River residents, businesses assessing damage from flood

Dec. 30--As waters recede, Cherokee County residents are starting to get an idea of the damage their properties sustained during the holiday floods.

Water levels on the Illinois River reached a historic 30.7 feet at the Tahlequah gauge Monday, the highest ever recorded. As of Tuesday evening, levels at the same location had already fallen below 20 feet.

It was a similar story elsewhere in Cherokee County.

The Cherokee County Floodplain Board has been contacted by the Oklahoma Water Resource Board, which is asking residents to report any damage to their homes or business to Laura Jo Weir, the Cherokee County Floodplain administrator.

Weir said there is no deadline, but anyone affected by the floods should contact her. She said the list that is being compiled will help get a state of emergency declared. Once a state of emergency has been declared for the county, aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency can start flowing in.

"We are getting people's names and addresses that have been in contact with the flooded waters so that we can send them to the OWRB," Weir said. "The OWRB is going to send that information to the governor to then get a state of emergency declared."

Weir said that while the current flooding situation is similar to the floods of 2011, this particular catastrophe has affected many more people. Having an accurate and complete estimation of the damages will be helpful.

"It shows them that there has been a lot more activity this time than there was in 2011," Weir said. "I think it needs to be realized how much this has affected people. I've even asked people to take pictures of the damage."

Those with property damage can contact Mike Underwood, Tahlequah-Cherokee County Emergency Management director, through Jan. 4 at 918-456-2894; after Jan. 4, residents may contact Weir at the Cherokee County Clerk's Office, 918-456-3171.

Mark Russell, chairman of the Cherokee County Floodplain Board, said the OWRB is the FEMA representative for Oklahoma, and once a list of people affected is compiled, crews will go out to properties to inspect the damage that has been done.

"In the beginning, flood plain management identifies the floodplain," Russell said. "We try to work with emergency management so we can know how many people are there and are at risk and hopefully they've been evacuated. We kind of work hand-in-hand with them there. Then we go out with the OWRB team and they work with FEMA in Oklahoma."

Homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage, and flood insurance is handled by the National Flood Insurance Program, which is administered by FEMA. The list being compiled by the CCFB is not an insurance claim, and Underwood said people wanting to make insurance claims still need to contact their insurer, or FEMA, to get that process under way.

"FEMA keeps track of all that," Underwood said. "When you have 'x' amount from a given area then that kind of throws up a red flag and FEMA gets a group together that actually comes into the area and they go to all these sites and they check them out. Once that state of emergency is granted it opens up for FEMA and the federal money to come into given areas and help build everything back to the way it was, not better than it was."

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