3 June 2007Yahoo! NewsRoxana Hegeman
The flood is bad enough, engulfing homes to the rooftops and turning neighborhoods into floating junkyards of children's toys and family heirlooms. But the floodwaters here also carry some of the 42,000 gallons of crude oil that spilled from the Coffeyville Resources refinery on Sunday, coating everything they touch with a slimy, smelly layer of goo.
"My question is how are they going to get all that oil out of the environment," said Mary Burge, a heart surgery patient who was forced to breathe from her portable oxygen tank because the petroleum odor Monday was so strong it could be detected by helicopters passing overhead.
The oil spill, caused by a malfunction while the refinery was shutting down in advance of the flooding, has concerned federal and state officials as they monitor the slick's progress down the Verdigris River toward drinking water sources and recreation areas in Oklahoma.
It also presents another hurdle to Coffeyville leaders as they map out long-term flood recovery efforts that now must deal with the toxic sludge.
Jim Miller, Montgomery County emergency manager, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had teams on the scene and was monitoring the oil as it snaked through town, leaving greasy stains where it receded from lawns and buildings.
Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas adjutant general, said the EPA and state officials would work with officials at the refinery to measure the amount of contamination and help the refinery in cleaning up. In the meantime, however, Watson said, "We're asking everyone to avoid the floodwaters."
That wasn't an option for Fire Department Capt. Mike Mansfield, who rescued eight dogs from water-logged homes Monday. He said all the dogs found outside were covered in oil.
The oil was floating downriver toward Oklahoma and that state's Oologah Lake, about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa, said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the Kansas state adjutant. Oklahoma officials were optimistic the spill would dissipate before it reached the lake, which provides flood control, drinking water and recreation.
"There are nine public water supplies along the Verdigris and the Oologah Lake, and none of them are currently affected," said Skylar McElhaney, a spokeswoman for Oklahoma's Department of Environmental Quality. Tulsa is among the cities that get water from Oologah.
The oil spill just added to the misery caused by widespread flooding for thousands of evacuees in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Eleven deaths have been blamed on the storms and flooding in Texas, where two men are missing. In North Little Rock, Ark., about 30 homes were evacuated Monday after a faulty drainage system caused flooding up to six feet deep in some spots.
The full extent of the economic costs may not be known for some time. Weeks of heavy rains have dampened recreational activities across the Plains, slowing business at parks and tourist destinations and leaving campsites and hiking trails waterlogged.
A year ago many Texas officials were warning boaters about lakes that were too low and banning fireworks because the ground was too dry. Now some popular lakes might be closed for the Fourth of July because they're too full, and fireworks shows are threatened by a continuing forecast of rain.
Rob McCorkle, a spokesman for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said recent torrential rain already has forced three state parks to close temporarily, some through Independence Day, one of the busiest times of the year.
"Obviously it's going to impact numbers," he said. "People don't want to go camping when it's pouring down rain."
McCorkle said the department has closed Lake Whitney State Park an hour south of Fort Worth as well as Mother Neff and South Llano River state parks in Central Texas. Several reservations at Lake Brownwood State Park in West Texas had to be canceled and some of the campsites were flooded, he said.
"If this kind of rain continues and keeps these parks shut down, it will definitely have an impact of the revenue flow for the state park system," McCorkle said
But for swimmers who need to get their fix, water parks are always an option — and they need the business.
Jeffrey Siebert, a spokesman for Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels, said attendance has taken a hit and even a threat of showers is enough to keep customers away.
"We've been very disappointed with the beginning of our season," he said. "No rain this week would be ideal. No rain and no prediction of rain would be great."
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Associated Press writer Thomas Peipert in Cedar Hill, Texas, contributed to this report.
