Nowata Residents Pull Together To Rebuild After Flooding

People in Nowata are spending a second day drying out their flood-damaged homes and businesses. The town is coming together to get everyone back on their feet.

Volunteers at the Nowata Cmuseum tell me when they came in the morning after the storm, this room was flooded with water. They say it looked like a river. Thankfully, most of the artifacts that tell the story of Nowata's history were lifted up, above the ground.

The Nowata County Historical Society Museum has an extra storage space next to their building.

"There was water on the floors. It came in through the backdoors, the front doors, through the walls," said Nowata Museum volunteer Carroll Craun.

Priceless pieces of Nowata history sit on shelves just inches above the floor- which days before, was covered in water.

"The majority of the flowers that we obviously sell that took the damage, those can be replaced. It is history that you can't," said Craun.

Related Story: Boys & Girls Club Of Nowata Cleaning Up From Storm Damage 

The Museum isn't the only place dealing with water damage. Flood waters rushed into town with a force no one expected, drenching businesses and homes all over town.

"It was agonizing because there was absolutely just nothing we could do," said Nowata Mayor Dana Robinson.

Nowata Mayor Dana Robinson says she saw her community come together in the blink of an eye.

"My city employees, just are amazing. Everybody jumped in and wanted to help. Everybody was out in the rain," said Robinson.

She says city crews and first responders helped keep buildings from flooding, blocked off roads and pulled people from the rising water.

"We had one family that lost everything," said Robinson.

Two days after the storm as the last of the flood water dries up- the community is still helping each other rebuild. That, Dana says, is just the Nowata way.

"This is what we do....everybody just comes together," said Robinson.