Changes Made 33 Years Ago Minimized Impact Of 2019’s Historic Flooding

Historic flooding ravaged parts of Oklahoma last spring. Seven people died, thousands of homes were destroyed, and many families lost everything.

"We're just gonna have to try, you know, to start all over, and it's not easy to start over," said Muskogee resident Jennifer Tanner.

To add insult to injury, flash flooding in June left parts of Tulsa that were trying to recover underwater again. On June 6, more than 4 inches of rain fell in under an hour.

The rushing water swept Connor Self's car off the road.

"Right as I hit my brakes, the water just kind of picked me up and carried both of us," Self said.

But changes made after Tulsa's historic flood of 198, kept a bad situation from getting worse. The Army Corps of Engineers strategically released water from Keystone Dam to ensure the lowest impact on those downstream.

"A dam like Keystone is designed to mitigate downstream flood risk, but it doesn't eliminate downstream flood risk," said David Williams with the Army Corps of Engineers.

In the Tulsa area, some places notoriously flood during storms, no matter the severity; like 41st Street North and Lewis, Pine and Yale, 41st and Sheridan and 81st and Elwood. The National Weather Service has identified more than 30 flood prone areas around Tulsa: https://www.weather.gov/tsa/floodproneareas