Flooding Taking A Toll On Eastern Oklahoma

Monday, May 7th 2007, 6:11 pm

By: News On 6

Flooding is taking a deadly and dangerous toll across the Sooner State. Dozens of roads across the area closed because of high water. Some areas escaped the rising waters without any damage, but that isn't the case in many parts of Green Country. For two years, many Oklahomans have hoped and prayed for an end to drought. As the old saying goes, often when it rains it pours, but News On 6 anchor Craig Day reports this water is too much, too fast and too often has nowhere to go.

In Haikey Creek in Bixby, crews closed several roads over the creek because of high water.

"From what I hear, it's worse than what it has been since '84,â€ said Robert Douzart of Tulsa County Highway Maintenance. â€œPlus, they're expecting more to come in so it can get worse."

Roads across eastern Oklahoma were also closed, but that didn't stop all drivers. Lauren Brenner decided to take a chance by crossing a flooded street in Broken Arrow. It wasn't a good choice.

"I saw the water and I was like, well I'll creep forward a little bit to see how deep it was and I was like, nah, so I turned around and I ended up in the ditch,â€ said Brenner.

Police and fire in Broken Arrow say Brenner was one of about 10 rescue runs Monday morning.

There were plenty of those drivers who had a difficult time with the high water. In some cases, homes were also damaged by the widespread flooding. The water was six feet deep in some parts of Broken Arrow.

One home has flooded before. Now it's happened again.

"It's very frustrating, but we still have our lives," said Broken Arrow resident Jennifer Fountain.

Here in Oklahoma, many of us know about taking tornado precautions, but flooding actually kills more people. Half of the victims are killed when people try to drive across water covered roads.

For information on flood safety, click here.