{"id":35399,"date":"2022-12-08T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=35399"},"modified":"2022-12-08T16:49:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T22:49:46","slug":"disasters-that-define-us-examining-northeast-oklahomas-patchwork-of-flood-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/12\/08\/disasters-that-define-us-examining-northeast-oklahomas-patchwork-of-flood-protections\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Disasters that define us\u2019: Examining Northeast Oklahoma\u2019s patchwork of flood protections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This story was produced in collaboration with Oklahoma Public Media Exchange&#8217;s Graycen Wheeler.<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/bb34e8d5-7348-4d44-9b95-e864bd701120\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 6px; overflow: hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/0acb6ba6-58e0-4abc-9679-16e719bf9184\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chuck Graham\u2019s family had five hours to pack up their lives before flood waters filled their Sand Springs home with six feet of water.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Left behind were musical instruments, hunting and fishing gear, Graham\u2019s military equipment, memorabilia from grandparents and years worth of memories. Anything that may have been salvageable was pilfered by looters roaming the destruction.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35400\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 448px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35400\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-448x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"448\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-448x672.jpg 448w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-1280x1920.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-620x930.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-720x1080.jpg 720w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9913-scaled.jpg 1707w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 448px) 100vw, 448px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the Graham\u2019s abandoned Sand Springs home, a waterline marks the peak of the flood waters\u2019 rise. Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe lost everything,\u201d Graham said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While navigating the turbulent waters of flood insurance and restoration companies, their community stepped in to help with the recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35401\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 367px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35401\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-367x672.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"367\" height=\"672\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-367x672.jpg 367w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-1049x1920.jpg 1049w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-768x1406.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-839x1536.jpg 839w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-1119x2048.jpg 1119w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-82x150.jpg 82w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-164x300.jpg 164w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-559x1024.jpg 559w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-590x1080.jpg 590w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_4184-scaled.jpg 1399w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Grahams\u2019 Christmas tree stands in their living room. Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sitting at his dining room table, Graham surveyed the house the family had been forced to start over in. He gestured to a twinkling Christmas tree in the living room, courtesy of the local community center.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe guy who runs it, I actually graduated high school with. And he was like, \u2018Hey man, I know your family\u2019s lost everything. So I\u2019ve got a Christmas tree for your family.\u2019 And he gave me a Christmas tree,\u201d Graham said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t even thinking about a Christmas tree, trying to just get a roof over my family, you know. But we had a Christmas tree. It was pretty neat.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Graham said between a lack of law enforcement response to looting and a complicated state buyout program that takes years to process, he saw little support from elected officials during the flood recovery. Since the house was abandoned, people have stolen the wiring out of it, their entire carport and looted everything from the attic.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though Sand Springs residents like Graham experienced catastrophe during the 2019 flood, just eight miles away in Tulsa, it was a completely different story.<\/span><\/p><p><b>1984: A watershed moment for Tulsa<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, Tulsa is one of the nation\u2019s most flood-ready communities. The city earned a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fema.gov\/blog\/city-tulsa-rises-top-leader-risk-reduction#:~:text=The%20residents%20in%20Tulsa%20will,lives%20and%20reduce%20property%20damage.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Class 1 rating from FEMA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in 2021 \u2014 the second city in the country to achieve that accolade.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Tulsa\u2019s flood readiness looked very different in 1984, when the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.weather.gov\/tsa\/1984may26_tulsamemorialdayflood\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Memorial Day Flood<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> left 14 people dead, hundreds injured and others temporarily displaced or homeless. It also caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gary McCormick, a senior engineer for the City of Tulsa\u2019s stormwater planning, said by the floods of the mid-1980s, much of the city\u2019s infrastructure was still a relic from the oil boom of the early twentieth century.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere was little to no thought on stormwater issues at that time,\u201d McCormick said. \u201cSo we&#8217;ve got all these neighborhoods that were built during this timeframe with all these undersized, inadequate storm sewer systems.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the 1984 flood, city planners worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address Tulsa\u2019s flooding problems on a grand scale, developing a comprehensive drainage plan to manage water all the way from \u201crooftop to river.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_28786\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 500px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-28786\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256-500x395.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256-500x395.jpg 500w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256-150x119.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256-620x490.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2017\/11\/TCCLAW-ah0256.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Austin Hellwig Collection \/ Tulsa City-County Library<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two years after the Memorial Day flood, neighborhoods and mobile home parks in Tulsa flooded from the Arkansas River in October 1986.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The city also developed its own regulatory floodplain maps that are even more conservative than FEMA\u2019s. These maps show where floodplains would lie if they were entirely urbanized, with no pastures or fields to soak up water. FEMA\u2019s floodplains are designed for the way our cities look today; Tulsa\u2019s prepare for the city\u2019s potential.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cCity engineers recognized we needed to look at the future and how Tulsa was going to develop,\u201d McCormick said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That vision has paid off for Tulsa residents. The Class 1 FEMA rating saves Tulsans 45% on insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. And the city\u2019s floodplain map keeps buildings farther from flood risk, even as the city grows. Although some of the city\u2019s businesses suffered losses in the 2019 floods, no homes were destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35403\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35403\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-672x558.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-672x558.png 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-1920x1594.png 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-768x638.png 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-1536x1275.png 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-2048x1700.png 2048w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-150x125.png 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-300x249.png 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-620x515.png 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/regulatory_floodplains-1-1301x1080.png 1301w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Graycen Wheeler\/OPMX<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The top panel shows a section of FEMA&#8217;s National Flood Hazard Layer Viewer; areas marked with blue and red stripes denote FEMA&#8217;s regulatory floodplain. The bottom panel shows the same section from the City of Tulsa&#8217;s Floodplain Map; light green denotes the city&#8217;s regulatory floodplain.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><b>Decades of flood preparations put to the test<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In late May of 2019, storms dumped <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/89670972e3544316aff03dd954940e20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">between 10 and 16 inches of relentless rainfall<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on most of northeastern Oklahoma. Much of that water made its way where it\u2019s supposed to go \u2014 flood control reservoirs.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates 38 flood control dams across the state, many of them in northeastern Oklahoma. They collect runoff and control the flow of the excess water down Oklahoma\u2019s rivers.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Williams, the chief hydrologist for the Corps of Engineers Tulsa District, estimated flood control reservoirs saved Tulsa County around $1.8 billion in damages during the 2019 floods.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Corps of Engineers also helps maintain Tulsa\u2019s levees, which keep water within the river\u2019s banks even when it\u2019s flowing high and fast. By 2019, it had been decades since the levees had seen so much water.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Army Corps\u2019s engineers stood by, along with hundreds of National Guard members who patrolled the levees.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhat you need are eyes on the ground,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBecause if you can identify areas where a problem has occurred or is occurring, you can address it before it becomes a full failure.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because the Corps and its collaborators found problems so quickly, the levees held.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe have disasters that define us, and this is one of those for me,\u201d said Annie Vest, a hazard mitigation expert who\u2019s worked on flood planning with government agencies and on her own for decades. \u201cWe had so much data, and we were ready for it in the City of Tulsa.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><iframe id=\"datawrapper-chart-6re25\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" title=\"U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Flood Control Dams\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/6re25\/1\/\" height=\"370\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" aria-label=\"Map\" data-external=\"1\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">!function(){\"use strict\";window.addEventListener(\"message\",(function(e){if(void 0!==e.data[\"datawrapper-height\"]){var t=document.querySelectorAll(\"iframe\");for(var a in e.data[\"datawrapper-height\"])for(var r=0;r<t.length;r++){if(t[r].contentWindow===e.source)t[r].style.height=e.data[\"datawrapper-height\"][a]+\"px\"}}}))}();\n<\/script><\/span><\/p><p>&nbsp;<\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But even with all the safeguards working as they should, businesses still suffered.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Muscogee Nation owns the River Spirit Casino in Tulsa, which sits on its land next to the Arkansas River. The casino saw over a yard of water in its parking garage and up to a foot in the building.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The resort resumed operation after a month of recovery. But Bobby Howard, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation\u2019s director of emergency management, said the Nation is working to brace for future flooding. The tribe is investing in flood infrastructure and developing temporary measures it can take when waters start to rise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUsing that battle sheet and working with the Corps [of Engineers], we could protect the facility to about 10 feet above where the water was in the 2019 flood,\u201d Howard said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tribe\u2019s flood preparations at River Spirit will cost around $30 million but Howard said they\u2019re worth it.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cYou have to do it to protect your investment and to protect the citizens in that whole area,\u201d Howard said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But while some communities are working to protect their investments against future flooding, individuals in Tulsa and Sand Springs are asking themselves, is flood insurance worth it?<\/span><\/p><p><b>\u2018A tax on low income people\u2019: Navigating the waters of flood insurance<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McCormick said more and more residents are choosing not to get flood insurance \u2014 a situation he says likely stems from people wholly trusting the city\u2019s mitigation measures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just down the road in Sand Springs, there\u2019s also been a downturn in residents buying flood insurance \u2014 but for a completely different reason.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beau Wilson works as an insurance agent in Sand Springs and is also the city\u2019s vice mayor. While his home wasn\u2019t affected by the 2019 flood, he had to evacuate his grandparents from their house, hours before it was submerged up to its roof.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf your flood and homeowner\u2019s insurance is $3,000 collectively, and then you have property taxes at $1,200 or $1,300 \u2014 for a community that\u2019s probably lower income, that effectively works as a tax on low income people,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThe government can come in and raise the rates however they want. And so that, in my estimation, is looked at as a tax on people that aren\u2019t in a place to pay for that.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While getting people to buy flood insurance may be an uphill battle in Sand Springs, the city is investing in more preventative infrastructure, like raising its pump stations and installing a new flood siren system.<\/span><\/p><p><b>Buying in to a buyout<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Infrastructure and planning can protect people during future floods, but those who have already lost their homes have fewer options. In some cases, the government will offer to buy out damaged or flood-prone properties. But while the need is high, the funds are limited.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sand Springs, which is located in Tulsa County, is utilizing another tool: the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www2.tulsacounty.org\/community\/tulsa-area-emergency-management-agency\/flood-buy-out-program\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">county\u2019s plan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to buy out residents from their flood-prone homes. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But federal funding for the program only goes so far.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deputy Director Joe Kralicek of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency said while there are over 170 properties that need to be targeted, there are only enough funds to buy out 50-60 of those homes. Kralicek said he\u2019s brought in national experts to help prioritize which homes to buy.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy fear is that something goes wrong and we don\u2019t ever get a chance to do this again,\u201d Kralicek said. \u201cAnd so we want to make sure that we\u2019re doing this absolutely right.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buyout programs can be an effective way to mitigate future destruction from severe weather events, but <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewtrusts.org\/en\/research-and-analysis\/reports\/2022\/04\/property-buyouts-can-be-an-effective-solution-for-flood-prone-communities\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">some iterations of the process have been criticized<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for unfair market practices, gentrifying neighborhoods or being too difficult to access.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kralicek said valuations on properties will be determined based on its fair market value, pre-disaster. Residents can also receive relocation assistance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe want to make sure that when people leave, they\u2019re not in a worse situation,\u201d Kralicek said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the federal program takes years to implement. In the meantime, residents like Chuck Graham are waiting to see if they\u2019ll be one of the lucky few picked for the buyout. He put his name on the list to be considered, but was told it would be 3-4 years until something would happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35402\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35402\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-672x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9922-1620x1080.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chuck Graham stands in front of his Sand Springs home. Three and a half years later, the Grahams are still waiting to know if they\u2019ve been chosen for the buyout.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Flood buyout programs <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewtrusts.org\/en\/research-and-analysis\/reports\/2022\/04\/property-buyouts-can-be-an-effective-solution-for-flood-prone-communities\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">are becoming more frequent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> across the country. And as climate science continues to reveal more troubling predictions for the future, local governments will likely be responding to more serious and more frequent severe weather events.<\/span><\/p><p><b>The \u2018big, big problem\u2019 ahead<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May 2019, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/storymaps.arcgis.com\/stories\/89670972e3544316aff03dd954940e20\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the National Weather Service office in Tulsa<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> issued over 1,500 flood watches or warnings. Many of those were for flash flood events, which happen quickly when heavy rains overwhelm low-lying areas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. will likely see more flash flooding as climate change progresses, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2022\/04\/28\/central-u-s-to-emerge-as-flash-flood-hotspot-study-finds\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">especially in the central part of the country<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. A research team led by Yang Hong from the University of Oklahoma modeled how increased temperatures from carbon emissions would affect rainfall and flooding. Higher temperatures lead to more water that\u2019s stored in plants and soil ending up in the atmosphere.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35404\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35404\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-672x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9898-1620x1080.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Yang Hong stands in front of his office bookcase in the National Weather Center in Norman.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201dDoesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s necessarily all going to fall out at once, but you have this potential riding around in the atmosphere,\u201d explained JJ Gourley, a researcher from the NOAA and the National Severe Storms Laboratory. \u201cAnd then if the conditions become right, it can turn into a big, big problem and cause flooding.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The research found flash floods will rise more quickly. The floodwaters will swell higher and cover a larger area. And the flooding season in the central U.S., which normally peaks in May and June, will creep into other seasons.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe need to update our infrastructure \u2014 not just new infrastructure, but more climate-resilient, flooding-resilient infrastructure,\u201d Hong said.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As climate change continues, the United Nations projects <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/esa\/desa\/papers\/2017\/wp152_2017.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social inequality will create even bigger gaps<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in how communities fare during disasters. That means rural communities and historically marginalized groups of people may not have the resources to implement preventative infrastructure or may be left to take care of themselves in the face of disaster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2019, one of those communities was Braggs, Oklahoma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><b>Saving Braggs Island<\/b><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the rolling, green hills of eastern Oklahoma sits the tiny farming town of Braggs, with a population of about 300 people. The town, which spans just over a quarter of a square mile, backs up to the Army National Guard training facility Camp Gruber. It also sits right beside the Arkansas River.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May 2019, Braggs resident Roger Moore watched the water slowly rise around his town over the course of a few days. Soon enough, the small \u2014 and fortunately slightly elevated \u2014 community found itself surrounded by floodwaters, blocking every way out.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe became an island,\u201d Moore said.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35405\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35405\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-672x504.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-672x504.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_20190525_143047-1440x1080.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Courtesy of Braggs resident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">May 2019 flood waters creep toward a Braggs house. The waters came just feet from the house, even though the river is past the treeline.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The few places in town with food \u2014 a malt shop, a gas station and a bar \u2014 quickly ran out. Over the course of the next few days, Moore\u2019s community would band together to take care of each other, as the outside world figured out creative ways to get supplies into Braggs.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUltimately, we served I think somewhere around a thousand meals in those days,\u201d Moore said. \u201cWe had people that were bringing in all of their hamburger meat that they had at home and said, you know, \u2018Here. We can replenish ours later.\u2019 \u2026 We just took care of each other.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moore said he felt like the town was well-taken care of by emergency responders during the disaster, but isn\u2019t sure what this small, local government can do in the meantime to bolster flood protections \u2014 or where that money would come from. He said he doesn\u2019t see many tools in the preventative toolbox other than potentially maintaining an access road out of Braggs.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_35406\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 672px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-35406\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-672x448.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-672x448.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-620x413.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2022\/12\/IMG_9841-1620x1080.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Beth Wallis\/StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Braggs resident Roger Moore found himself in charge of feeding hundreds during the May 2019 flood. Moore still volunteers at his local American Legion.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And that\u2019s where smaller local governments like Braggs and Sand Springs find themselves in preparing for a wetter future \u2014 implementing a checkerboard of affordable measures with limited impact.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think your [state and national elected officials] focus on the population centers, which is natural. I mean, that\u2019s where the most people are,\u201d Sand Springs Vice Mayor Beau Wilson said. \u201cBut I think we need to look out for our rural communities. And Sand Springs isn\u2019t that rural, we\u2019re only eight miles away. But I do get the feeling that sometimes we\u2019re kind of the stepchild out here.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Army Corps of Engineers will aid smaller governments that ask for assistance in making better flood plans, David Williams said. But amid the backdrop of climate change accelerating the shift to more unpredictable and severe events, residents\u2019 levels of access to flood protections in Oklahoma boil down to one factor: their zip code.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story was produced in collaboration with Oklahoma Public Media Exchange&#8217;s Graycen Wheeler. Chuck Graham\u2019s family had five hours to pack up their lives before flood waters filled their Sand Springs home with six feet of water.Left behind were musical instruments, hunting and fishing gear, Graham\u2019s military equipment, memorabilia from grandparents and years worth of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":216,"featured_media":35407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491,16],"tags":[1488,1486,549,220,1484,1485,1487,174],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/216"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35399"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35425,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35399\/revisions\/35425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}