Fort Gibson Lake Marinas Cleaning Up After Damaging Storms

Last week’s storms put a major damper on Memorial Day weekend festivities all around area lakes.

At Fort Gibson Lake, several marinas suffered damage but still managed to help people access the water.

Cleanup is still underway at Long Bay Marina, after the high winds caused major damage, flipping over a dock and destroying several boats on the high lake.

"This is our high-water mark. That's when we were 27.5 feet, although we can go 28," said owner Chris Sinor. "All of our parking lot is down here, and it's all underwater.”

With his parking lot still flooded, Sinor had to turn away 60 people this weekend.

Add in the expected $80,000 it will cost to replace the dock, and it all adds up to loss of revenue, Sinor said.

Further north on the lake, Whitehorn Cove Marina was also hit - 15 docks were damaged, one nearly floated away. The estimated to cost to fix it is $100,000.

Sinor said he'll have to wait for the water to drop before he can begin repair.

"We've got a road that comes down right here," he said. "We'll bring in a 100-ton crane, or a 70-ton crane, and start salvaging what we can salvage from those slips."

Four boats were totaled, but Sinor said he feels lucky no one was hurt, knowing the force it must have taken to mangle his dock.

While work on the dock will begin shortly, the owners said they don't expect to have it completed until after the summer season.