Natural disasters top list for relief in state, county

Natural disasters in Oklahoma are like roadkill on highways — they’re just part of life in the Sooner State.

And like critters that become casualties on the highway, there’s not much you can do about natural disasters. You prepare for them because you know they’ll occur, you deal with them as they occur and then you pick up the pieces and wait for the next one.

Those disasters happen so frequently that Oklahoma tops the national list, percentage-wise, of major presidential disaster declarations for the period 1990 to 2022, according to an analysis of Federal Emergency Management Agency data released last week.

In Sequoyah County during the past 33 years, there have been 18 disaster declarations, 13 due to severe storms and one each for floods and fires.

But Jonathan Teague, deputy director for Sequoyah County Emergency Management, has taken the analysis a step further, researching more than 50 years of county disaster declarations.

“Since 1972, there’s been 27 disaster declarations in Sequoyah County — 14 for severe storms, seven for severe ice storms, two for flood, two for biological (which is COVID), one for fire and one for tropical storm,” Teague says. “Out of the 27 disasters, 24 are weatherrelated.”

And Teague points out that Oklahoma is in the heart of Tornado Alley.

“Every year, you’re gonna get severe storms in this area, and that’s why you’re gettin’ those disaster declarations in those areas, because it’s mostly weather-related, year after year, especially for us in Oklahoma. Tornado Alley’s gonna be that area of transition between the high plains and the eastern woodlands where you get all the warm moist air being affected by those low pressures coming out of the Rocky Mountains, so that’s why you’re gonna get more here.”

But in the 50 years Teague researched and the 33 years FEMA data was analyzed, Sequoyah County had no disaster declarations for tornadoes.

“We’ve definitely had tornadoes touch down in the county, even recently. It’s just that they’re smaller, and they haven’t hit a big area that’s caused a lot of damage that would result in a disaster declaration. Now, a smaller tornado that went through a more populated area or that had a longer track could be declared a disaster. These tornadoes that are on the ground for a mile and they’re only a hundred yards wide, they’re only F-zeroes or F-ones. They’re just not gonna do enough damage to get a disaster declaration,” Teague says.

And since there’s little to be done to prevent natural disasters, “you just have to sit around and wait for them to happen.”

In analyses of FEMA data, two-thirds of Oklahoma’s counties — 52 of 77 — earned 77% (1,093 of 1,422) of the state’s major presidential disaster declarations from 1990 to 2022.

Caddo County in western Oklahoma tied for top honors by a county with 30, a number matched by Lawrence County, Ky. Three other Kentucky counties had 28 disaster declarations, followed by Logan County in north-central Oklahoma with 27. Okmulgee County and Canadian County each received 26 disaster declarations, along with three additional Kentucky counties and a parish in Louisiana.

About half of all U.S. counties have had at least 10 federally declared disasters since 1990.

Other neighboring or nearby counties with major disaster declarations were Delaware County (21), Muskogee County (20), Haskell County (19), Cherokee (17), LeFlore (17) and Adair (16).

Oklahoma counties with the least number of declarations were in the panhandle, northwest, southwest, southeast and south-central.

Fifty counties in the nation had no disaster declarations since 1990: Michigan (26 counties), Nevada (6), Utah (6), Idaho (5), Wyoming (5) and Wisconsin (1).

Severe storms, ice storms, tornadoes and floods have been the most frequent weather events across the U.S. to receive disaster declarations. Floods and hurricanes resulted in the second-most frequent disaster declarations.

“I think the reason you’re starting to see [disaster declarations] more and more now is because FEMA was just started in 1980, and you’re seeing that more now because the county officials here, the county commissioners know how that system works. They know how to get that ball rolling, because it’s not an easy ball to get rolling to get a disaster declared in your area. The governor or a tribal chief has to contact a FEMA representative, a FEMA representative then contacts this person, and it finally goes to the president, who’s going to declare that a disaster area. We’re seeing that more now because the system is more streamlined in how we do things, especially from the county perspective, and they’re getting better at doing it,” Teague explains.

Prepare and stay aware

In the event of a winter disaster, Teague recommends residents have enough gas in their propane tank if there’s two weeks of sub-freezing temperatures, and to have a heightened awareness for what officials forecast and what they recommend.

“The main thing a citizen can do is just remain aware of what’s going on,” Teague says. “Out of the 27 disaster declarations that we’ve had, 24 were weather-related, whether they were severe weather, whether they were winter weather.”

In addition, Teague recommends citizens take advantage of the Sequoyah County Emergency Management office’s partnership with Nixle, which has implemented its Community Notification System to alert residents in real time for localized emergency situations and relevant community advisories.

“We are trying to get more folks signed up for our alert system. We currently have about 1,100 residents signed up, but would love for there to be more.”

Teague says the service is secure, reliable and easy for emergency management officials to use.

As a resident of the county, there are two simple ways to register: Text your zip code to 888777 from your mobile phone, or go to www.nixle.com and sign up through the resident tab.

Once registered, residents will receive a confirmation text to their mobile device. Residents may also customize their alert settings by going to www.nixle. com and creating a user profile.

Alerts are targeted geographically, allowing residents to receive localized, relevant alerts from Sequoyah County Emergency Management. The alerts can be sent via text, email, the web and the Nixle mobile app.

“We, here at Sequoyah County Emergency Management, are very excited to have this tool at our disposal. The ability to send out alerts directly to Sequoyah County resident phones will be unmatched in practicality and versatility. There’s nothing more valuable than that. These alerts will include weather and other emergencies approaching and in Sequoyah County.”