Craig County Dealing With Flooding For Second Time In 6 Weeks

Heavy rain caused major flooding in parts of Green Country Thursday.

Water ran across dozens of county roads after several hours of steady rainfall overnight. It seemed like the storms just wouldn't let up in parts of Craig County, where the water is high and damage costs are rising.

The worst trouble spot in Craig County, by far, is about five miles north of Vinita, where Cabin Creek looks more like a river.

County Emergency Management Director Morris Bluejacket said it rained overnight for at least four solid hours.

"Unbelievable, it just kept coming, there was no end to it," Bluejacket said.

Flood water is about 20 feet higher than it normally would be this time of year on Cabin Creek. Rare summer storms had already saturated the ground in parts of the county and some areas got another eight inches of rain overnight.

8/8/2013 Related Story: Rain Raises Flooding Concern Across Northeastern Oklahoma

"No place for it to go," Bluejacket said.

Water is covering county roads in about 100 places in Craig County, so Bluejacket urges drivers to be extremely cautious.

"It's a very dangerous situation, because the water is swift, the roads are soft, and there might be places completely gone," he said.

A FEMA team was already set to do damage assessments in Craig County next week, from flooding damage caused by a May 31 storm. Flooding then caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to roads and bridges.

Most of the repairs made after that flooding have now been wiped out by flooding happening now.

Crews will get a better idea of damage this time around when the water recedes.

"When the water gets up like this, there's not much you can do but watch," Bluejacket said.

Bluejacket estimates damage to hit the $100,000 mark again, which hurts the budget. But it doesn't hurt as bad, considering it's rain in August, after two years of drought.

"It's just a lot of water, but nobody is complaining."

The heaviest rainfall is in the northern and southeastern parts of Craig County. Bluejacket estimates some areas have had 20 inches of rain over the past three weeks.

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