Dozens of Oklahoma’s flood control dams took damage from heavy rains in 2015. Despite a looming state revenue failure, enough money was found in the state’s emergency fund for repairs.
On Tuesday Gov. Mary Fallin announced $1.8 million from the state emergency fund – which will qualify Oklahoma for even more in federal money – to fix 65 dams that kept flood water out of farmland and residential areas last spring in a swath from Kiowa County in the west to Latimer County in the east.
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission oversees the dams through its local districts. Executive director Trey Lam says 2015 tested the limits of Oklahoma’s more than 2,000 flood control dams.
“There are dams that have space behind them, but they don’t hold water except in extreme floods,” Lam said. “And there’d been decades since there had ever been any water in them. Not only did they hold water, they filled up and it ran around the end of the dam.”
He says conservation districts are still assessing problems caused by floods in December, and estimates the dams prevented about 200-million dollars in damage last year.
StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma’s public radio stations and relies on contributions from readers and listeners to fulfill its mission of public service to Oklahoma and beyond. Donate online.
