It was their dream home, a newly built, 2,500-square-foot modern farmhouse with a playroom that Mitch and Kara Meredith had saved for 12 years to buy for their growing family. During construction, family members had written their favorite Bible verses on studs throughout the house. For four idyllic years on Darlene Lane, the couple hosted birthday parties for their two young daughters, who became fast friends with the other children in the recently built subdivision in Fort Gibson.
Then one evening last summer, five weeks after the couple’s third child was born, their bathroom flooded.
When their 7-year-old ran into the garage to report that water was all over the floor, Mitch assumed a pipe had burst, or perhaps the toilet was backed up.
Then he entered the bathroom. A thick, black fluid with an oily sheen covered the floor. Kara yelled from their bedroom for him to come quickly; the same substance was flowing out of the floor next to their bed.
Mitch, along with several family members, fought the flood all night, vacuuming up the sludge and emptying buckets out the window. Black goo covered their arms. Shiny rainbow patterns covered their shoes. After pulling the bathtub away from the wall, Mitch saw that the substance was gushing through the house’s foundation. It was clear this wasn’t a plumbing problem.
Last August, dark, oily fluid came up through the floors of the Merediths’ house and flooded their bathroom, bedroom and closet. Video collage by ProPublica. Photographs and videos courtesy of the Meredith family.
Around 5 a.m., Mitch’s uncle turned to him. “I think this is oil,” he said. The family called the fire department, and Kara rushed their three children, including their infant, to her grandmother’s house.
“And that’s the last time we got to be in our home,” Mitch said.
Mitch, Kara and their two daughters, Tennessee and Lakely, as their house was being built. “We assumed we were getting a perfect house,” Mitch said.
The Merediths invited family members to write Bible verses on the studs of the house. “Our faith is what’s most important to us, and we wanted to put that into the bones of the house,” Kara said.
Mitch, Kara and their two daughters, Tennessee and Lakely, as their house was being built. “We assumed we were getting a perfect house,” Mitch said. Courtesy of the Meredith family
The Merediths invited family members to write Bible verses on the studs of the house. “Our faith is what’s most important to us, and we wanted to put that into the bones of the house,” Kara said. Courtesy of the Meredith family
The couple’s third child, Fletcher, was born in July 2025. Forty days later dark, oily water surged through the foundation of their home. Courtesy of the Meredith family
The couple’s third child, Fletcher, was born in July 2025. Forty days later dark, » …