City of Miami blames GRDA for current and years of flooding

MIAMI, Okla. (KOAM) - The city of Miami, OK, is once again dealing with flooding, affecting not only local parks like Riverview Park but also some roads, as Highway 125 remains closed.

Mayor Bless Parker says there "has to be" a correlation between the logjam and the flooding.

"A lot of our flooding here is backwater flooding, and it's dam-caused flooding. And that logjam is just another dam. So it's going to increase the backwater effects."

He says the responsible party for the flooding is the Grand River Dam Authority, but, according to him, GRDA has "zero accountability."

"This is a state agency that's flooding us and has been for 30 or 40 years," says Mayor Parker.

He adds, "If it were natural flooding, then there are steps you can take to fix that. This is dam-caused flooding, and the only steps we can take to fix that is for the government agencies that are flooding us to stop, for legislators to step up and do the right thing, and control this waterway, which is what they're tasked to do."

"Their license tells them they need to control this. This state agency has been in violation of its current federal license for the last 27 years," said Parker. "I don't know how many state agencies are allowed to be in violation of their license for 27 years without any repercussions."

KOAM tried contacting GRDA several times over the last week but hasn't heard back.

A Familiar Problem

According to Mayor Bless Parker, this is not something new. Parker says he's personally familiar with the issues caused by the flooding.

"I was 14 years old the first time my home was flooded. I'm 54 now, I'm the mayor of this community, and this has got to stop," said the Mayor. "How many generations of our kids and families have to deal with flooding issues that can be fixed?"

According to Parker, the city's pool will have to be moved because it has been "flooded so many times."

Currently, the City says water levels are lowering, and the roadway at Hwy 125 is expected to open Saturday (April 4) afternoon.

"That's a lot of what our city crews are doing -- putting out barricades and trying to make sure that we keep the community safe by not driving in the water," said Parker.

According to GRDA's website, Grand Lake elevation was 746.33 feet, and six units were online at the Pensacola Dam powerhouse, releasing 13,447 cfs (cubic feet per second) of water through generation.

Decades-long Flooding Issue Battle

In January, the City of Miami won a long battle over extensive flooding they've said was caused by the GRDA's Pensacola Project.

According to a media release from the City at the time, a federal commission (FERC) found that "the project has increased flooding around the City of Miami," and that the Grand River Dam Authority's (GRDA) current FERC license "requires GRDA to acquire adequate property rights in perpetuity to accomplish all project purposes, including flood control."

FERC issued an order on January 18, 2024, in favor of the City of Miami.

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