(Editor’s note: The video at the bottom of the story is the only one recorded Friday. Other videos on our YouTube channel were recorded during flooding in 2007.)
A mandatory evacuation order went into effect at 10 a.m. calling for campers west of the barns and the horse barn and everyone in the Pecan Grove at the Winfield Fairground to move out of the area.
Hundreds of people are camped there for the Walnut Valley Festival which officially begins Wednesday.
Law enforcement officers are providing traffic control and directions. Everyone who is evacuating is to leave going west. If you are in the Pecan Grove, leave west on 14th Street. If you are in the fairground, leave on U.S. 160 or Ninth Street.
If?campers want to go to the Winfield Livestock Auction sale barn, they will be directed there. If you choose another site, go down Country Club Road to 33rd Street and you’ll be directed back to U.S. 77.
Black Creek Park across from G.E., the Broadway Street Sports Complex, the Wal-Mart parking lot or Winfield? City Lake can accommodate campers.
The Walnut River at?Winfield is expected to crest at more than 34 feet Saturday morning.
The river stood at 15.15 inches at 10 a.m. It had risen eight feet in three hours. Flood Stage is 18 feet. Preliminary predictions call for the river to crest in?Winfield at 34.4 feet Saturday morning. Stone said it is his understanding the river will rise pass the track if it reaches 34 feet.
It’s unknown at this time when campers might be able to return. A meeting was held at 10 a.m. and a second will be held at 2 p.m., according to Cowley County Emergency Manager Brian Stone.
"Ask everyone to be patient with us," he said. "Patience is what is going to help us a lot."
The amount of rainfall varies across the county but up to six inches has fallen around Udall, Douglas and into Butler? County. The Whitewater at El? Dorado empties into the Walnut which flows south into? Cowley County, past the fairground and the Ark City area to Kaw Lake.
The Arkansas River in suppose to crest Saturday morning at 20.3 feet. Flood stage is 17 feet.
Hurrican Ike, which is moving towards the Texas coast, will impact this area but just how much depends on the movement of the category 2 storm. Forecasters are predicting a 20-foot storm surge and and 15?inches of rain.
