LEON, Okla. (KXII) – Lightning struck the Leon water tower late last week, causing a pump to malfunction and a town-wide water outage affecting 30 to 40 households since last weekend.
The Leon Volunteer Fire Department has been hauling significant amounts of water to assist those in need. Certain residents have chosen to stay at local hotels as they await the restoration of water supply to their residences.
Other residents like Sandra Rhodes have been capturing rain water just to have enough.
“It’s been bad, we’ve been having to run back and forth to the store to get bottles of water, and having to catch rain in tubs just to flush the toilets with, we can’t wash dishes, we can’t take showers, can’t do any of that,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes indicates that the problems with water started long before this week. Numerous residents remember multiple occasions when their water supply was cut off unexpectedly.
“They have been focusing on this bend in the pipeline for the past three to five years as they work on the water conduit entering town,” Rhodes mentioned.
During the continuing water shortage, she mentions that they have had to depend on one another simply to manage day-to-day activities.
“The community has been helping each other, they have been doing that. But there’s only so much we can do for each other,” Rhodes added.
Connie Graham from the town of Leon mentions that teams are currently constructing a detour to reinstate water supply at the earliest. They are collaborating with insurance providers and the Department of Environmental Quality to address the malfunctioning pump issue. Additionally, she notes that the community will be advised to follow a voluntary precautionary boiling measure after the water service resumes.
