After a year of it being closed it’s finally open. There was a lot of damage all around Lake Texoma from the historic flooding of 2015. One thing damaged was a portion of Highway 91 at the Shawnee creek crossing. Denison Dam has a spillway that diverts Lake Texoma overflow back around to the Red River to avoid danger to those living in Denison when the lake tops over. The water spills over it when the level of the lake raises 640 feet above sea level, which it did. In fact, it topped it twice in a matter of weeks! This hasn’t happened in 58 years! What an engineering feat that spillway and dam are! Without that spillway the damage could have been a major catastrophe.
Today I want to bring to your attention about the spillway and what happened to Highway 91 during the 2015 floods. For those that don’t know, Highway 91 is the road that crosses the dam between Texas and Oklahoma. There are people from businesses and homes that utilize that road on a daily basis. It has been a struggle for these people without being able to cross the dam for more than a year and relying on alternate routes.
What once was just a small crossing that went over the small creek is now a fairly large bridge that crosses a ravine. The consistent flow of the large amount of water that flooded over the spillway brought on strong currents and what it did was change the topography of the land there tremendously! It’s absolutely amazing to see and demonstrates to us what the power of water can really do! A portion of highway 91 at the creek crossing was gone and the ground not only was washed out, it was literally carved out 23 feet deep! It also left the road carved to a 256 foot wide gap!
Go for a drive across the Denison Dam and see the beauty of the lake and while you’re on Highway 91 take a look at the new bridge. Look into a before picture of the Shawnee Creek land there and be amazed as you compare with what the overflow left behind. It’s actually quite beautiful and a sight to see!
**My photo here is after the flood, when the road and land were washed away**