Chickasha has a histor y of flooding, engineering consultants Smith Roberts Baldischwiler engineers noted in a comprehensive “Master Drainage Study” they produced in 2019-20 for city off icials.
“Recent events have underscored the need for proactive flood mitigation measures” in Chickasha, Community Development Director Rachel Bernish wrote in a memo to the City Council this month.
“Police and Fire [departments] performed multiple water rescues four to six weeks ago,” Fire Chief Tony Samaniego said during a July 15 council meeting. So much rain fell one day last month that a canoe was needed at Iowa and Sixth Street, near the public library, Councilwoman Erica Alexander quipped.
The city’s website includes a photo of downtown Chickasha inundated with floodwater in August 2007 when Tropical Storm Erin strengthened over Oklahoma.
Chickasha’s Fourth Street was covered in floodwaters in May 2015. Google has video of a man riding a jet ski through floodwater in Chickasha in August 2016. Facebook contains photos of flooding in town in May 2018, and video of flooding in June 2021 and again on Fourth Street in June 2022.
The Grady County Courthouse was closed for several days in late June and early July 2021 because of heavy rainfall that flooded the basement.
The surrounding area within a circumference of about five miles of Chickasha received 8 to 10 inches of rainfall, according to the Grady County Emergency Management Director. “A lot of that rain fell on the north side of Chickasha,” he said. “And what didn’t pour into the Washita River flooded our city storm sewer system.” Water bubbled out of manholes, he said.
Storm water overwhelmed the storm sewers and backed up into the courthouse basement to a depth of 6 to 8 inches, he said.