Flooding in Miami ongoing after heavy rains
MIAMI, Okla. — The City of Miami is trying to stay afloat after Thursday’s storms.
A portion of the Neosho River that runs through the south side of Miami has completely flooded Riverview Park and a portion of Highway 125.
The park, as well as the Technical Sergeant Jason Norton Memorial Bridge has been closed since Thursday (5/2).
Miami Police Chief, Thomas Anderson — along with the town’s fire department and emergency management team — had to conduct an emergency rescue late Thursday night. Thankfully, no one was injured.
Miami Mayor, Bless Parker, is looking for accountability from a notable state agency. He says flooding in the city after storms is an ongoing, reoccurring problem, and it’s time to do something about it.
“The reason why — GRDA is a very profitable state agency, that’s what our local senator told us. When I asked him, ‘why are you allowing a state agency to continue to flood your constituents?’ His response was, ‘they are a very profitable state agency,’ and to me, that is a sickening answer,” says Mayor Parker.
“It is a continuing problem, you know, it’s a nuisance flood. It just cuts off half of our town. People have to drive out in the county, out and around town to get anywhere. It’s just something I think we need to fix, need to mitigate, need to find a way to keep our town from being underwater so much,” said Police Chief Anderson.
Parker and Anderson are hoping water levels return to normal by Saturday afternoon (5/4). We’ve reached out to GRDA for comment but have yet to hear back.
