Published: January 22, 2007 11:09 pm         

Severe winter weather has state officials scrambling for money to aid recovery

By Jaclyn Houghton

CNHI News Service



OKLAHOMA CITY — Severe snow and ice storms have made some Oklahomans wonder if there will be a spring this year.

“You feel like it’s never going to end,” said Ina K. Labrier, 94, who lives at the Hitching Post Working Ranch about three miles east of Kenton in the far western reaches of the Oklahoma Panhandle. “It looks like we’re in for winter for the rest of the year.”

Kenton is one of several communities in the Panhandle hit hard with snowstorm after snowstorm since Dec. 19, with the worst storm hitting Dec. 29.

While heavy snow hit the Panhandle, ice storms crippled many portions of Oklahoma on Jan. 12. Thirty-two weather-related deaths have been reported. Also, more than 12,000 residences still were without power in eastern Oklahoma as of Monday afternoon, according to the Okla-homa Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Most of the immediate res-ponse needs have been met, aside from restoring electricity in the remaining areas.

Now, state emergency officials are talking dollars and cents to meet the recovery needs, including debris removal.

Gov. Brad Henry is asking President Bush to make a major disaster declaration in at least 23 counties, so federal money may be used to pick up 75 percent of the recovery costs in cities and counties. Henry also will ask the Oklahoma Legislature to move quickly in appropriating $15 million to pay for the state’s 12.5 percent of the recovery costs. Local governments must pick up the remaining 12.5 percent. The Legislature convenes Feb. 5.

“It’s incumbent upon the Legislature that our communities can recover adequately and quickly from the damage of this storm,” Henry said. “We face a long recovery. The damage will not be cleaned up overnight, and many residents throughout Oklahoma still face challenging times.”

Henry said he toured the eastern portion of the state last week and “it was, indeed, devastating. Many areas looked like a war zone.”



Response time



A quick monetary response is not what the city of Enid experienced after a crippling January 2002 ice storm.

The storm cost about $170 million statewide, with Enid reporting costs of about $2.1 million, mostly for debris removal.

Jerald Gilbert, finance director for the city, said it took the federal government until 2005 to pay off its promise of about $1.5 million, and until last August for the state to pay the remaining $201,000 of its $252,000 promise.

“It can cause a strain on our budget,” he said. “We are lucky because we are a large enough community.”

He said it is more difficult for smaller towns to front the money while waiting to receive payments.

“It can be frustrating the time that it takes to get that money,” Gilbert said.

Enid did not experience the ice like other parts of the state this time around and likely will not go through the reimbursement process this time. He said it would be helpful to cities if the Legislature would keep enough money in its emergency management fund for cases like this year’s ice storm.

Henry said the fund only has about $500,000. Local reimbursements for 2000 and 2002 ice storms and 1999 and 2003 tornados all are paid off, he said.

Preliminary figures estimate total damages in the 23 counties at about $39 million, according to Albert Ashwood, Oklahoma Emergency Management director. He said the 2000 and 2002 ice storms cost between $170 million and $175 million each, so he expects the damages from this month’s storms to exceed $100 million.



Budget crunch



State agencies also can seek federal relief funds if they can show they have exceeded their budgets.

Terri Angier, chief of public affairs for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said the agency does not typically like to put its name in the hat because snow and ice removal is one of its functions. She said about 1,200 employees worked 12-hour shifts clearing snow and ice, removing debris and maintaining the roads. Crews have returned to eight-hour days.

Angier said about 75,000 tons of sand and salt, which is three-fourths of a full supply, were used to help clear the 30,000 highway lane miles, which is about 12,000 straight miles in Oklahoma.

Roughly $6 million of the department’s budgeted $10 million for snow and ice removal was used from Jan. 12 through Monday, she said. The current fiscal year started July 1, 2006, and ends June 30.

Cost still is an issue at the Hitching Post Working Ranch.

About four or five head of cattle and two or three calves have been found dead at the ranch so far, and it is unknown how many others may be dead or lost, Labrier said.

The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry made hay drops to ranchers throughout the Pan-handle. Labrier said the ranch received one load of hay from helicopters, but had to buy about three or four other loads. She said the cattle will not walk in the snow to get to water, so the ranch had to pay for tracks to be made in the snow for the cattle. Another 4 inches of snow last weekend now covers the tracks, she said.

“We sure need it to clear up stat,” Labrier said.



Houghton is CNHI News Service Oklahoma reporter.