Construction Underway To Reduce Fort Gibson Flooding

The city of Fort Gibson is taking action to alleviate flooding in areas hard hit this past spring. One project is in the works, another is being talked about.

When Fort Gibson gets a really hard rainfall, the water along the street can be knee deep, but work is underway to fix that problem. It's part of an overall strategy to prevent flooding in the community.

The road down the street from Mike Harris' house in Fort Gibson is closed, and he couldn't be more thrilled.

"I'm very happy to see it, I'm very glad the city is doing something to fix this problem," he said.

In the next week, the road will be open again, after the city installs a new culvert that should help with drainage, which has been a problem for a number of years.

"One of the culvert's was completely stopped up and the other one was about half stopped up, so it was causing a pretty good backup," Harris said.

Fort Gibson resident, Tonya Baldridge, said, "I'm really glad they're doing something. I don't like driving through high water, and this intersection gets really bad because it comes from two ways."

Baldridge worries about her son and other children, who might be enticed to play in the rushing water.

The city is also discussing plans to enlarge the drainage under South Avenue. That's in a neighborhood where a number of homes were flooded after heavy rains in May.

6/9/2014 Related Story: Fort Gibson Mayor: No Immediate Fix For Flood Issues

It would be about three times the size of the current culvert.

Both Harris and Baldridge said the improvements are long overdue and will make a big difference.

"Lot more peace of mind," Baldridge said.

Work on the second phase of the strategy to prevent flooding in Fort Gibson is expected to start at the end of this next school year.