Flooding Forces Muskogee Residents Out Of Homes

The people who live along Quail Run Road on the South side of Muskogee have seen minor flooding before. But they say they’ve never had flooding like what happened Thursday morning, when the water reached into every single house.

“It's never flooded here, some of those houses, have in the past but not this one or any of those either” said Robert Scott, who lives on the higher, North side of the street.

Sam Creek runs behind houses, but Thursday it was up over the mailboxes by the street, and up to the windows on the cars.

Friday, neighbors were pulling out soaked belongings, so they can start drying out their houses. The depth of the water depended on the distance from the creek.

David Wittrock said the water washed a large shed off of a foundation, and poured into his home when he opened the door to check the rainfall. “It was a wave of water that came through there, and we were standing this high in water, inside the house” he said.

The high and rushing water peeled up pavement and washed out culverts. Almost every driveway has cars that won't start, alongside piles of wet carpet.

The water came up at 1 in the morning. “We hear them yelling for help across the street, and I opened the blinds and it was like a raging river out here” said Robert Scott, who described the scene as heartbreaking, because as soon as his family reached safety on their own roof, they realized their neighbors weren’t able to reach theirs. “Once we got up there, we could wait it out, but seeing them not being able to get up there and there was nothing we could about it, but luckily the boat came just in time because they couldn't get their grandmother up there.”

No one lost their life in this neighborhood, but everyone lost a lot of belongings. Few have flood insurance to cover the damage. For everyone, the cleanup and recovery is just beginning.