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Motorists and residents left stranded in heavy flood waters had to be rescued with motorboats on Friday as heavy rains poured down on the north eastern part of Oklahoma. More than a dozen roads have been closed off as seven inches of precipitation fell over the counties of Cherokee, Delaware, Rogers, and Mayes. Roads with closures included U.S. Highway 412, U.S. 69 and State Highways 28 and 29.

As many as 30,000 residents in Santa Barbara, California were evacuated this week in lieu of wildfires that broke during the later part of week on the Santa Ynez Mountains. The fires, fed by the infamous “sundowner” winds in the region, burned an estimated 80 homes down. However, many people were given the green-light to go home today as firefighters were able to better contain the fires because of more favorable weather.

FEMA has been creating and improving upon disaster housing solutions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the highly criticized trailers that caused people to fall ill. The new and improved trailers feature an adhesive with less formaldehyde in them. They also come in several varieties of beige colors. The travel-trailers are also clean and do not have shutters.

Residents of the northern and western parts of Illinois have braced themselves for the possibility of flood waters entering their homes. Rains that fell this week on Wednesday and Friday cause rivers to flood, sending water and mud on to roadways. The counties of Fulton and Knox have been hit the hardest.

President Obama assured everyone on Friday that preparing for Flood Season 2009 is not a complicated thing, but it is critical.