Driver Rescued From Craig County Flood Waters

Rescue crews responded to a woman stranded in high water along a flooded rural road in Craig County. She's OK; but with eight straight hours of rain, there is rising concern that other drivers will make the same mistake.

Just a few miles northwest of Vinita, emergency crews worked to get to a woman whose car was off the road in several feet of water.

The water was moving swiftly across County Road 250.

"Cars will get light in that water,and they'll float off,” said Craig County Undersheriff, B.J. Floyd.

The car ended up pushed against a barbed wire fence, while another car stalled in the high water.

It's exactly what Emergency Management Director Morris Bluejacket feared would happen after the area got heavy rain.

"We have a lot of low water crossings, a lot of creeks in Craig County,” Bluejacket said.

Parts of northern Craig County got up to 8 inches of rain. Emergency leaders worry runoff will not only cover roads, but also flood a couple of neighborhoods downstream in Vinita.

"All that water comes down to Vinita and we have two areas that flood, when Cabin Creek overflows and it's banks full, and more water comes down, we're going to have a flood problem,” said Bluejacket.

Bluejacket sent out a countywide alert via the county's automated phone, text and email system warning people about the potential for flooding.

Emergency management leaders have access or radar and have storm spotters as well, but now in Craig County they have a new piece of equipment to give them even more information that could help protect people during severe weather.

A drone bought just a couple of months ago with grant money from the Cherokee Nation is giving a better look at river and creek conditions.

"It's a good way to get a larger perspective of what's going on,” Bluejacket said.

Turns out, a rancher with a tractor ended up getting the woman and the other driver out of the high water safely.

Right now, only a handful of roads in Craig County closed because of high water, but emergency management leaders said based on past history, that number could grow to a couple dozen roads, or even more.