Photo: Getty Images
About 50 kids at an Oklahoma Boys & Girls Club were evacuated as torrential downpour turned into sudden flash floods on Tuesday (July 8), 40/29 News reports.
Nearly a food of water blew in from under the doors at the Sallisaw town center within 15 minutes of heavy rain. The area has been prone to flooding, however, hadn't ever seen anything like the incident on Tuesday.
“We were trying to gauge how much it was going to flood. When it started rushing in really bad, we decided we needed to shut the Club down and evacuate the kids,” said Laura Kuykendall, Sequoyah County Boys & Girls Club’s CEO, via 40/29 News.
The 50 children were escorted out of the facility by local police, firefighters and clubhouse staff as part of a joint effort, which included some responders hoisted the children onto their shoulders to carry them safely away from the flooding.
“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.
The Oklahoma incident took place days after catastrophic flooding in Texas. At least 120 people -- including 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian sleep-away camp, were confirmed dead and more than 170 people were still missing after the flash floods initially occurred last Friday (July 4), CBS News reports.