Oklahoma Counties Not Affected By Tornadoes Included In Emergency Declarations

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6    

UNDATED – The tornadoes that ripped across Oklahoma Monday left behind a trail of devastation.

But more than 30 counties that were nowhere near those twisters have been included in the governor's state of emergency declaration.

The animation shows the path of all those twisters, barreling across the state.

The National Weather Service says surveyors are still out there, figuring out exactly how many there were.

Governor Henry declared a state of emergency in 56 counties. The National Weather Service says tornadoes touched down, though, in less than half of them.

Why on earth did state leaders include Tulsa County in the declaration?

"Really at this point, there's nothing to file for," Roger Jolliff, Tulsa Area Emergency Management, said.

Basically, the Governor has to use broad strokes in issuing emergency declarations.

"The way the relationship with the federal government works and with declarations, is that they want to see what was initially considered," Jolliff said. "Adding counties later is actually a much more complicated process."

The only storm damage in Tulsa was a few snapped limbs and downed power lines. But a spokeswoman with the state Department of Emergency Management says that could be enough.

Damage to electrical systems is one barometer they use to see if a county should be included in an emergency declaration.

Rogers County officials are still tracking the threat of severe weather. They also had no damage from the tornado outbreak. But it's also been declared a state of emergency.

"It's easier to go out broad like that, and start narrowing it down to the impacted areas," Bob Anderson, Rogers County Emergency Management, said. "I mean the storms we had the other night were so chaotic around the state."

And when there's so much devastation in so many counties Anderson agrees it's better to play it safe.

A state of emergency declaration is good for 30 days. Its lifetime can be extended in the event of more weather events.

5/12/2010 Related Story: Survey Indicates Six EF-3 Twisters Hit Oklahoma On Monday