Page 7 - ARUBA TODAY

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U.S. NEWS Friday 24 May 2019
Runaway barges crash into

Oklahoma dam and quickly sink

By KEN MILLER Corps of Engineers was go- homa. The Oklahoma High-
Associated Press ing to closely inspect them way Patrol said 53-year-old
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — for damage, said Kenna Laura Renee Moorman of
Two unmanned barges Mitchell, a spokeswoman Perkins drowned Tuesday
that broke loose on the for the Oklahoma Depart- after she drove around a
swollen Arkansas River in ment of Transportation. road barrier and her vehicle
Oklahoma crashed into a Two downstream bridges, was swept away by water
dam hours later and sank including an Interstate 40 near Perkins, about 45 miles Flood waters from the Cimarron River wash away a home in the
Thursday, and they didn't bridge, remained closed (72 kilometers) northeast of Twin Lakes community near Cimarron City, Okla. on Wednesday,
May 22, 2019.
cause the structure to fail, after the crash until further Oklahoma City.q Associated Press
which officials feared might notice.
happen. "We don't know how long
The barges carrying about that's going to be. Safety is
3,800 pounds (1,725 kilo- the priority for this," Mitchell
grams) of phosphate fer- said.
tilizer between them be- If the warning about the
came unmoored Wednes- runaway barges seems
day night in the Port of alarmist, it shouldn't: Dur-
Muskogee, which sits at the ing Memorial Day week-
confluence of the Arkansas end in 2002, a manned
and two other rivers and is barge struck one of the I-40
about 40 miles (65 kilome- bridge's supports, causing
ters) southeast of Tulsa. part of the bridge to col-
At some point, the vessels lapse and killing 14 people
were caught and secured whose vehicles plunged
to trees along the soggy riv- into the river.
erbank, but they broke free As for the fertilizer that was
again Thursday when the on the runaway barges, the
trees uprooted, said Tricia amount that got into the
Germany, a spokeswoman river is significant but should
for the Muskogee County dilute quickly because of
Emergency Management the waterway's heavy flow,
Agency. said Jay Wright, environ-
The barges eventually mental programs manager
crashed into the dam near for the Oklahoma Depart-
the town of Webbers Falls ment of Environmental
shortly before noon and Management.
quickly sank. "It's soluble in water. If it's
"They did a direct hit, they exposed to the water, it's
kind of turned a little bit," going to dissolve in the wa-
Germany said of the crash. ter," he said.
Webbers Falls officials on The crash happened dur-
Wednesday ordered the ing a period of powerful
town's roughly 600 residents storms in the central United
to evacuate due to the States, including a system
threat of flooding from the that spawned deadly tor-
swollen river, which was at nadoes overnight. The wet
42 feet (12.8 meters) as of weather has caused heav-
11:45 a.m. Thursday, ac- ing flooding, and the threat
cording to the National from swollen waterways
Weather Service. That is 14 persists.
feet (4.27 meters) above On Wednesday, at least
flood stage. Later Wednes- one unoccupied home
day, they sounded the fell into the Cimarron River
alarm about the runaway near Crescent, Oklahoma,
barges on the town's Face- about 35 miles (55 kilome-
book page, warning they ters) north of Oklahoma
could hit the lock and dam: City, and erosion left sever-
"If the dam breaks, it will be al homes hanging over the
catastrophic!! Leave now!!" swollen current.
The lock and dam didn't One death has been attrib-
break, though the Army uted to the flooding in Okla-

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