'It Needs To Be Fixed': Oklahoma Committee Approves $50 Million To Fortify Arkansas River Levee Systems

The Oklahoma Senate Appropriations Committee is giving the green light to legislation that would fortify the Arkansas River Levee systems.

The committee approved $50 million in funding for the bill.

Tulsa County says that’s because the levees have been at risk since 2009 and barely survived the floods in 2019.

Another event like that, and commissioners say the results will be catastrophic.

Unpredictable weather and historic floods are some of the reasons lawmakers have concerns about the levees designed to keep Tulsa, surrounding cities, and their people safe.

Senator Cody Rogers wrote Senate Bill 1391 and says establishing $50 million to repair the failing levees is the first step toward preventing a major economic loss and loss of life.

“I would say it’s at high risk of failure and anything that’s a high risk of failure with huge life loss issue, it needs to be fixed,” Senator Rogers said.

The bill stems from the devastating floods in 2019 when deficiencies of the levee systems resulted in widespread damage putting thousands of lives and properties at risk.

Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith says delaying a solution is not an option.

“Once it goes, it goes. For the residents who live there, they’ve got, at most, an hour and a half to get out of there before they are under 15 feet of water, but within 30 minutes, they’ve got a problem. I mean, their cars may not be able to get out,” Commissioner Keith said.

Keith says improving the $1 billion worth of infrastructure goes beyond saving lives.

“It would certainly impact the taxpayers if we were to have a breach. We would all be paying a 12.5%, potentially $2 billion for damages. Every community down, if you’re talking about damages, that could go all the way to Fort Smith and even to the mouth of the Mississippi,” Keith said.

Tulsa County says the entire project will exceed $190 million and most of that is already secured.

The bill will head to the House and, if passed, funding will be available in 2025.