Published: April 04, 2008 04:29 pm            

Kingfisher rebuilding

Following devastating flood of 2007, town rebuilds, rediscovers self

KINGFISHER — Some buildings downtown here still bear the marks of floods that ravaged the area last year when an inland tropical storm deluged the area with rain, causing flooding in parts of downtown.

As Tropical Storm Erin dissipated and departed, the city continued its work back to a functioning city, at first getting citizens sheltered and fed and then getting residents and businesses back on the electrical grid.

“We are doing well, we’ve cleaned up, most everybody is back in business and we are diligently working to alleviate this problem in the future,” said Kingfisher City Manager Richard Reynolds.

The city manager said an estimated 157 homes and 40 businesses were destroyed in the Aug. 19 storm that brought the floods. Richards said estimated damages for homes is more than $11.75 million and more than $7.35 million to businesses.

“Those are businesses and homes that remain in the flood area that we are trying to protect,” he said.

Richards said Rose Rock Bank had an estimated $150,000 damage, Walter’s Building Center suffered an estimated $300,000, Pioneer Telephone suffered $800,000 damage, the city of Kingfisher suffered an estimated $900,000 in damage and losses and Kingfisher Cookers suffered and estimated $350,000 of flood damage.

Floodwaters kept most of downtown Kingfisher under water for days.

“It was in excess of 4 feet,” Richards said of the floodwaters. “It’s estimated it was more than 21⁄2 feet more water than we’ve ever had.

“This is probably the worst flood in Kingfisher’s history.”

Richards said the flood came at an unusual time, late August, as area farmers were preparing for another crop.

“That’s when the farmer’s had their fields worked, getting ready to put in a wheat crop,” he said. “The mud was much worse.”

Richards said the city has been working with the National Resource Conservation Service and Corps. of Engineers to design and develop a flood-prevention plan and have been working with legislators to get funding for the plan.

“We feel like we’re making some progress and getting some things done,” he said. “In addition to that, we are diligently working on a long-range plan and program to alleviate and slow down the flooding in Kingfisher.”

The city also has been working with Union Pacific to clear waterways running under railroad tracks.

“They’ve been working with us to clean out some of those waterways beneath the tracks,” Richards said. “That’s helped.”

In the past few years, the city had bought properties in the low-lying areas. Richards said the city is working with the federal government to do so again.

“We are working again with FEMA to acquire some money to buy out some properties in low-lying areas,” Richards said. “We just buy them and demolish them.”

Richards said Kingfisher Creek and Uncle Johns Creek meet on northeast edge of the city, and then flow into the Cimarron when water levels rise. During a heavy rains, he said the overflow from the two creeks create a “bottle neck of water” that cannot be absorbed by the river.

“If the Cimarron River happens to be full and swollen itself, then the water has no were else to go,” Richards said.

As floodwaters receded, Kingfisher began it’s clean-up efforts. Richards estimates it took about 60 days for the city to clean up the debris.

“We just asked them to put it out on the curbside and we just picked it all up and took it out to the landfill to save them the misery and expense,” he said. “There are others that are still cleaning up, trying to get equipment running and remodeling.”

The city manager said the city is used to flooding.

“We have a flood every three to five years,” Richards said. “This flood was bad enough, the people who have been affected, they are now searching for ways to get out of that area.”

Richards said those who live in and around Kingfisher are not likely to abandon their homes or businesses.

“We’ve gone through this before and it’s not something we give up on,” Richards said. “People in Kingfisher are resilient and tough and know what to expect.

“We just all pitch in and try and get everyone up and going again.”