First Responders Help Bixby Families Find Shelter After Flooding

BIXBY, Oklahoma – 

Several families in Bixby were forced to evacuate after heavy rains flooded their homes. First responders and volunteers tried to make things a little easier for families forced from their flooded homes Thursday morning.

The Salvation Army set up an emergency cantina for the families and first responders who rescued them.

Bixby Police Chief Todd Blish said about a third of the flooded homes needed to be evacuated by boat. “There’s 60 homes roughly in that neighborhood, we have about 30 of them that are surrounded by floodwaters,” he said. “The fire department ran approximately eight to ten boat rescues, getting people out of those homes before the water got too high this morning.”

With everyone safe, emergency crews led by Tulsa Area Emergency Management Executive Director Joseph Kralicek are shifting their attention to the rise and fall of floodwaters spilling out from nearby Snake Creek. “Tomorrow morning once the water has receded, we’ll go back and we’ll hit the ground and we’ll do our preliminary assessments on the ground, take our high water marks, figure out our damage estimates,” he said.

Kralicek said the water was several feet deep in some areas, but most homes had water less than a foot deep. “While this is a tragedy, we were grateful that the water levels stayed as low as they did,” he said.

He believes the water will dissipate by this weekend and spare the homes from irreparable damage.