Skiatook Residents Begin Clean-Up

The flood waters are receding, but the storm's aftermath is far from over for many Green Country families.  They're digging out their belongings from their now contaminated houses.  The News On 6's Jeffrey Smith reports the flooding hit some Skiatook home owners especially hard.

Some homes in Skiatook had two feet of water from the flooding.  It's left dozens of people with the reality of having to start over from scratch.

One family's struggle to recover shows just how hard that can be.

The rain is long gone, but for some families, the clean-up is just beginning.

Al Foshee lives in Skiatook with his wife Lisa.  He has been there for 50 years and says Thursday's flooding was as bad as he's ever seen.

"The reality is you're put out. You don't have a home," said Foshee.

Foshee's been living across the street with his daughter.

"The water rose fast. Like I said, within 30 minutes it had rose a foot already. Within another hour, it was up six, seven inches. And within another hour, it was then coming in the front doors," said Foshee's daughter, Crystal McKelvy.

She says the financial burden of cleaning up is almost too much to bear

"Oh it's hard. Because you have to redo everything. From the walls. To the carpets. To drying out the floors. To bleaching everything so you don't have the smell. Then you have your furniture, your clothes, your shoes, your personal belongings. You lose everything, you know," said McKelvy.

Foshee says he'll be cleaning up for weeks to come

"Ten days to two weeks is what we're hoping for. But it can go on longer than that," said Foshee.

Starting over one step at a time

Foshee says it could be a full week before the inside of his house is dried out.  But through it all, he says he's a lucky man.  Because his entire family is safe and healthy and they're able to deal with the all flood damage together.

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