Photo by Wes Spicher
Photo by Wes Spicher
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The raging Red River continues to rise across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas.The flooding has caused highway officials to close several well-traveled bridges over the river in Bowie County Texas. The Highway 259 bridge at Pecan Point north of De Kalb was closed last night and will remain closed until the flood waters recede.

And this morning, State Highway 8 between New Boston, Texas and Foreman, Ark., was closed at the bridge crossing at the Red River. It will also remain closed until the flooding eases in that area. The Index Bridge on U.S. Highway 71 remains open as of today but the situation is being closely monitored by highway officials.

The Red River at Pecan Point appears to have crested this morning at 34.56 feet, which exceeds the level of 34.45 feet, which was set during the flood of 1990. However, the National Weather Service says the water level may stay close to 34 feet for the next four or five days.

Anything above 30 feet is considered a major flood event and is 10 feet above flood stage.

Further east, the river is still forecast to crest somewhere near 30 feet at Index on Monday, which is considered major flooding. And at Fulton, officials there expect a crest at 31.6 feet early next week, which is near the major flooding level.

More heavy rains were falling along the Texas and Oklahoma border near Lake Texoma. Water released from that lake is a big reason for the flooding on the Red River in our region. Also, with heavy rain predicted to move east into our area as we head into the weekend, the flooding situation may continue to get worse before it gets better.

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