walnut bends. Northeast of there, the Red expands into Oklahoma’s Love Valley, where it catches Corcoran, Sycamore, Jenny and Salt creeks.
Boggy, Hauani, House and Briar creeks lie atop an area known as Handy Oil Field and feed into the Red just upstream from Lake Texoma, which sits directly on it.
Texoma reached a historic high of 645.3 feet Friday evening, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. The lake rose past its dam early Sunday morning and has poured into the Red River uncontrolled since.
On the west side of Texoma are two notable sources in Big Mineral and Little Mineral creeks. Both several miles long, the creeks each feed a major arm of the lake, have resort campgrounds and are the largest tributaries to Texoma after the Red River and Washita River. Other notable contributors include Buncombe, Rock and Glasses creeks.
As far west as Gainesville, Texas, and far east as Fulton, Ark., small bodies of water that lie near bridges in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas are rising with the Red River.
Just beyond Denison Dam at Texoma and parallel with U.S. Highway 75 are Red River tributaries Duck, Sand, Little Sand and Sandy creeks.
But the next major area of flooding along the Red River is near Arthur City, Texas, at the U.S. Highway 271 bridge to Oklahoma; Sanders and Horse creeks lie on either side of the highway and contribute to water levels there.
The next major swelling point is at Pecan Point near DeKalb, Texas, which was at 35 feet—1 foot below its record 36 feet—Friday afternoon and is forecast to hold steady near that level through Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. North Mill Creek meets the Red just east of Pecan Point and U.S. Highway 259 between the Red River’s Whitaker and Bailey Bend cut-offs.
North of the recently closed Index Bridge are Mill, Pleasant and First lakes, along with with Red Branch and Mill Branch rivers and to the south in Miller County, Ark., is Winham Lake.
The Little River at Fulton, Ark., pours a significant amount of water from Millwood Lake into the already swollen Red River, threatening roads and bridges on U.S. Highway 67 and possibly Interstate 30. The river there was at 25.37 late Friday and is expected to rise to at least 32 feet by Wednesday—4 feet short of its record.
The Sulphur River, which is high and has flooded parts of Talco and Naples in Texas already, joins the Red south of Texarkana near Doddridge, Ark., at Spring Bank; the Red River was at 36.7 feet there Friday, nearing its 37-foot flood stage.
More rainfall will continue to pour over the Ark-La-Tex and push the Red River and its tributaries to their limits. For some, those limits have already been exceeded.