OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The remnants of a tropical storm that moved in from the Gulf of Mexico this week focused most of its fury Thursday on Oklahoma and Arkansas, pushing rivers to record-high levels and causing flooding as it crawled northward through the nation's midsection.
There have been no reported injuries caused by the storm, which came ashore Tuesday in southeastern Texas as Tropical Storm Bill before settling down into a tropical depression. It has claimed at least one life, though, that of a 2-year-old southern Oklahoma boy who was pulled from his father's arms by floodwaters late Wednesday. An estimated 10 inches of rain fell overnight on that area north of the Texas border and also forced the partial closure of a major interstate highway.
Farther north, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were bracing for flooding throughout the weekend.
"The water was just flowing like a river down the streets," Amber Wilson, the emergency manager in Ardmore, said after the overnight downpour. Even giant trash bins gave way to the water.
"It was so forceful that it washed away the barricades and pushed manhole covers out of the streets," she said.
Authorities found Jeremiah Mayer's body Thursday afternoon. It was about 30 yards from where the boy was last seen after being swept out of his father's arms Wednesday night.
Ardmore police Capt. Eric Hamblin said the boy's father was fleeing the rising Hickory Creek when floodwaters swamped him. He said the creek rose 12 to 15 feet in less than an hour.
Bill came ashore as a tropical storm Tuesday southwest of Houston and dumped more than 11 inches of rain along the coast before racing north and eventually slowing as it crossed into Oklahoma. The Washita River basin, which largely runs along Interstate 35 in southern Oklahoma, absorbed the heaviest rains.
Elvin Sweeten, whose family owns a 600-acre homestead a few miles from the Washita, said the floodwaters had surrounded his ranch.
"I see water everywhere," Sweeten said Thursday. "The entire ranch is under water."
He said he and his son spent the night cutting fences so their cows and horses can escape to higher ground.
"We just stay here and hope that the water doesn't get too much higher," Sweeten said. "We have a boat. If we have to get out, we can."
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation shut down I-35 in the Arbuckle Mountains north of Ardmore due to water and fallen rocks on the four-lane road, which connects Oklahoma City and Dallas. Southbound lanes opened Thursday afternoon, but a 4-mile stretch northbound was diverted near Davis.
"I had to turn around. I couldn't drive on the whole 10-mile stretch," said Kristen Greenwood, 20, from her job as a supervisor at Original Fried Pies in Davis. She took a backroad to work because a lake was backing up onto the highway.
"I was lucky because my exit was just after the lake, so I could get on, but all the rivers are flooding over the bridges and the lake is overflowing," she said. "I'm staying at work until they tell me to leave."
Gazing out the pie shop window, Greenwood estimated the water on the other side of the parking lot was several feet deep: "Probably waist-deep on me, but I'm short."
Heavy rains from a separate weather system hit northern Indiana on Thursday, forcing hundreds of people from their homes near the Iroquois River even before the remnants of Bill move in today and Saturday. The Kankakee River was at risk, too.
Rains last month triggered floods that killed more than two dozen people in Oklahoma and Texas last month. Texas avoided major problems with Bill - pockets of dry air limited rainfall away from the coast - but a waterlogged Oklahoma had few places that could handle more water.
"There's going to be little capacity to store (the water) if we get additional rains," Le Flore County Emergency Manager Michael Davidson said Thursday before Bill's remains made a turn to the northeast. He joked that he was "hoping for a drought." Last month's storms and Bill ended a yearslong dry spell for the region.
The Washita River was expected to crest nearly 20 feet above flood stage at Dickson, about the the level of its previous record crest, the National Weather Service said.
Campers at the Shangri-La RV Resort south of the Arbuckles were moved to higher ground as a precaution. "We're ready for some sunshine," resort co-owner Julene Potter said.