Webbers Falls Flood Victims Receive Guidelines For Rebuilding

Webbers Falls City Hall held a meeting July 8 to address what comes next for flood victims regarding their homes.

“I can’t lift my house up,” Webbers Falls resident Lance Bukowski said. “It’s gonna cost me about $30 thousand to $40 thousand to do it. My payout was decent, but it still isn't enough.”

About 140 homes were damaged by floodwaters and many homeowners are concerned about changes they may have to make to their homes to meet regulations for the floodplain.

“I don’t like the fact that somebody comes in here and tells us that we have to do certain things to our homes," Said Mayor Sandy Wright. "We live in the world we live in.”

Down the road from city hall, Kathy Acre is still repairing her home.

While the town has made visible progress since the water receded, there’s still a lot of work left to do, and tough decisions to be made.

“Everybody’s just slowly recovering," Acres said. "There’s some that they’re still at odds on what to do."

Muskogee County Emergency Management Director Jeff Smith said rebuilding regulations are determined by elevation. He said there’s a two-foot difference between the north and south ends of town, so every house will be different.

“All this is trying to do is get those homes that are below grade built up to where we don’t have as much damage or as many losses as we did this time,” Smith said.

If you missed the meeting, you can stop by city hall for a copy of regulations.