Bird Creek Flooding in Skiatook: How a Flooded Home Is Cleaned Up

Two floods on Bird Creek

The April 30, 2025 flood put Bird Creek out of its banks, closed Highway 20 into town and sent water over several streets. Multiple neighborhoods were affected, especially near the creek, and Skiatook Public Schools closed because of flooded roads.

In May 2019 the creek flooded homes and businesses in town and in nearby Sperry, and Highway 20 closed. Airboats made rescues, and one woman was taken from the second story of her home.

The city said its fire department made about 50 rescue missions in one day during that flood, most of them outside the city limits.

• April 30, 2025: the Sperry gauge crested at 26.95 feet that night.
• May 21, 2019: the Avant gauge crested at 36.31 feet, and the Sperry gauge reached 31.55 feet in the same flood.

What floodwater does inside a home

Water from a creek or a flooded street is Category 3 from the moment it enters. It carries soil, sewage and debris, so a flood damage cleanup removes what it touched before drying begins.

What comes out

• Carpet and pad, even when they look clean after the water drops.
• Drywall, cut out above the visible water mark.
• Insulation inside the wet walls.
• Soft furniture, mattresses and other porous belongings.

What stays

Framing, the floor structure and hard surfaces are washed, treated and dried. Many sealed hard items can be cleaned and kept.

Reading the Bird Creek gauges

The National Weather Service posts stages for two gauges that matter here: Bird Creek at Avant, upstream of town in Osage County, and Bird Creek near Sperry. Each stage comes with a plain description of what the water does.

The Avant gauge's highest crest on the National Weather Service list is the 36.31 feet of May 21, 2019, and the Sperry crest of 31.55 feet that month is the third highest on its list.

A gauge reading describes the creek, not a street address, so it is a warning to prepare and not a promise about any one house.

• Avant at 29 feet: farms and suburban homes in the Bird Creek floodplain between Barnsdall and Skiatook flood, and stretches of Highway 11 between Avant and Skiatook are impassable.
• Sperry at 26 feet: Highway 20 to the east is impassable, and streets on the east side may flood in places.
• Sperry at 29 feet: Highway 20 to the east is closed, parts of Highway 11 may be impassable and urban streets on the east side are inundated.
• Sperry at 31 feet: some homes and businesses on the east side are flooded, and both Highway 11 and Highway 20 around town are closed.

The first day after the water drops

Safety comes first: stay out until the water has dropped and the power to the area is off. After that, speed matters, because water that stays in a house keeps soaking in.

A water extraction crew pumps out what is standing.

• Stay out: do not wade into standing or moving water, and keep children and pets away.
• Power and gas: switch off wet circuits only if the panel can be reached dry, and leave any gas smell to the gas company.
• Photographs: capture the water mark on every wall and every damaged item before anything is moved.
• Contents: lift dry belongings high, and set aside anything the water touched.
• Heating and cooling: leave the furnace and air conditioner off if floodwater reached them.
• Extraction: have the standing water pumped out before it settles into the floor and the bottoms of the walls.

How the cleanup and dry out are done

The cleanup runs in a fixed order so that nothing wet is trapped behind a dry surface.

Local housing runs from 187 homes built in 1939 or earlier to 1,460 built in 2000 or later, so framing, floors and wall finishes differ from house to house. Readings decide how long each one needs.

• Contain and protect: the team sets up containment and protective gear.
• Muck out: silt and debris are removed, then the porous materials.
• Clean and treat: hard surfaces and framing are washed and treated.
• Dry: dehumidifiers and air movers run while readings are logged daily.
• Verify: the equipment leaves only when readings match a dry reference.

Mud, silt and belongings: what is saved

Creek flooding leaves silt on everything it reaches. The sorting is simple: hard and sealed items can usually be washed, and soft or porous items usually go.

• Usually saved: metal, glass, sealed wood and hard plastic after washing and treating.
• Usually discarded: mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpet, pad and anything stuffed or padded.
• Checked one by one: appliances, electronics and anything with a motor, because water inside is hard to see.
• Papers and photographs: set aside flat and dry, and photographed before cleaning.

Records and getting ready for the next rise

A written log of dates, the water mark, photographs and daily readings gives an insurance claim file the facts it needs.

Bird Creek flooded the area in 2019 and again in 2025, so a short plan is worth making: where the breaker is, what moves up first and where the family goes. The same steps apply to any flood damage cleanup service, and local water damage restoration follows them in order.