Areas of County Still Under Boil Order

Sequoyah County Emergency Management Director Steve Rutherford said Thursday that the boil order in the area is still in place until further notice for those recently affected by the water outage.

“We are waiting on two samples (that were sent to Tulsa for testing),” Rutherford said, “and we will let everyone know as soon as the order is lifted.”

Rutherford also wanted to thank several people and organizations that helped out during the recent water shortage.

“I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to several different people and groups for their help during the water outage and shortage. As emergency manager for Sequoyah County, we had many people here in Sequoyah County that were having to deal with no water to use/drink. Sebastian County Emergency Management contacted me very early in this situation and offered the Buffalo, which holds 400 gallons of water. They brought it and we stationed it up at Blunt Baptist Church parking lot to give out water that was drinkable to help people out. I then called on one of our volunteers, Joe Robinson, and he operated that area for several days helping people get water,” Rutherford said.

Rutherford stated he contacted the Cherokee Nation about bottled water and they directed him to pick some up at Muldrow Assembly of God Church and the Peace Center in Vian. That water was distributed from Central Fire Department and also in the parking lot at Blunt Baptist Church and is still being handed out at the Emergency Management office in Sallisaw. 

“County Commissioner Jim Rogers graciously allowed Emergency Management to use one of his pickups to use to move the water around for a week, which helped immensely. Also a big shout-out to some of the Sheriff’s Office employees who helped move the bottled water in and out of the truck. We are glad that we were able to get the water and make sure that the citizens of ours had water to drink during this period,” Rutherford added. 

“Thanks to all who helped with these projects as they went for a little over a week. And I would never forget to say thanks to the crews that worked on getting the water lines repaired and back in service,” Rutherford said.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

For more news stories stay tuned to The MIX 105.1 or visit www.kxmx.com