Boats Used To Evacuate Chouteau Bend RV Park Residents

Water continued to rise overnight and washed over a road into Chouteau Bend in Mayes County, forcing a series of rescues.

The first call for help came about daylight Tuesday, then, by noon, about a dozen people were taken out by boat because the only road was blocked by high water.

It took a steady procession of boats to move everyone who wanted to go out of Chouteau Bend.

Boats from the Pryor and Chouteau Fire Departments were called in after rising water blocked off access for everyone and started reaching the floors of a handful of campers and mobile homes.

12/29/2015 Related Story: Rising Water Forces Residents Out Of Chouteau Bend RV Park

Residents like Mitchell Hornback had warning but didn't think it would get this bad.

“When we came in last night it was just barely up to the road, I could drive through it, and they told us it would probably rise a foot,” he said.

It rose much more than that - deep enough to float propane tanks, and strong enough to wash away the docks.

Captain Randy Gibbs with Pryor Fire said, "This is a residual coming back from the river, when you get beyond the tree lines you can see it's running swift."

Though a couple of people got medical attention at the scene, no one was injured because of the flood or the voluntary evacuation; but those who chose to stay face a long night of cold weather.

“We do have a few not wanting to go, and we're not forcing them because they're high and dry, but they do not have any power. Some might have propane, but we cut off the power because of safety concerns,” said Mike Dunham with Mayes County Emergency Management.

Since some people were not flooded, just cut off from the outside, they had time to pack up a few belongings and their pets.

A shelter was being opened for the night since the flood was expected to recede much slower than it moved in.

Resident George Martin said, “My boat is over there in storage, I couldn't get to it this morning. I've seen it high before, but never this high, it's amazing. It's amazing.”

The few residents who left the area and are going to shelter were headed to nearby Camp Christian - most were going to stay with family until the water level drops.