The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 12, 2008 Page: 4 of 32
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THURSDAY 1 2 JUNE 2DDS
THE CANADIAN RECORD
Southern Hemphill Countians assesses damage
from sudden 10-15" deluge and hailstorm Sunday
L:ghtning-chargedthunderstormsdropped
10-15 riches of rain on the southern part of
Hemphill County Sunday evening, washing
out roads, uprooting miles of fence, strand ing
oil and gas company crews from remote loca-
tions, and carving out vast new boundaries for
the area's creeks, lakes and watersheds.
The National Weather Service n Ama-
rillo began issuing
severe thunder-
storm warnings
around 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, warning of
thunderstorms ca-
pable of producing
ping pong ball size
hail and damaging
winds in excess of
60 mph. As the eve-
ning progressed,
flash flooding was
reported near Bris-
coe. Heavy rains
had entered one
home near Highway
83 and FM 1268,
and excessive run-
off from deluge was expected to flood small
creeks and streams, country roads, and farm-
land near the floodwater's banks. Half-dol-
lar size hail was reported near Lora, moving
northeast and threatening Lake Marvin and
Canadian.
Highway 83 south of Canadian was closed
to travelers twice during the evening because
of heavy rain and hail and poor visibility.
Around 10 o'clock Sunday evening, the rain-
fall threat achieved "torrential" status—and
nowhere was that more evident than at Annette
and Weldon Walser's place off of County Road
Z, which had been pelted by wind-whipped
rain since early evening. The Walsers emptied
their overflowing rain gauge once, but the rain
was still coming in gushers. "We measured 10
nches in just four hours," Annette told The Re-
cord Tuesday.
Before the deluge ended, 12.5 inches of heav-
en-sent water had soaked the ground around
the Walser home. Hail had damaged the wheat
and corn crops, and fences were down as far as
the weary eye could see. The Walsers shipped
their cattle Monday, building holding pens in
their driveway so that the trucks could load
without becoming mired in mud.
"It was a wild night," Annette said. "Wa-
ter came from every direction. It came in one
window at one side of the house, and then came
n the other window from the other side. Some
windows leaked that never have before."
The Walsers are building a new home, and
the unfinished structure was thoroughly field-
tested Sunday evening. "We know now where
the leaks will be," Annette said. "When we de-
cided to build t, Weldon wanted to put it down
in those terraces. I said, 'Have you seen what it
looks like when :t rains 4-5"?"
Those turned out to be prophetic, if under-
stated, words—and convincing ones. "We put
t on top of the hill where the wind blows," An-
nette said this week. "But at least it's on dry
ground."
The Walsers weren't the only landowners
who were wetter but wiser as the skies cleared
at mid-week.
"I prayed for rain the other day," said Coun-
ty Commissioner Lynard Schafer, who along
with wife Glenna, owns a quarter section of
land a few miles from the Walsers to the north
of County Road Z. "I just forgot to mention how
much."
The Schafers stood surveying their land
Tuesday evening, trying to identify now-sub-
merged landmarks in the once small 8-acre
lake that now spans 80 acres. Among the items
of which they hoped to catch a glimpse: a brand
new Kubota tractor, a brushbeater and a trail-
er. Another trailer with large water tanks on
the back could be seen bobbing on the lake's
surface which churned and threatened to
break Into waves in the gusty 30-mile an hour
wind.
Lynard said he was using the Kubota to
level some ground for a building they planned
to erect near the lake. The rain changed those
plans. The lake spread before hi m Tuesday eve-
ning like a hotcake poured onto a giant griddle.
High and dry land was hard to spot.
A trip up in a helicopter with Jason and Ed-
die Abraham Monday for an airborne view of
the lake revealed nothing of the tractor. "I took
pictures," Lynard said, "but we couldn't find
any sign of it."
The lake, called Rachel's Lake, was once
beautiful, crystal clear, said Lynard. "We used
drag lines and cleaned springs up through the
creek. You could almost see bottom anywhere
in it."
"That lake will have been there 50 years
next year," Schafer said, shaking his head. "It's
never been out of the original banks. Never
over the big spillway."
Now, the "little ol' spring-fed fishing lake"
of which Lynard and Glenna are so fond has
become an expansive lake. Once only about 15'
deep at most, Lynard estimated its depth fol-
lowing the weekend rains at 40'.
The black walnut and pecan trees the cou-
ple planted on its banks are well below the sur-
face. The minnows and perch with which they
stocked the pond...the catfish they fed bread to
from the tree-shaded bank...all are gone.
"A dream," Lynard said, "just waxed n one
night/'
Noble Energy operates hundreds of wells in
the production-rich area south of Highway 277
that received such a disproportionate share of
PHOTO RIGHT: Noble Energy employees Neil Baileys and Brooks Gentry walk down a hill on
County Road Z south of Canadian Monday to see the flood damage that closed that road, and
blocked access to well locations in the area.
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 118, No. 24, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 12, 2008, newspaper, June 12, 2008; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth252708/m1/4/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.