Rising Waters Flood Muskogee Homes, Close Busy Highway

Some homes in Muskogee are now under water because of all the rising water.

Tuesday afternoon, the rising water forced the closing of a section of Highway 16 between Muskogee and Okay.

Chad Kirkhart and his dad live in the area. They said their families spent all night taking valuables out of the homes and that they had to do it all by boat.

They, and others who live nearby, said they haven't seen this much water in almost three decades.

What’s usually a busy section of Highway 16 is now sitting under about a foot of water; something Dorothy Myers said hasn’t happened in quite some time.

“It didn't flood like that until back in ‘86. October of ’86,” she said.

Myers has lived just a few hundred yards off the highway for years. She, like many others who drive the road every day, will have to find another way to town for the time being.

“Take the back way out. Go back and hit 69 and go into Muskogee,” she said.

But a detour is the least of the worries.

Flooding has pushed at least two families who live along the highway from their homes. They made it out alive and saved what they could, but they couldn't save it all; the water rose too quickly - a force of Mother Nature that couldn't be stopped.

“It's bad for anybody to get flooded out,” Myers said.

The water has gone down just a bit, and there's no estimate on when the highway will reopen.

As for the families, they have a long road ahead, but won't be able to see how bad the damage is until the water recedes.