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Oklahoma City Flash Floods

Aired June 14, 2010 - 11:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Jacqui. I'm just sort of trying to wade through -- this is a little bit of the air signal, obviously, from our affiliate, KOCO. But, also, it sounds like some radio traffic as well, maybe some dispatch, maybe the desk there at that local station, communicating to the crews in the field.

But take a look at the situation now, and you can see the water rising on that passengers side door. We're still a little -- I'm a little confused as to exactly where in Oklahoma City this is and what creek we're talking about. And I know you've got your people working on that as well. Right?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct. Yes.

HARRIS: Because I thought I just heard the reporter say that this is Harrison Creek.

Mark Myers is on the phone?

Mark Myers is on the phone with us.

Mark, good to talk to you.

MARK MYERS, OKLAHOMA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE (via telephone): Hello.

HARRIS: Mark, if you would, where exactly -- we've got a picture of a motorist stranded. I believe I heard the reporter from KOCO call this Harrison Creek, but maybe you can help us orient our viewers as to exactly where we are and what we're watching right now.

Yes, that exact location is the area of Hefner (ph) and Sooner (ph) Road, which is northeast of Oklahoma County. I was just told that our dive team is actually trying to get to that scene to assist and get those folks out of that car right there.

Obviously, they are having some issues trying to get to the scene due to the huge amount of flooding that we have throughout the county right now. So, at this point, we're trying to get there. As you can see, the Oklahoma City fire crews are on the scene. They're able to speak with the folks, keep them calm until we get there and get those folks out of there.

HARRIS: You know what? Give us a bit of a wider -- and Jacqui Jeras is here with me. She's going to have questions for you as well. Can you give us a wider view? We have got a rather limited camera shot, but can you put us on either side of that vehicle and expand the view for us? And what's on either side of that vehicle? How much room do your teams, your crews potentially have to operate in here?

MYERS: And it's very difficult for me to tell you that right now, because I'm pretty much doing what you're doing, which is watching it on a monitor right now. So -- but, obviously, in that area, I can tell you about that area.

It's more of a wooded, rural type area in Oklahoma County. So, currently, with the shot that I saw that was pulled out, there is probably about a quarter to a half-mile of that roadway completely flooded out. So it's going to be a difficult water rescue due to the fact that the water is traveling at such a high rate of speed at this point. So, it's going to be dangerous not only for the folks who are inside of that car, but also for the rescuers who are going to be attempting to go out there and get them out of that horrible spot that they're in.

HARRIS: Yes.

We're speaking with Mark Myers of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department -- Jacqui.

JERAS: What kind of options are available? How can you get to these people? Are you talking about ropes? Are we talking about aerials? Are we talking about a boat?

How might these people be saved here today.

MYERS: Right now, it looks like they're going to be pulling a boat with them, so obviously once they get on the scene, they will try to decide exactly the safest measure to get out there to these folks and retrieve them. I know that they will be pulling a boat with them, obviously to fight these very strong currents that are along that roadway.

JERAS: All right. Now, I'm understanding that there is more than just this one rescue going on across Oklahoma County. Is this happening all over town? Or put it in perspective for us of how widespread this flooding is.

MYERS: I can tell you, in Oklahoma County, we have had in the last three hours two to six inches of rain. So, obviously, we're dealing with this right now, and it's still raining.

So, at issue will become, once it stops raining, all of the residual flooding that we are going to receive. So, currently, we have cars stranded throughout Oklahoma County that are becoming a traffic issue as well.

I know that many first responders currently are asking folks if they can to stay at home, at least until some of this rain stops, until some of this water starts to recede. So, right now, it's just a bad situation throughout the entire county.

Folks are going to find themselves in a bad situation if they get out, start driving through some of these intersections, which, in many instances, the water is all of the way up to the windshield. So these are issues that we're having right now throughout the entire county.

JERAS: I'm also hearing that some of the interstates are closed. Can you give us any information on that?

MYERS: I have not heard anything about that.

JERAS: OK.

HARRIS: Yes.

Hey, Mark, a couple of other quick questions here.

Are you in communication, teams, crews in communication, with the two people -- I understand it's two people -- who are in this particular white vehicle right now?

MYERS: Right. Currently, Oklahoma City Fire Department is at the scene. They have asked us for assistance with our Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office dive team. So, currently, we are on our way to that scene to assist with that situation.

HARRIS: Wow. What's the -- let's state the warning again to folks who are watching us who are in that area, also following local television. What's the warning to folks right now given the fact that you have received -- what is it, two to six inches of rain in the course of how many hours?

MYERS: The last three hours --

HARRIS: That is amazing.

MYERS: -- are what local meteorologists are saying. We are telling folks just to stay at home, stay off the roads. Currently, if you find yourself in a situation where you are stuck, just to call 911 immediately so that we can get out there and render some assistance.

HARRIS: OK. Mark, appreciate it. Thanks for your time. We will probably be reaching back to you for any updates on this.

Mark Myers is with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department.

Mark, good to talk to you. Thank you.

Jacqui, let's do this -- let's do a bit of a reset here on what we know. So, we just heard from Mark that the rain, heavy rain, two to six inches of rain --

JERAS: Yes, but that was just in the last couple of hours. I'm seeing some Doppler estimates as much as eight inches since 4:00 this morning.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: This is the one that we're seeing here?

JERAS: Yes.

HARRIS: And that's it?

JERAS: Right. We have had this big complex of thunderstorms that started rolling through there early this morning. This has been going on for probably five or six hours at least. And these thunderstorms are doing what we call back-building.

So, we'll have a thunderstorm, and then another one will develop behind it, and then another one and another one and another one. So, you stay in that heavy rain core, as opposed to seeing periods of heavier or lighter showers and thunderstorms as they roll through. So, this has been very consistent in Oklahoma City, and you can see that back-building continues, the rain is still coming down.

HARRIS: So, we've got firefighters on that location you see to the left of your screen to try to help those people who are right now trapped and can't do much of anything in that vehicle. We've seen them bailing some of the water out of the vehicle.

Firefighters in the distance there?

JERAS: There they are. And as we heard from Mr. Myers, that they're going to try to get a boat in there to try and help these people and get them out.

HARRIS: So, they've also put out a call for a dive team as well. And you were making the point that you are getting calls of other people being trapped or in periods of difficulty in other parts of the city as well, in the county as well?

JERAS: That's right, from our affiliates. And we have also seen online some pictures of flooding downtown as well. We're efforting getting a tower cam from downtown Oklahoma City so our viewers can see the situation there..

HARRIS: Yes.

Let me just ask the control room, do we still have the air check for KOCO? We have their signal available to us? Is it available to us?

All right. Let's just check in and hear what our affiliate station in Oklahoma City is reporting right now.

RICK MITCHELL, CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, KOCO: Right now, heavy rain from the metro on up into northeastern Oklahoma. Other thunderstorms redeveloping -- southwestern Oklahoma.

Bad news for us. Bad news, because if these storms redevelop (INAUDIBLE) we call this training. All right? Like boxcars going over the same location on a train track. That's what these storms are doing. They're just developing and tracking right over the same location.

(CROSSTALK)

MITCHELL: You'll see some flashing on here --

HARRIS: All right. I heard -- you believe it's the meteorologist?

JERAS: Yes. I think that's Rick Mitchell, the chief meteorologist at KOCO TV, talking about the training of the thunderstorms, as we were just talking about.

HARRIS: Yes. OK. Let's do this -- let's take a quick break.

We'll come back and we will update you on the horrendous story from last week, the flooding in Arkansas.

A quick break, and then we will also update this story in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. We want to update our top story right now.

And there are the pictures. And that's the -- boy, that is the scene of real concern right now. That's the scene of real concern right now.

We are going to listen to our local affiliate there in Oklahoma City. It appears that the firefighters are attempting a rescue now, so let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- maybe a 55 horsepower rescue boat is here. They haven't put it in the water yet. They're going to have to do it from the side that we're actually standing on, and then head west down the road.

They're obviously going to use a boat to go west on Hefner (ph) Road, because as you can see, that is Harrison Creek that is well above flood stages here. And this white car, this Impala, has been stranded here for easily two hours at this point.

Let me tell you what's been happening just in the past few hours. And these are pictures that you're only going to see on Channel 5 right now this morning.

The Impala -- the person on the passenger side is having to, every three or four minutes, literally bail water out of that passenger window just to keep the levels where they are. And we're guessing that just from looking where the water is on the outside of the car, it's at least waist deep.

We do believe they have battery power inside of that car, if the engine is not running, which I would seriously doubt. But at least battery power, because we do see some tail lights flicker on and off every few minutes.

Just to give you an update on the rescue boat situation, the truck that is pulling it is turning around and about to start backing it towards us, where they will be able to put it -- you know, picture, if you would, like, a ramp, say, at Lake Arcadia, where you're going to put a boat in. That's how they are going to put this boat in here on Hefner (ph) Road, which has essentially turned into a river.

We're going to monitor this situation. Come back to us just every few minutes, because I believe these people are going to be rescued here in the next 15 to 20 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Great. And we will continue to follow that. We do want to see those people get rescued.

HARRIS: We're going to keep this shot up and we're going to track, obviously, this rescue attempt.

My understanding is that we have got two people in that Impala, and as you just heard from the reporter on the scene here, those two people have been essentially trapped in that vehicle for the last couple of hours. And it's easy to understand why.

We are talking about rain that's been on and off for some time now, but really intense over the last three hours, two to six inches of rain in this particular area of Oklahoma County over the last three hours.

Kristy Yager is on the phone with us. She is the public information officer for Oklahoma City.

Kristy, thanks for your time.

If you would, give us an assessment of what's going on in your city right now. I don't know if you have access to the video of this scene, but maybe you can talk to us about the response and what firefighters are attempting to do here, and how they'll go about efforting this rescue.

KRISTY YAGER, OKLAHOMA CITY PUBLIC INFO OFFICER (via telephone): Well, I haven't seen the video. I don't know what's happening out there.

HARRIS: OK. OK.

YAGER: I just got off a conference call with police and fire and airports and a lot of our city departments, and I do have an update. Police and fire are obviously working extremely hard right now.

Police are trying to manage stalled vehicles, they're trying to barricade streets that are flooding. And they're trying to help people out.

Fire is on rescue. So they've got a dive team out. I know they have got a dive team out right now and Sooner (ph) and Hefner (ph). I don't know where that crew is.

HARRIS: Yes. That is the scene that we're actually seeing. It's on Hefner (ph) right now. So you're spot on, on that.

YAGER: We have an area that we're watching really carefully, and it's a residential area called Ski Island. Obviously, there's a lake there. And we're watching it, hoping that we don't have to evacuate.

But, if we do, the Red Cross is mobilizing right now. I just got off the line with Kylo (ph) at the Red Cross, and they're going to try to put some sheltering in place in case something happens and people need help.

HARRIS: How many people could you potentially have to evacuate from Ski Island, that residential area?

YAGER: I don't know what the population is in that area, but there are quite a few homes.

HARRIS: And is it a lake that's there? Is it a creek that's there?

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: A densely populated area? Is there a lake there, a creek there that you're concerned with?

YAGER: There is. There are a series of lakes. There's several lakes that are all kind of strung together in that area.

HARRIS: If you could, Kristy -- I apologize for interrupting -- if you could, just give us an idea of the particular lake or where that you're concerned with around Ski Island. We're trying to map this out for the rest of the country so everyone can be acclimated as to the particular areas that we're talking about.

YAGER: Well, the lake is called -- I believe it's called Ski Island Lake.

HARRIS: OK. Great. Great.

YAGER: And so you can look at that, and that area sometimes floods. And there are also lakes that are just east -- north and south of that as well. So, I believe either police or fire were in the neighborhood knocking on doors, just letting people know that they should leave their house.

HARRIS: OK, Kristy. Any other high-risk flooding areas that you're concerned with? You mentioned Ski Island. We clearly have a problem at Hefner (ph) road. Any other high-risk flooding areas that concern you right now? YAGER: Well, everything's concerning. And we want people that are driving around not to drive in any water that they can't see the ground in.

And the strange thing about this flood is that areas that have never flooded before are flooding now. And our storm system cannot keep up with this amount of rain, and it's going to continue through the morning.

HARRIS: Kristy, it's going to continue through the morning?

YAGER: Yes.

HARRIS: So what are you -- we'll check with Jacqui on this, but when are you getting word of a possible reprieve, a break, in the rain?

YAGER: Well, we're hoping around noon.

HARRIS: OK.

YAGER: But there is still some rain that's out there, that's still falling. And it's just kind of sitting on Oklahoma City right now.

HARRIS: Yes. And you're in a situation now -- do you have an idea at this point of how many people might be trapped, or is that information just too difficult to aggregate at this point?

YAGER: It's too difficult to pull together.

HARRIS: OK.

YAGER: Police and fire are busy trying to get to people that are in need. There hasn't been a huge amount of people that have been calling.

I think this situation at Sooner (ph) and Hefner (ph) is -- that's not happening everywhere, thank God. But downtown this morning was just really, really dangerous to be downtown. And since then, it looks like traffic is moving a little faster downtown.

HARRIS: In terms of businesses, are you telling folks to, if you're on your way to work, maybe turn around? Are you telling businesses to maybe -- I don't know. What's your advice to people trying to get into the downtown area now, or who are there now?

YAGER: I'm just telling people to stop and don't turn around. Just find a parking lot that is on high land, high ground. And just stop and wait it out, and let our sewer system get time to do its job.

HARRIS: To catch up?

YAGER: Yes.

HARRIS: Yes. Kristy, appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

Kristy Yager is the public information officer for Oklahoma City.

Let's do this -- we'll take a break and we'll come back, and we'll get an update on this situation and all the rain, the training effect that is going on right now with this storm system from Jacqui Jeras in our Severe Weather Center.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. So we're just trying to -- Jacqui and I just talking through this video that we're looking at here and you're looking at now as well.

Let's take it full here, Roger, if we can.

And this is the Impala that we're watching, and you can see the person on the passenger side is bailing out the vehicle right now.

My understanding, Jacqui, two people inside that vehicle?

JERAS: Yes, two people inside, and they are getting water inside. So, yes, they're trying to scoop it out to keep themselves dry and safe.

HARRIS: And we're trying to figure out -- it looks like -- what is your guess here, Jacqui? Do you believe it's continuing to rise, or has is plateaued just a bit here?

JERAS: It's hard to say. We have been watching this for probably, what, half an hour now at least already? And it does look like it's gone up maybe a little bit, but you can see it hasn't gone above the bumper. So, if it's gone up, it hasn't been a huge amount.

You can see those firefighters there on standby. They are waiting to get a boat and bring in some divers to help out as well. You know, right now, that vehicle isn't moving, but we're going to have to watch what happens with the condition of the road. HARRIS: Jacqui, look at the trees here.

JERAS: Yes, you see the rain coming down there.

HARRIS: And you can see the intensity of the rain with the trees framing it as a backdrop here. I mean, that is really coming down.

JERAS: It is really coming down. And the big question is, when is the rain going to stop?

And we are hopeful that it will stop in the next couple of hours, but some of this training, or this back-building of thunderstorms, I think is going to continue for at least an hour, probably two, before it's going to start to wind down a little bit. So, you get heavy thunderstorm after heavy thunderstorm after heavy thunderstorm, just one after the other, moving over the same area, about an inch or two per hour with these storms.

HARRIS: Let's do this -- let's listen to our local affiliate doing a nice job covering this story, KOCO.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any update on the boat?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just gave it to Derrick (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Sorry.

HARRIS: All right. So we'll just monitor that. The reporter who has been providing a lot of the -- really the play-by-play of what's going on here is not on the air right now. And we will take you back to his coverage of this and the entire team's coverage of this as soon as we get a nice chunk of either activity or an explainer as to what is going on there on the ground.

They're in touch with all of their emergency responders, and maybe in a slightly better position than we are to get the very latest information on this. So we'll keep an eye on this story.

You see the bailing is going on in that vehicle right now, that white Impala. Firefighters are standing by.

They will certainly help in the rescue effort once that boat gets in. And my guess is -- I mean, they're not tied to a line or anything, but I would think if they had to go -- I'm not even going to speculate on that.

All right. Maybe we'll get to some other news. And if we do, there is a story that we're planning to bring you today on an important initiative to the president, and that initiative is getting more black men teaching in public schools.

We may have time for this story. We may not.

You may not know this, but black men currently make up less than two percent of the nation's teachers. So, I set out to get details from the Education secretary, Arne Duncan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Tell us why you are advocating to get more African- American males into classrooms, recruiting them to become teachers.

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Our students need great teachers of every color and every gender and every ethnicity and background. But as a part of that mosaic, as a part of that team, we don't have enough black males. That's the disturbing fact. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: OK. So, don't miss my entire interview with Arne Duncan, "Education: The Next Generation." That's the series. It's a three-parter. It begins next hour.

And, of course, we'd like to hear from you. Do you think placing black men in the classroom will help solve some of the problems in the African-American community?

If you would, send us your comments to CNN.com/Tony.

A quick break, and we will update the situation in Oklahoma City in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Boy, we have a severe weather story for you today. Now, we are keeping -- this is Oklahoma City, by the way.

Welcome back, everyone, to the CNN NEWSROOM. Tony Harris and Jacqui Jeras.

This is the situation that we're following in Oklahoma County, and our affiliate providing these pictures for us, KOCO, and providing some of the -- really the play-by-play of what's going on with the rescue effort here. We understand that emergency managers are trying to get a boat in.

Jacqui, they're trying to -- there's a dive team on the way as well.

This scene that you see playing out here in this white Impala, we've got two people in that vehicle right now. This is at Hefner (ph) Road and, I want to say, Sooner (ph). I believe that's correct.

Is that it?

JERAS: That's correct, yes.

HARRIS: So -- and there is a creek there. I believe that is the Harrison Creek. I know we are working to verify that, double check that.

But we have got an awful lot of water here. We're talking about inches upon inches.

What are we doing here?

OK. There we go.

And Jacqui, look, we're talking about anywhere from two to six inches in the last three hours, correct?

JERAS: Right. That's what we're reporting there. And our radar is estimating some amounts even higher than that across the metro area. Just north of there in Edmond (ph), they've had more than nine inches of rain.

HARRIS: This is all tied to a system that you can actually show us that has been training, and you can explain what that is.

JERAS: Sure.

HARRIS: There you go. JERAS: Yes. I'll walk over to the wall and we can talk about that a little bit and show you these thunderstorms.

You know, this was a huge complex that was over the area all morning long and what's happening is you can see, storm after storm has developed. And so you see, just nothing but red here. You know, normally you'll get intermittent heavy thunderstorms and maybe some lighter showers, and then maybe another heavier storm would come through. But this is one after the other after the other.

The rain started about 2:00 this morning and has been really quite steady ever since that time. And so when you get a weather system that is just stagnant and stuck like this, not moving, it will continue to bring that rain over the same area. Until this pulls out of here, we could continue to watch those waters rise up. It takes a little while for everything to run off and the little creeks and streams and banks and to get within those reservoirs, so we could watch that continue to rise over the next several hours.

We hope the rain is going to stop maybe afternoon-ish. But you still will see some spotty showers there. You can see some development down there, down towards I-44.

will show you a couple of other things. This is an estimated rainfall total out of Oklahoma City. Let's put this is perspective for you. This is where the radar site is, down in Norman, Oklahoma. This is Oklahoma City, so this is the downtown area. And all of this hot pink area that you can see there, that's at least six inches of rainfall. And that's just in the last 24 hours, not to mention, what, for almost a week, Oklahoma City, at least you've been seeing storm after storm. And this isn't just a downtown issue. We've got some of this going on in the rural areas. Plus, it's the peak of the wheat harvest right now, Tony, so farmers are not going to be able to get in their fields and try and harvest this.

One other thing I want to show you -- to try and put this in perspective, also to give you the location. We're talking about that Hefner Road and Sooner Road. So here's Oklahoma City, and that's the location of where we have that high water rescue continuing to go on.

So we'll watch that radar, but things are still not looking good, at least not in the next couple of hours. We're going to continue to see that heavy rain come down.

HARRIS: Thanks, Jacqui. We're going to listen to more of our affiliate coverage of this, KOCO in Oklahoma City.

(BEGIN COVERAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- has not been able to move. You can see on the other side of the road, firefighters are standing on the edge of the water just making eye contact and using hand gestures to the people, telling them to stay in, don't try to come out, we are going to come for you. And again, this boat should backing down here in the next four or five minutes and we'll check in with you then. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy, Brandon (ph), I've got to tell you, you can't imagine how (INAUDIBLE) is on their cell phone. Can you imagine the people they are calling -- their loved ones and their family. And we know that they are concerned about them.

And again, Brandon is staying on that situation. He's going to continue to watch it. When they watch (INAUDIBLE) water, start heading out there, we, of course, are going to let you see that, as they continue to try to get this person out of that water. That's at Hefner and Sooner Road. (INAUDIBLE) the rain that is still coming down. Rick has been tracking all of this as we continue to get --

(END OF COVERAGE)

HARRIS: You know, I'm wondering here, Jacqui, we've seen the two people in that vehicle bailing out the vehicle. At some point, you've got firefighters all around that scene.

JERAS: Right.

HARRIS: It stands to reason that if things get really hairy here, there are enough people in the immediate facility (sic) to make that rescue if necessary. But you take every precaution right now. You wait for an opportunity to do it the right way, which is to get a boat down there. And the indication that we're getting is that it could be another four or five minutes before there is a boat there to do this.

And right now, water, you know, it may be rising, but it certainly isn't riding terribly quickly on the vehicle right now.

JERAS: Pretty slowly. But look at that current, Tony. I guarantee you if those people got out of the car --

HARRIS: Now you've got a race against time.

JERAS: If they got out of that car, they would be washed away. I don't think there's any question that they would be carried away from the area as a result of the force of the water moving through there. And that's why firefighters aren't going in there.

HARRIS: Well, let's help people, here. Let's help people. If you're in that situation -- I'm trying to figure out what your next steps are. So the water starts to rise. You've got a window open now because you're bailing. At some point you want to get to the roof of that vehicle?

JERAS: Eventually.

HARRIS: Eventually.

JERAS: If that water gets up to your window, you want to get on top of the car. Because what happens is, you know, some people at home might be thinking, why don't you just open that car door and get out? No, no, no. Because that changes the stability of car and then you put that extra force up against that water. That water's going to rush into the car and you could get pushed away or the car will fill up immediately with that water and you will not be able to get out.

HARRIS: KFOR sending us new pictures. Just drop them in whenever you guys get them. KFOR with new pictures for us.

But the firefighters would absolutely be giving -- here we go, we've got the new pictures here. What is that? Is that a tree, is that a limb, is that -- floating by there just a second ago?

JERAS: There's all kinds of debris going in that water. But you can see a couple of cars. You see the one with the hazards on. I'm not sure if people are in there or not but that looks like --

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Is that a new -- are we talking -- guys --

JERAS: Yes, that's a different place.

HARRIS: This is a new location?

JERAS: Yes.

HARRIS: And we heard from Kristy Yager, who is the public information officer for Oklahoma City, that there are number of locations now -- and you heard this as well -- where there are people who are in this situation right here, where they are stuck.

JERAS: Yes.

HARRIS: And there's nowhere to go. And the advice has been just to stop.

JERAS: Stop. Stay put. Call 911 if you get in that situation but they're telling people not to go out. Don't go out. Don't risk this. Stay home until this event is over.

HARRIS: And if you find out and you're in a situation, Christie's advice was, A, to stay put. But if you can get to a parking lot, just go there, stay put.

We don't know at this point how many people are in this particular vehicle, but they're in a bad way right now. It looks like we've got some -- that's a road that looks pretty washed out at this point. And let's take that full so that you get a better view of that situation there.

OK. And now let's go back to Hefner. And our understanding here, two people in this vehicle. We understand that there was a boat that maybe four to five minutes away that'll attempt to make this rescue. You've got firefighters on the scene there, as well. And they are certainly in communication with the two people who are in that vehicle and can advise them as to next steps.

JERAS: What to do next.

HARRIS: All right. Let's take a break. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: There are multiple locations? Right. Take a look at this. We've got a rescue. We've got two people in that boat right now. My goodness.

JERAS: The smiles on her face.

HARRIS: Was that a smile?

JERAS: Oh, yes. She just got rescued right there.

HARRIS: This is Memorial and Pennsylvania Street. Maybe we can get somebody to map that out for us.

JERAS: We just lost that video and we're back with KOCO now.

HARRIS: Did we?

JERAS: This is the boat that they're bringing in at Hefner and Sooner to get those people out of that white Impala that was there.

HARRIS: OK. Let's rewrap that picture, if we can, of the successful rescue from KFOR. If we can rewrap that and show as much of that as we can, as this second boat gets ready to go in the water and get those people out of that Impala, who have been bailing water. They've been doing their part, trying to bail the water out of there as quickly as it's coming into the vehicle right now.

It looks like they're in a pretty stable place right now. You make a good point about the current. You certainly would not want to get caught in that current right now. But they look to be -- do we have sound here? Can we take it? All right, so it's going to be a little dodgy, but I'm sure we'll get an interview with those two people here shortly and we'll turn it around for you.

Again, this is a better shot now.

JERAS: You can see the relation to the cars. It's still got a ways to go before it gets to that vehicle. I imagine they're going to get to a level where the water's too deep, where they're going to have to get that boat off that trailer right there and get it down to the car. It's going to be a difficult task, actually, with the current, keep this boat going straight and get it to where they need it to be to get them out safely.

HARRIS: But we can report real progress here in getting those folks out of that white Impala. They've been there for hours. We do have a quick turn of the rescue effort at Memorial and Pennsylvania. Let's roll it.

There it is. There it is, Jacqui.

JERAS: Right. Two people who were rescued from their vehicle again. These are all vehicle rescues that we're dealing with across the town. There are some homes which are getting water in them, but this is primarily creeks that have been going out of their banks and street flooding. The drains haven't been able to keep up with as much rain that's been coming down since about 2:00 this morning.

HARRIS: There is one area of real concern. You heard it from Kristy Yager, who is the public information officer for Oklahoma City. Ski Island. It's a densely populated residential area and there is real concern -- look at this, wow, that was well done. There is real concern about flooding in that area right now. So they may have to order an evacuation but not yet, we're told.

Let's listen to our affiliate in Oklahoma City, KOCO.

(BEGIN COVERAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There they go. You can see how strong that current is. It's going to make steering pretty difficult. I think a 40 horse power engine will be enough for them to go against that current and manage to go straight.

Oddly enough, the rain has just picked up again. It was giving us about a 45-minute break of a sprinkle, and now it's a steady downpour again so just as they get on the water to make this rescue, again, the conditions are worsening.

Let me let you know exactly what their tactic is here. They said they're just going to take that boat right up to the side of this car, have that person or persons -- we know there's at least one person in there, could be two -- climb out the window into the boat. And then they're going to bring them right back up the way they came.

They've been in there for two and a half plus hours. You're watching a rescue of Harrison Creek. This is Hefner Road. This was Hefner Road. On the other side it's completely washed out, which is part of the reason they put the boat in over here because they weren't able to back that trailer down. They used this eastern portion of Hefner Road literally as the boat ramp. You can see as the rain has picked up, it's making the shot a little bit difficult to see. But they have arrived to the white car. At this point, you can see one of the firefighters is reaching into the window to try to pull this person out of there.

Again, this is Harrison creek, it's well flooded, well over Hefner Road. We're a good 300 yards away, and the water is literally at our feet. The boat did make it out to the car with little problems. That 40-horse power engine. I got it there. I stepped out there about knee deep just to feel how swift, how powerful that current was. It really pulls you. So you can understand why the firefighters you see in the background really gave the orders to the person or people in the car to stay in there until rescue crews can get to them.

I can tell you after two and a half hours, they have been able to reach this car. So we're watching them as they get near the window. Over the past couple of hours, the person's been sitting on the passenger side of the window, has actually used some sort of -- looked like a Tupperware or maybe cooler -- maybe they had packed their lunch for work and were using that as a tool to remove the water from their car.

You have to think at this point that that's bought them enough time inside there with their window down because the water -- especially when the rain is picking up like this -- the water has risen upwards of just below where the window would be and the door handle.

I can tell you the rain continues to pick up, which is just making this even more difficult. We had about an hour where the rain had kind of let up a little bit. Now we're seeing the boat back away from the car. So you have to believe at this point that they have managed to get the folks out of the car. They are turning around. They're going to bring him right back up the way they came. Let's stay with this picture live.

You can see there is at least one extra person in that boat. Look at that current just making it that much more difficult for this boat to make its way back up here to where rescue crews are waiting to make sure these folks are OK.

You seeing this OK, Paul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Brandon, we got it. Look how fast that water is moving it. It just shoved that boat all over the place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it shoved it right into the side there and something on the side. So this is a dangerous situation.

(END OF COVERAGE)

HARRIS: Jacqui, the current?

JERAS: Wow. Yes, the current.

It's so strong, and not to mention all of the debris in there. They don't know how deep that is. They don't know what kind of chunk of tree that they could still be hitting yet with the boat. But what an amazing rescue.

There you can see the gentleman was taken out of the vehicle. The rain was coming down so hard you could hardly see it at times. So they got him out just in time before another bog dump of rain. Wow. Amazing rescue, two and a half hour process by the time they got that boat out there and were able to save that man after he was just filling up bucket after bucket in his car to get that water out of there and save himself today.

HARRIS: And the dynamics of flash flooding are such that you can literally be driving down the road in a rain, right, and then you get a cloudburst. And the next thing you now, you're in this situation.

JERAS: It can happen in minutes. Or perhaps you're approaching a bridge that goes over a river, and that river might be right at the cusp of coming over. You never know when that's going to happen. And you never know how deep it is.

At the beginning of the rescue, we saw that firefighters just a few feet away from the vehicle. The vehicle was submerged almost up to the windows and here the firefighters are less than ankle deep, just a few feet away from there.

So, you know, when you drive over a road that has water on it, you're always taking that risk. You don't know how deep that water is. You can't see the bottom of it. And you don't know if that road is intact or it was potentially could have been washed away. That current has been amazingly strong. Thankfully not strong enough to push that car away, but certainly enough to move that boat all over the place while it was trying to navigate through there, and certainty would have knocked anybody off their feet in that deep water.

HARRIS: Well, this gentleman -- you saw him wave off the interview request. He just wants to get the heck out of there. Who could blame him? Two and a half hours in that vehicle trying to fight back against the water as well as he could with whatever bucket he was using to bail himself out of there, to keep the water out to keep the water level inside the vehicle down.

We're going to -- can we re-rack (ph) this and take a look at it?

All right. Let's have you watch this rescue all over again.

JERAS: We've also, by the way, been watching that rescue from our other affiliate at KFOR. And we were a little confused as to where that one was. But now we do have a confirm that was also along Harrison Creek, just a little further along the way.

So there are a lot of problems within this area.

HARRIS: I see.

JERAS: There you can see the video.

(VIDEO CLIP OF FLOOD RESCUE) .

JERAS: Look at that current move that boat over like that.

HARRIS: Yes.

Look at this though. This is where it gets really dramatic. I thought the captain had given it a little too much juice but this is the current pushing the boat.

JERAS: Yes. It's amazing.

A big congratulations to those firefighters who were patient and stuck with it and they didn't take that risk. They didn't want to get there and risk themselves and they waited and got the boat in and got the man out.

HARRIS: OK. So at this point, we've got two rescues. JERAS: More than that. Two that we've seen on the video.

HARRIS: Two that we've seen. And the indication is that there are a number of other vehicles in the same kind of distress around Oklahoma City and Oklahoma broader, Oklahoma County.

So you've got firefighters who are trying to manage those situations, as well. You have Ski Island, which is a densely populated, as it was described to us earlier in the hour, a densely populated residential area, that is seeing some flooding. And there is concern that there might need to be an evacuation of that area.

We can listen to the audio this time?. On that last rescue, on Hefner road. Let's roll it and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- it just shoved that boat all over the place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes (INAUDIBLE) right into the side there. And something was sitting on the side. So it's a dangerous situation. I'm so glad, though, they got this person out of that car. I can't imagine being in there for upwards of two hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JERAS: And there you see it, the live rescue taking place right here unfolding with our affiliate KOCO, and right here on CNN. That man stuck in his car for about two and a half hours, waiting for a safe recovery of himself.

So they were able to get the boat in and that strong current just amazing. As much as four to eight inches of rain across the Oklahoma City area. And this is not an isolated incident. We've got multiple water rescues there. There were water rescues this morning in Wichita, Kansas, and we also had quite a bit of flooding widespread on the south side of Kansas City metro area. So the Midwest really in parts of the mid-south getting hit hard with heavy rains.

HARRIS: All right. Jacqui, why we don't do this. Why don't we take a quick break and come back and we stack up all the video that we have. Let's show everyone the rescue that we saw here live, just moments ago at Memorial and Pennsylvania Avenues. And then we will rack up this rescue again that was really dramatic at Hefner and Sooner. Let's do that and then sort of wrap all of the information that we have at this point and tell the story as we know it.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. Let's give you a recap on our breaking news story that we've been following for a little more than an hour at this point. Just amazing flash flooding in Oklahoma City and the broader Oklahoma County area. Want to show you two rescues here that took place inside the last, I would say 20 minutes or so.

This first one, this raft rescue, brought to us by our affiliate in Oklahoma City, KFOR. Two people here, not much audio on this. Maybe I'll just pause for whatever is on it. And there you go. You see the couple here and smiles here at a moment, Jacqui, as this rescue took place. Just happy to be close to dry land at this point.

JERAS: Oh, yes.

HARRIS: Still a lot of water. But they're in a much better place than they were say an hour or so ago.

And then this rescue just a short time ago from our affiliate KOCO, this taking place at Hefner and Sooner. Just a short time ago.

Do we have the sound on this cut? Let's listen.

(VIDEO CLIP OF FLOOD RESCUE)

HARRIS: OK. Now let's take a look at an iReport. Thank you to Jimmy Enriquez for getting this iReport. And this is clearly a residential neighborhood, and I'm not sure -- wow, look at this, Jacqui.

JERAS: Ooh.

HARRIS: You talk about -- you want to see what flash flooding can do in a moment. You go from a heavy rain storm to flash flooding, and bang, look at what you get.

JERAS: That's why we call it flash flooding. It happens in just a matter of minutes.

HARRIS: Look at all of that water.

JERAS: Amazing power.

HARRIS: Yes. That iReport from Jimmy Enriquez. Jimmy, thank you.

And Jacqui, if you would, very -- nah, I don't want to give you the short script here. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. And Jacqui, you can walk us through the system and pattern we have seen the last few days.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)