Tulsa Finishing Up Cleanup From July Windstorm

Crews in Tulsa, Okla., are in the final stages of debris cleanup from a major windstorm in July, but the operation has already used up more than one-third of the overtime funds normally set aside for snow and ice removal, city officials said.

Crews are expected to finish picking up trees and other debris by early next week from a rare derecho that hit the area. The Tulsa World reported Monday that the cleanup operation has cost the city at least $1.5 million – including more than $118,000 in overtime funds from the city’s Streets and Stormwater Department.

“As you recall, at the very beginning we said we had concerns about … incurring overtime, and this is the reason why: because we’re eating into what we would hold back for snow and ice,” City Manager Jim Twombly said. “If we have any kind of significant snow or ice event, we’ll burn through that pretty quickly.”

About 120 people have worked 10-hour days, six days a week to clean up after the July windstorm, which toppled trees and power lines with winds of up to 80 mph. More than 100,000 homes and businesses in Tulsa were without electricity at one point during the storm.

Meteorologists later categorized the event as a derecho because of the wind damage it caused throughout the city.

Crews have picked up 118,056 cubic yards of debris through Friday and had, by the city’s count, completed all but about seven square miles. The bulk of the cleanup cost – more than $900,000 – comes from the use of equipment and vehicles needed to pick up the heavy debris and take it to the city’s mulching plant.

The widespread damage and power outages caused many residents to compare the storm to the December 2007 ice storm that crippled the city. Unlike the 2007 ice storm, the city does not anticipate receiving federal disaster aid for the cleanup expenses for the July windstorm, Twombly said.