Residents Deal With Extensive Flooding In Pittsburg County

Flood warnings are in effect for several Oklahoma rivers, after almost a foot of rain fell in several areas south of Tulsa over the weekend.

5/11/2015 Related Story: Weekend Rains Overflow Eastern Oklahoma Lakes, Rivers

Some counties have declared emergencies because of the high water and the damage it's causing; and in Haileyville in Pittsburg County, the high water closed one of the state highways.

Just outside of McAlester, State Highway 63 connects Haileyville to Kiowa, and it's been closed since the rain sent creeks out of their banks and across state highways.

Pittsburg and Latimer Counties have received close to a foot of rain in the past week. Severe storms caused everything from wind damage to flash flooding.

Busy Highway 270 out of McAlester was closed when flood waters crested over the two-lane road.

Area lakes, like one near Wilburton, filled up so quickly they started to spill over.

People who live near Brushy Creek said it was up even higher than it was Monday, and the creek is responsible for much of the area's flooding.

In Haileyville, Highway 63 near Highway 270 is closed because of the high water.

Resident, Lynette Price said, "Everybody knows that this is all under water. Everybody stays pretty much on Facebook and stuff, everybody, parents, you know, buses, of course Haileyville buses don't come out, they come out this way but they have alternate routes."

In McAlester the OSU Extension office cleaned up from water damage to its building. Workers said the sheetrock was soaked as high as three feet in some areas.

Emergency manager Kevin Enloe said county officials declared an emergency because of the flood damage.

5/11/2015 Related Story: Creek County Commissioners Declare Flooding Emergency

They hope the declaration will help them get disaster money to pay for some of the cleanup.

"We've been slammed. The amount of water that we've received in Pittsburg County in the timeframe we've got has just, we've not seen this extensive flooding since probably 90 or 93 rains before we've, seen we've had this type of flooding," he said.

Emergency management is asking anyone who was affected by the storms to contact their office at 918-423-5655.