Flooding in Del City affects public facilities, including a church garden and parking lot
DEL CITY, Okla. (KFOR) - The downed powerlines on Tuesday morning were not the only problem in Oklahoma. Flooding was also a major concern.
Members at Del City Church of Christ saw flooding in the parking lot and their garden. So now the church is hard at work fixing the problem on Tuesday.
"I had a hard time getting out of where I lived, because of the water, then I got here and there was a lot of water... Crutcho Creek comes out of its banks a lot when it rains like this,” said Donna Capper, Del City Church of Christ gardener.
Donna Capper is the Del City Church of Christ gardener.
The church gives away free produce to the community, so when major flooding like this happens, it affects the people who rely on the service.
“We set up a table up front, and we have a lot of elderly and a lot of young folks that come and lots of children... It’s all in God’s Garden, it’s in God’s hands,” said Capper.
Donna said the garden at the front of the church was completely underwater, killing everything that was growing.
“We had okra and watermelon planted and it was under three feet of water,” said Capper.
This flooding also blocked parts of the church parking lot, as well as these Del City High School baseball fields.
By the morning, the sun dried most of it out. But Donna said while it may look bad, they’ve seen worse.
“We’ve had water up to the six-foot fence before. It just comes across. That was about nine years ago. It was a mess. It flooded the inside of the church,” said Capper.
The Del City Fire Department said fortunately they did not respond to any weather-related calls.
“Fortunately for our area, our call volume was relatively low. It did come in the real early morning hours. By the time rush hour time started, most of the flooded streets had subsided. I think that if we had seen those storms a little bit closer to rush hour traffic, we definetly would have seen a lot more stranded motorists, some water rescues, etc.,” said Brandon Pursell, Del City fire chief.
The video above is raw video from McIntyre Law Chopper 4
The fire department has a warning to those who come across flooded roadways.
“If you see a flooded roadway, don’t attempt to drive into it, don’t be overconfident. We don’t know if that roadway had been washed out from underneath it, if there’s a sink hole... When they send out a flash flood warning, that is a life-threatening emergency. Take that just as serious as you would a tornado warning,” said Pursell.
The church is not letting the weather get them down. Members have already started replanting so they can continue to give back to the community this summer.