--- title: On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: Oklahoma set a new record for rainfall in May of 1943. This led to devastating and record flooding. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1943-Record-Rainfall-in-Oklahoma-B og:title: On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: Oklahoma set a new record for rainfall in May of 1943. This led to devastating and record flooding. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1943-Record-Rainfall-in-Oklahoma-B og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/f0/f01b3afa-eb8f-4fa1-9d17-7a84a60817e9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/0ce17b23-5c16-475c-8ab3-8a2d1aeffb2c.jpg og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: Webbers Falls bridge Flood of 1943. (George Miller) og:type: article article:published_time: 2025-05-09T14:46:12Z article:modified_time: 2025-05-09T14:46:12Z article:author: By WeatherBug's Chris Sayles article:tag: flooding article:tag: history article:tag: Oklahoma article:tag: rain article:tag: Weather twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins | WeatherBug twitter:description: Oklahoma set a new record for rainfall in May of 1943. This led to devastating and record flooding. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/f0/f01b3afa-eb8f-4fa1-9d17-7a84a60817e9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/0ce17b23-5c16-475c-8ab3-8a2d1aeffb2c.jpg --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins May 9, 2025 at 10:46 AM EDT By WeatherBug's Chris Sayles  It's no secret that spring comes with its fair share of storminess, but nothing could’ve prepared Oklahoma for the deluge on their horizon more than 70 years ago. May of 1943 set a new level of rainfall records untapped for Oklahoma at the time. In fact, the heaviest rainfall started on May 7 and carried over until May 11, 1943\. A big factor of the flooding that ensued during that month was that neighboring streams were already on the high side in terms of water levels. This was only exacerbated by the 5+ inches that fell over much of the state during those days, with the eastern counties hit the worst. McAlester, Okla., recorded nearly 13 inches of rainfall during this first wave of storms with the second wave rushing in between May 16 to May 20\. The second wave of showers was similar to the first; more regions recorded more than 5 inches of rainfall with one city in the eastern quadrant reporting over 13 inches. Eastern Oklahoma was battered by the storms so badly that a total of 26 people lost their lives due to flooding from both events. This insurmountable flooding resulted in nearly $900,000 in damages, with both the North Canadian and Canadian Rivers receiving the brunt of the damage. Livestock and property damages accounted for more than $300,000 of the total damages. The record rainfall also crossed state lines. Records were broken along the Arkansas River as it crested at approximately 41.8 feet, the highest on record during this time. The river would remain at flood stage until June 4, 1943\. As for Oklahoma, May of 1943 would break the previous record for the wettest month of May at the time, with the eastern region recording an average rainfall of 14.26 inches and Miami, Okla., reporting a total of 23.95 inches of rainfall. **Source**: weather.gov _Story Image_: Webbers Falls bridge Flood of 1943\. (George Miller) We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/On-This-Day-in-1943-Record-Rainfall-in-Oklahoma-B"},"headline":"On This Day in 1943: Record Rainfall in Oklahoma Begins","description":"Oklahoma set a new record for rainfall in May of 1943. This led to devastating and record flooding.","image":["https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/f0/f01b3afa-eb8f-4fa1-9d17-7a84a60817e9/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/0ce17b23-5c16-475c-8ab3-8a2d1aeffb2c.jpg"],"datePublished":"2025-05-09T14:46:12Z","dateModified":"2025-05-09T14:46:12Z","dateCreated":"2025-05-09T14:46:12Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"flooding,history,Oklahoma,rain,Weather","articleBody":"It's no secret that spring comes with its fair share of storminess, but nothing could’ve prepared Oklahoma for the deluge on their horizon more than 70 years ago.
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\r\nMay of 1943 set a new level of rainfall records untapped for Oklahoma at the time. In fact, the heaviest rainfall started on May 7 and carried over until May 11, 1943. A big factor of the flooding that ensued during that month was that neighboring streams were already on the high side in terms of water levels. This was only exacerbated by the 5+ inches that fell over much of the state during those days, with the eastern counties hit the worst.
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\r\nMcAlester, Okla., recorded nearly 13 inches of rainfall during this first wave of storms with the second wave rushing in between May 16 to May 20. The second wave of showers was similar to the first; more regions recorded more than 5 inches of rainfall with one city in the eastern quadrant reporting over 13 inches. Eastern Oklahoma was battered by the storms so badly that a total of 26 people lost their lives due to flooding from both events.
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\r\nThis insurmountable flooding resulted in nearly $900,000 in damages, with both the North Canadian and Canadian Rivers receiving the brunt of the damage. Livestock and property damages accounted for more than $300,000 of the total damages. 
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\r\nThe record rainfall also crossed state lines. Records were broken along the Arkansas River as it crested at approximately 41.8 feet, the highest on record during this time. The river would remain at flood stage until June 4, 1943. As for Oklahoma, May of 1943 would break the previous record for the wettest month of May at the time, with the eastern region recording an average rainfall of 14.26 inches and Miami, Okla., reporting a total of 23.95 inches of rainfall. 
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\r\nSource: weather.gov 
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