Thoughts from Logan County Residents on May 31, 2004, Flooding

Jack Blevins: Every time it rains all the people come out and look at the creek. They come out and say, "What’s the creek look like?"

Barbara Blevins: When it started raining, we started watching the creek. That night – we have a scanner – they said it was coming out of Whitman. When it came out of Whitman last time, it came out of Pine Creek, too. So when I heard that it was coming out of Whitman I said to myself, "We’re gonna get it, too."

Then, at about 1:30 it started coming in the yard. Jack was still asleep. By the time I woke him it was almost up to the top steps. We grabbed a bag of clothes, threw the four cats into two carriers, because the other two were underneath the house and already flooded. The water was up to my chest at this point. If it wasn’t for my ____ I would have drowned (she points to her chest and laughs). That’s what Jack said! We got only so far and it almost swept me away, and so Jack went to get the truck, but we couldn’t get the truck through.

We then headed onto an apartment building porch. The apartment had been abandoned. We changed into dry clothes, then waited for the water to go down. The water kept rising and falling through the night. We watched as the water would rise up to the blinkers of a jeep, then fall back down. Next it would rise to the headlights, then fall back down, and it would keep getting higher and higher, and stayed high. It took several hours for the water level to fall back down.

Terri Chafin: Some time between 1:30 and 2:15, I started to get the dogs into the car. Ray called me and told me to listen to the radio as it may not hit me. And I said "Ray, I don’t need to turn on the radio. The creek is upon me now." Three of the dogs drowned. The water was already up to my thighs. I drove up one road and it was already flooded, so I turned around and drove to the top of Stubby Ellis’s hill and just watched. The water would go up and down and the rain just kept coming down. I thought to myself, "Is this water ever going to go down?" This whole area looked like a pool. I saw Barb’s yard and it was just water and water and water. I can’t believe what I saw. Trees were floating down the creek.

Judy Turner: When I saw that water I just started thinking, "Buffalo Creek!"

Bill Chafin: I don’t understand it all, but I do know where the water is coming from. These giant corporations just don’t give a damn. They just don’t give a damn. They don’t give a damn about a single human being. It’s all about greed!