Flooding Plagues Skiatook Residents

In Skiatook, highways, city streets and homes are flooded, and many residents are preparing for even more rain.

The downpour over the weekend washed away part of highway 11, shutting down the highway for miles.

While driving around it is an inconvenience, an even bigger problem is flood water inside homes.

There is water in driveways and front yards all over the city.

Neighbors say this is no big deal, but it could be with the next drop of rain. "When it rains and rains, very hard at all for a short period of time, we flood,” said flood victim Art Russell.

Michael Robison's home took in two inches of water this week. "You can see water standing now, and it's not going to take much for it to start coming inside again," he said.

Since it's not the first time his home has flooded, he has a plan when water creeps too close. “The couches go to the tables; we put everything on the shelf, anything we can get up," he explained.

His family hunkers down in one room, hoping the water doesn't get too high. "When you got four kids, what are you supposed to do? You can't load them up and take them to go stay with someone, that's stressful."

As for Russell, he's lived in Skiatook for almost 25 years. He says the flooding started about a decade ago when the city made road improvements in front of his house. "The road is nice but if you aren't going to take care of the properties around, the value will drop and that's what they have done," he said.

He also stated that any time it rains his yard turns into a lake and water seeps into his garage, and he believes that it's due to the drainage system and wishes the city would improve it.

"There's still hope; that's what we live for. [I] hope that Travis can keep the rain off of me for a week or two at a time, and [I] hope they can come out and do something about the flooding issues here."

The city says there aren't any immediate plans to improve the drainage system. As for when the highway will re-open, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation says it'll likely be a few days if crews can get enough work done in between the rain.