Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma issues emergency proclamation after severe storm rolls through
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Service crews are busy restoring power to homes and businesses after severe storms with damaging winds moved through much of Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas Saturday night.
Rogers County Emergency Management confirmed there was a tornado in that county and said the area it hit was extremely low populated.
In Tulsa, Mayor GT Bynum signed an emergency proclamation in reference to the storms and urged individuals to stay off the roads and stay home. Widespread damage includes downed power lines, broken power poles, tree damage to equipment, broken cross arms and other equipment attached to poles.
At 8:30 a.m. Sunday, almost 332,000 people across the state were without power, including over 167,000 in Tulsa County alone. By 3:30 p.m., approximately 56% of customers who experienced an outage were restored.
Areas hardest hit by damage include the Oklahoma City metro and Fort Smith along with the northeastern and southern portions of the service area.
Given the widespread and significant damage, this will be a multi-day power restoration event. Meanwhile, OG&E crews will continue to work around the clock to restore power as quickly and safely as possible following repairs to the grid and will advise when restoration times are available.
Before OG&E can replace poles and rebuild the system, cleanup of damaged poles and debris removal in the area must be complete.