All’s well that ends well.

That’s the perspective of Kingfisher City Manager Dave Slezickey and other city employees who spent a tense two days preparing for, monitoring and responding to flooding that could have been much more disastrous.

“After visiting with some residents and businesses in the flooded areas, we’re not aware of any major damage,” Slezickey said.

“We’re thankful for our emergency and public safety professionals and other city employees who assisted with traffic management and security throughout the night (Tuesday).”

The city initiated its emergency operations center at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the fire department and closed it at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday once S.H. 33 and U.S. 81 were reopened and normal traffic resumed.

Although several vehicles stalled out in high water after their drivers ignored warning signs, no injuries were reported and all vehicles were recovered, Slezickey said.

Kingfisher Fire Department had a full contingent of six emergency responders on duty, who were aided by a boat and four-man swift water rescue team from Guymon Fire Department to complete two rescues, neither of which was life-threatening.

“We were very lucky that we had very few ambulance calls during the same time period,” Fire Chief Tony Stewart said.

The fire department also assisted in alerting residents at Phillips and Major mobile home parks, both flooded when Uncle John Creek escaped its banks, and transported one resident to the Red Cross shelter set up at First Baptist Church.

The swift water rescue crew from Guymon was released shortly before midnight Wednesday and spent the rest of the night in El Reno before traveling to Tulsa later Wednesday morning.

“They were a great bunch of guys to work with,” Stewart said. “Even though we thankfully did not have a huge need for water rescues, it was a great training opportunity for our guys.”  

“I’m knocking on wood when I say this, but this was one of the easiest floods we have dealt with,” Stewart added.

“We were all very fortunate. The rest of the city employees that some don’t think about or recognize in emergency situations also did a fantastic job. I’m proud of them all.”

Kingfisher Police Chief Dennis Baker said a delay from the National Weather Service in warning of the likelihood of flood meant “by the time we were alerted that it was going to happen it was already beginning.”

“We were scrambling to meet with other law enforcement to discuss evacuation plans and then started getting reports of water filling the streets.

“We coordinated with ODOT to close S.H. 33 and U.S. 81 once they were impassable and continued to monitor city streets afterward and utilized the street department for sign placement when streets became unsafe,” Baker said.

“All things considered, everything seemed to go very smoothly with all departments and agencies coordinating well with one another to stay on top of it,” he said. “It just seemed, with little warning before, we had to spring into action utilizing the skills we’ve honed for so many years dealing with these events.”

Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office assisted with alerting residents of voluntary evacuations ahead of the flooding and had deputies deployed on both the north and south side of the flood to respond to calls.

“We had some jail staff that weren’t able to make it to the office due to flooding, but we were able to get other employees to fill the shift work,” Sheriff Dennis Banther said.

Slezickey said city officials noted a number of benefits from the city’s ongoing voluntary buyout of flood-impacted properties, which has cleared structures from more than 80 parcels in the area impacted by Tuesday’s event.

He said increased visibility made monitoring the rising water and assessing risk easier, improved route management for road closures and appeared to reduce flood depth by providing an unimpeded area for the water to spread to a lower level.

“Most important is the fact that fewer people were at risk for possible injury or property loss,” Slezickey said.

Damage to city property appears to be minimal and includes the swinging bridge at Kingfisher Park, which was underwater at one point and sustained damage to several planks.

The bridge will be closed until repairs are made.“We appreciate everyone who pitched in to help out, despite the circumstances,” Slezickey said

“It is amazing to watch our community pull together to help each other out.”