Due to the historic winter storms this month, Gov. Kevin Stitt on February 17 requested a federal disaster declaration and it was approved by President Joe Biden.

“I am now urging the President and his administration to act quickly and deliver on our request to help Oklahomans recover from this historic storm,” Stitt said.

Under the Stafford Act, Gov. Stitt has requested an Emergency Declaration for Direct Federal Assistance statewide for all 77 Oklahoma counties and Public Assistance Category B, limited to mass care and sheltering.

“The combination of nearly two weeks of record-breaking low temperatures, heavy snow, and freezing rain has had significant impacts on communities across the state,” said Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security Director Mark Gower.

That authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts in all 77 Oklahoma counties. Emergency protective measures for mass care and sheltering and direct federal assistance will be provided at 75% federal funding, according to a White House news release. 

Water breaks

On Sunday, about 900 customers were still without water service. Since the start of the winter storms, Tulsa has had more than 300 water line breaks and the Tulsa Fire Department has dealt with about 350 private waterline breaks.

Tulsa officials issued a voluntary boil order for any water customers who have had low water pressure, who have murky water from their taps or had their water shut off due to waterline breaks. It is not mandatory and Tulsans who have not been affected don’t need to boil their water.

As late as Monday, Tulsa water officials were trying to bring up the levels on water storage tanks. That involved fixing equipment at water treatment plants and fixing waterline breaks throughout the city.

Officials were urging residents to conserve water until the system is 100%.

After talking with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, the voluntary boil advisory remained in effect for Tulsa water customers Monday as a precaution. To date, there have been no water quality issues discovered.

The water problems included parts of Jenks, Bixby, Owasso, Rogers County, Glenpool, Creek County, Sapulpa, Osage County, Broken Arrow, Hectorville, Turley, Sperry, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Wagoner County and Skiatook.

Homebound homeowners with no water can call 211 and Be a Neighbor will deliver water to their house. Water trucks were available around the clock at Expo Square at the Fairgrounds and Tulsa Fire stations plus: LaFortune Park, 5837 S. Yale Ave. (next to the golf course); McClure Community Center, 7440 E. Seventh St. (next to the tennis courts); and TCC Northeast Campus, 3727 E. Apache St. (Lot 4-enter off of Harvard).

Customers can report breaks to Water Dispatch at 918-596-9488 or Sewer Dispatch at 918-586-6999.

Trash pickup

City crews are working to catch up on refuse collection, which was delayed for two weeks for some customers. Bulky waste and recycling services resumed on Monday.

Customers who have extra trash that will not fit inside the refuse bin can place a reasonable amount of bagged trash outside and next to their gray trash cart without a sticker.

Only trash, not recycling, should be in gray trash cart or in bags on the curb.

Freezing temperatures

Tulsa had icy weather that began on February 8 and continued through February 20.  Tulsa got at least five inches of snow on February 14 and then another five inches on February 16.

According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, Lahoma officially has 334 straight hours of temperature below freezing – nearly 14 days.

It is not a state record but it is the longest period in the state since the Oklahoma Mesonet started in 1994.

Power problems

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission voted February 16 to request that utility and power companies prioritize homes over businesses if there has to be further diverting of power.

Wind generation of electricity is a problem because some of the wind turbines are frozen and gas companies were low on supplies of natural gas.

On February 14, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) declared a disaster emergency caused in every county in Oklahoma.

PPP issued a notice of a Energy Emergency Alert Level 1 due to restraints on the system to meet load obligations and the possibility of being unable to sustain energy reserves. They asked for people to cut back on energy use.

Later, PPP went to levels 2 and 3 and asked member utilities to take load shedding steps that resulted in interruption of electrical service to some customers.

Public Service Co. of Oklahoma put in place rolling blackouts on February 15 that included about 11,000 customers – 6,000 in Tulsa County. Other cities that were affected were Lawton, McAlester, Inola, Nowata and Schidler. Those blackouts lasted about an hour. Customers got an email or robocall warning of the impending blackout, according to PSO.

Residential customers in Oklahoma City experienced some rolling electrical blackouts throughout last week.

Texas troubles

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said his state suffered electricity shortages because of frozen wind turbines (and inadequate battery storage); freezing problems at one of four nuclear plants; and transportation of natural gas in pipelines.

“We didn’t run out of natural gas, but we lost the ability to get it transported,” Crenshaw said. “Pipelines in Texas don’t use cold insulation – so they froze. Every natural gas plant stayed online…gas and coal brought a stable supply of energy, but still not enough … Bottom line: fossil fuels are the only thing that saved us… If we were even more reliant on the wind turbines that froze, the outages would have been much worse.”

Damage reporting

State officials are asking Oklahomans to document and report damages sustained, including but not limited to, flooding from broken pipes, power surges that caused damage to furnaces, electrical systems or major appliances, number of days without utilities, number of days displaced, and any injuries sustained as a result of the winter storm.

 State officials are asking that all damage be reported to damage.ok.gov.

Pothole repair

On Monday, eight city crews were working to repair potholes across Tulsa following the severe weather event. The crews were addressing more than 40 potholes Monday.

This week, the potholes were being addressed through cold patching until the hot asphalt is able to be used.

Cold patching will temporarily alleviate potentially hazardous road conditions until crews are able to apply a more permanent patch with hot asphalt.

Residents can report potholes by calling 311, using the 311 app, or making a report online at www.tulsa311.com.