HOMINY, Okla. — The record rain totals last month caused more problems than flooding alone. The Hominy Lake spillway overflowed, with the concrete crushing the city's main water line.
"No water. No shower. No washing clothes. No, nothing," Hominy resident Stacy Bohard said after waking up to find her water hardly worked. "It's been rough. Toilets not working. Water is ice cold, when it does come out."
Donnie Reed, the mayor of Hominy, gave us a look at the damage from City Hall.
"The water line crosses right there," Reed said, pointing to the exact spot next to Hominy Lake. "We think what's happened is that concrete smashed that water line. So we've lost all our flow to our water plant."
"So now it's just one problem to the next problem," Reed added. "Unfortunately, our water feeds right there. Couldn't be in a worse spot."
The town received help from all over. The Tulsa Police Department sent its Incident Management Team. The Osage Casino Hotels in Pawhuska and Skiatook offered free showers for residents and volunteers, who brought pallets of water and water buffaloes, or large tanks full of water.
"It's a close-knit community, a lot of families," Felix Nance from Hominy Emergency Management told us. "It's just all of us working together to meet the needs of the community and the citizens and keep them safe."
The city reminded people that water from those water buffaloes is meant for bathing or dishwashing, not drinking.
Some residents on social media also voiced concerns over a $1 million grant the city received recently, meant to go towards the spillway. Mayor Reed said that project was expected to start soon, but doesn't solve the problem where the water line broke.
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