9/30/21: CRS Class 1, but The Flood Risk Still Exists!

9/30/21 On this last day of National Preparedness Month, our public and private community stakeholders are deservedly celebrating the milestone of reaching the National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System Class 1 designation. This means our property owners will be able to get up to a 45% deduction in their flood insurance beginning April 2022. Buy flood insurance.,

The Tulsa Area Long Term Recovery Committee is winding down their operations soon on the May 2019 flood . Many clients in recovery have been asked the question from FEMA or SBA or others about whether they had flood insurance, which would have helped with their recovery. Many were unaware that it was available or that they needed it or how it could have reduced their recovery time. Over time, some in the general public have forgotten this event, given the nature of disasters in Oklahoma.

In the last couple of weeks, I have presented two business continuity classes where we talked about knowing your risks, such as pandemics, power outages, floods, etc. We also went over reasons people give about why they have not prepared a plan. Among the things they say is they don’t have any risks where they are!! With a CRS Class 1 rating in Tulsa, some Tulsans will get complacent about flooding, saying we have solved that issue. Remember, the Flood Risk Still Exists! You need to take the time to know your risk of flooding. Call City of Tulsa’s Customer Care Center at 311 to find out the flood hazards on your property as well as to find out ways to protect your property from flooding.

Where it can rain, it can flood - visit Floodsmart.gov to find out what you can do about your flood risk. If you see water on the roadway or intersection, Turn around, don’t drown®! When seeking shelter during severe weather, avoid flood prone areas. There have been tragic incidents of people hiding from tornadoes under bridges only to drown from flash flooding.

Get a building permit when installing safe rooms in flood prone areas. Because saferooms are required by building code to have a permit, you want to do this, especially in flood plains, where you need to consider the anchoring of the saferoom versus the need for elevation.

Get a building permit when constructing in flood prone areas. It is required to get a building permit when you are doing any construction in a flood plain. In flood prone areas, you want to be sure you are building in a safe manner or even if a building should not be in that location. Building inspectors can advise you on what is recommended.

Download the Tulsa Ready App. Make a plan to protect your business. We encourage everyone to develop an emergency plan and make a kit; businesses are advised to develop continuity and recovery plans. ( See business continuity classes referenced above.) As a part of this, one new tool is to use emergency apps on your phone. In many cases, they let you put your emergency plan on the phone, as well as your contacts and to receive push notifications from Emergency Management and the National Weather Service. We recommend the Tulsa Ready App or another similar app. A business continuity planning app is Open for Business EZ which also has a downloadable version in English and Spanish.

Save Our Streams®. In addition to flooding, we want to control the pollutants that could be picked up in the runoff. It is best for rain to be absorbed into the ground near where it lands so the ground filters it on the way to the water table. It is important to save our streams by limiting the runoff that can collect pollutants on the way to our streams and rivers.

You may consider looking at your landscaping for ways to limit flooding and increase absorption on your property. You might consider bioswales, rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, etc. You may want to consider reducing rainwater runoff. Use Low Impact Development (LID) techniques to prevent or reduce flooding on your property.

We as a community moved ourselves from Flood Capital of the US to now one of two cities with a Class 1 rating. Nature is ready to pitch— are you ready?