The McDonald family were living in a sod house on Camp Creek south of Higgins in 1887. McDonald saw a funnel-shaped cloud at no great distance south of them. McDonald said the rain and hail began to fall. The dirt walls and roof deadened the sound of the rain and hail a lot, but it still made quite a roar.
There a lady, Ms. Curry, and her small child, and the McDonalds and their six children in the house when the storm blew up. McDonald thought of the horses pinned up in the corral and faced the rain and hail to turn them out. He had made his way back when he heard a loud roaring up south on the creek and he saw something coming down the valley, but couldn't tell what it was. He told everybody in the house to get ready to vacate. He then went to see what the commotion was. When he got near, he found out that it was hail and ice that the flood water was pushing in front of it as it came down the creek. It was at least eleven foot high and formed a wall of ice. He ran back to the house and thought they should run for it but when they opened the door they realized they had better stay inside.
It was now pitch dark and the roar of the water and rolling thunder drowned out all other sounds. McDonald braced himself against the door to keep the water and hail out. Mrs. McDonald and the children got on the beds and Mrs. Curry and her child got on the table as the water was gradually getting higher in the house. Finally the water raised so high that McDonald had to tear a hole in the roof. Then he managed to get the women and kids up on the roof. After they got up there, they nearly froze to death. They survived the storm and this was just one of the many hardships that they survived during those early years.