The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — This week’s winter storm has allowed Oklahoma to set an apparent, if dubious, national record — that for presidential disaster declarations for one state in a calendar year.
When President Bush declared an emergency disaster for Oklahoma following the massive ice storm that has left hundreds of thousands without power, it marked the eighth time in 2007 that federal disaster aid had been made available via a presidential declaration to either public entities or individuals in Oklahoma.
According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Web site, no other state has had as many presidential disaster declarations in one year.
Bush’s order, issued Monday, directed that federal aid be used to supplement state and local response efforts. State emergency management officials now are compiling damage estimates to report to FEMA, the step that is required before the president can declare a major disaster to exist, as Bush has done for Oklahoma six previous times this year.
Twice, including this week, he has issued emergency disaster declarations.
Oklahoma emergency management officials are all too familiar with the process. Just in 2007, presidential disaster declarations have been issued for everything from ice storms to flooding caused by what later was determined to be a tropical depression that hit the state.
“We’re just so disaster savvy, it’s scary,” said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
The first presidential disaster declaration of 2007 was of the emergency variety. It came on Jan. 15 in response to an ice storm that passed through the state, causing damage in McAlester, Muskogee and other parts of eastern and central Oklahoma.
On Feb. 1, two major disaster declarations were issued — one for a severe winter storm in three counties in the Panhandle during the final days of December 2006, the other for the severe winter storms that affected 46 counties from Jan. 12-26.
A fourth presidential disaster declaration came following tornadoes and flooding between May 4-11, and the fifth came after flooding in the state from June 10 through July 25, most notably in the northeastern Oklahoma towns of Miami and Bartlesville.
After the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin caused flooding in mid-August in numerous counties and towns, particularly in and around Kingfisher, another declaration was issued, covering damage sustained from Aug. 18 to Sept. 12. FEMA then determined that another declaration would be necessary for flooding that occurred in the state from May 24 to June 1.
Six of the disaster declarations have been for public assistance, which helps local governments with expenses associated with disasters. Two have been for individual assistance, which provides funds to individuals and businesses affected by disasters. Those were the June 10-July 25 and Aug. 18-Sept. 12 declarations.
“Most states don’t usually have to endure that many disasters,” FEMA spokesman Earl Armstrong said.
The power outages caused by this week’s storm have some questioning if the magnitude of the disaster could have been mitigated had more power lines been buried. Among those making that query are the three members of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.
Commission Chairman Jeff Cloud said the commission will ask electric utilities under its jurisdiction to help conduct a feasibility study on the issue. Cloud said his empirical observation was that housing areas that had buried power lines tended to maintain power during and after the storm, while those with overhead lines tended to lose power.
“I’m not an engineer, but I think there is a nexus there,” Cloud said Thursday.
He acknowledged that there could be downsides to burying lines, such as potential high costs and the difficulty of detecting problems with and repairing underground lines.
“It may not be the great panacea, but we’ll find out,” Cloud said.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric spokesman Brian Alford said the company will be glad to work on the study with the Corporation Commission. Alford said the subject of buried power lines comes up after most major storms.
“You’re looking at investing billions of dollars over many years. It’s not something you’re able to accomplish in the short term,” Alford said. “It’s a process that is going to take decades. You have to weigh those costs versus reliability. It will definitely reduce exposure in situations like this that we’re having. It’s something that we’re more than happy to explore, because in Oklahoma we do have large numbers of storms.”
OG&E; President Peter Delaney said that having underground lines would result in “a substantial increase in the cost to our customers.”
