How does storm water from Moore reach Norman and Lake Thunderbird?
In July 2023 water from Moore and Oklahoma City flowed down through Norman into Lake Thunderbird, and city officials described the flooding as an ongoing problem. Storm water leaving a city in a heavy rain takes the lowest route it can find, and that route can run through a neighbouring city's streets and creek channels before it reaches a lake. For a house in Moore, the lesson is that the water outside may have come from far away, and it can rise faster than the ground around the house can drain it.
Lake Thunderbird is where that water collects. On May 28, 2015, the lake stood at 1049.18 feet against a normal 1039.0 feet, according to a regional news report's lake-level table. Those figures describe the reservoir, not any particular house, so the crew reads each house on its own readings and does not assume a Moore house flooded because the lake rose.
What did the May 2015 emergency mean for Moore?
The National Weather Service issued its first-ever Flash Flood Emergency on May 6, 2015, for the south Oklahoma City metro, and the area it named included Moore and Norman. A storm of that size fills low rooms, garages and the space under a floor within hours, and it leaves a water line on the walls that the technician uses to plan the cut. The line tells the crew how high the water rose, and the readings tell it how far the wet material went above that line.
The rain of May 2015 did not end that night. Norman had 12.78 inches by May 20 against a normal May of 4.71 inches, according to a local news report, and the state's climatologist recorded the statewide May average at 14.41 inches. A spell of rain that long leaves a house wet for longer than a single storm does, so the calendar is not the guide to when the drying is finished. The readings are.
What does a technician check in a Moore house?
The work starts at the lowest point of the house and at the place the water entered. Moisture meters read the floor, the walls and the cavity behind them, and the crew marks the wet zone on a sketch so the same spot can be checked again. Garages, storage rooms and rooms with a floor drain are often where water gathers first, so they are read before the living areas. The attic is read too, if water came in from above.
Ask the crew to show you the readings at each visit. A dry floor is not the same as a dry wall, and a cavity can stay wet after the floor has been dry for days. The record of those readings is what proves a Moore house is ready to close up, and it is also what an insurer will ask to see. For drying work on the structure, see structural drying.
What should a Moore owner check before the work starts?
Ask for the scope in writing before the work starts, including what will be removed and what will be dried in place. The price is explained and approved on site, and this site publishes no figure for it. Ask which licences, registrations and permits apply to the job, and check the written contract before you sign anything. This site does not name a state licence for the trade.
Keep the readings, the photographs and the receipts together. The Oklahoma Insurance Department is the state regulator for insurance claims, and it is the right place to take a dispute that cannot be settled with the insurer. Read the policy wording on water, storm and sewer cover before the claim is made, because the policy is what decides what is paid.
