Preliminary Damage Assessments Continue After Oklahoma Floods

Sunday, July 8th 2007, 6:52 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- As river levels continue to drop and dry weather prevails in most parts of Oklahoma Sunday, preliminary damage assessments from recent flooding begin coming in. In Miami, one of the hardest-hit areas, City Manager Mike Spurgeon says officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency told him that 647 structures in the Ottawa County town had been affected by the flooding of the Neosho River and Tar Creek.

Of those, he says 236 are deemed as destroyed and 266 others suffered major damage. Spurgeon says dollar estimates of damages won't be available for a few days, and that municipal infrastructure assessment had yet to begin.

The Neosho River remained more than three feet above its 15-foot flood stage this afternoon, but is expected to fall below flood stage by early tomorrow.

Tulsa-based National Weather Service meteorologist Pete Snyder says other river levels in northeastern Oklahoma also are falling or leveling off.

For more flooding information, check out our STORM ZONE web page.