The City of Tulsa marks the completion of a $2.2 million flood control project.
For years, 62 homes in the Florence Park South neighborhood were at risk of flooding during heavy rains. The city pursued a federal grant for most of the cost and covered the rest with funds from utility fees. State emergency management director Albert Ashwood says Tulsa has had a get-it-done attitude since the 1984 flood.
"They took it upon themselves to say, 'We're not going to wait and find out what the government has, whether federal or state, to provide to us to make this fix. We're going to do it ourselves,'" Ashwood said. "And they have done it ever since then."
Construction on the project took nine months and was completed in December.
Resident Patricia Seibert started working with the city to solve the flooding problem in 2007. She says she’s already seen the new Crow Creek system work.
"And I saw the storm boxes they put under 21st Place," Seibert said. "What were they, eight by eight foot? They were huge, so it handles the amount of water they're putting in. Plus, they put a whole lot of new drains in."
The city marked the project’s completion just before a round of spring thunderstorms rolled in.
