OHP: Father, Daughter Drown In Adair County Flood Waters

A dad and his little girl are dead, after they were swept away from their vehicle by flood waters in Adair County.

Troopers said Tylen Turman and his youngest daughter drowned, but his two other children are okay.

One of Turman's friends said he searched through extremely cold water for Turman after the accident.

He said Turman was a good man and a good friend.

State Trooper Eric Foster said 43-year-old Tylen Turman was found dead Monday morning about 11 miles northwest of where he and his three kids drove through floodwaters.

Turman's six-year-old daughter drowned, and crews recovered her body within two hours after Friday's accident.

"It's terrible and it tears at our heart that it happened in the first place," said Trooper Eric Foster, OHP.

OHP's Emergency Response Team, several other agencies, and nearly 100 volunteers helped search.

"It's a great testament to that part of Oklahoma where you have that many volunteers willing to come out and say what do we need to do help," said Foster. "It was actually a volunteer that started to remove debris and located the father."

Foster said Turman was heading north in the rain on County Road 4643 about five miles west of Stilwell when he tried to drive across a low water bridge covered in a foot and a half of water.

He said the family's SUV got swept away.

"It's very high on either side because it had to raise all the way up and so that water has to flow from one side to the other, so it can be very powerful on top," said Foster.

Foster said Turman's nine-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son swam to safety. Good Samaritans took them to a hospital.

Trooper Foster said this is another sad reminder to not drive through water.

He said it can be very deceiving how deep the water is and how fast it's going, and there's always potential for the road to have been washed away.