Okmulgee County Residents Flee Rising Floodwaters

In Okmulgee County, creeks and streams overflowed into nearby towns, shutting off streets, knocking out power and forcing hundreds of residents form their homes.

In just a few hours, 6 inches of rain turned in to more than 4 feet of floodwaters.

Henryetta residents say between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, the water on Cole Creek rose more than 4 feet, completely flooding a neighborhood and washing belongings more than a mile downstream.

Residents fought through mud to collect their belongings.

Billy Brewer retrieved his boat, but that's just the beginning.

"Wave runner was a couple blocks from the house at the Fourth Street bridge," Brewer said.

He was out camping with his wife Trisha when the waters began to rise, but the rest of his family was still at home.

"My wiener dog come to the door and was wanting in, and when they opened the door, the water come gushing in," Trisha Brewer said.

The Brewer's son-in law, daughter and grandchild all had to be rescued by boat.

Their house is a total loss.

"Before they got out, it was up to their elbows," Trisha Brewer said.

Margaret Henry also was pulled from her home by rescue crews.

She was asleep in her living room when she was awoken by a gurgling noise.

"And I kept trying to figure out what it was, and I step off, and guess what you hear," Henry said, as she was stomping in the water.

That's also the sound you hear inside Ronnie Ruth's gas station.

"Mud and chips laying everywhere, candy bars and things all wet," Ruth said.

The road in front of his station had more than 4 feet of floodwaters, which makes it impossible for driving.

At his store, the water got up to 2-feet high. Ruth expects that 2 feet to cost him close to $2,000 in repairs.

"Just a lot of work," he said. "A lot of clean up."

The clean up will stretch well beyond the city limits of Henryetta. In neighboring Dewar, roughly 60 homes were flooded.

Thirty were rescued county-wide, not including at least 50 people at medical facility in Henryetta.

So far, there haven't been any injures in either town, but the flooding will force many residents from their homes for weeks -- some of them for a lifetime.

"It's kinda hard just to walk away from it, but what else can you do?" Trisha Brewer said.

Officials think more than 200 people were displaced by the flooding, and most people we spoke with are worried about another round of weather this weekend.