BROKEN ARROW, Okla. -- After just a couple inches of rain, hazardous conditions are a new normal for homeowners in Broken Arrow.
It's a problem the fire department is looking to address after receiving grant funding from FEMA.
"It would be easy for children to get in their backyard and get into these flood waters that are pretty strong and pretty fast moving and very dangerous, for young ones especially," Mark Barrett said.
Barrett is the manager at the Country Club of Indian Springs in Broken Arrow. He was encouraged to hear the department will soon have a new boat ideal for search and rescue during flash flooding. Barrett said that's something the neighborhood sees up to four times a year.
"There's nothing stopping it. It is fast. The way that it swells back and forth, it would pull people under. It's really dangerous," homeowner Carlyn Voyles said.
Neighbors are excited that work will begin on storm systems and drains in 2019 after the recently passed GO Bond, but fear the changes won't keep up with development.
"The flood waters in the south end of Broken Arrow have become so great because of all the economic development. The rate of the water and the amount of water is so great it becomes deep and a flash flood situation very fast," Barrett said.
The fire department said they expect to have the boat and be trained on the new equipment by the spring.
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