Power Restoration In Claremore A Top Priority For Officials After Damaging Tornado

The clean-up continues in Rogers County after an EF3 tornado left hundreds of homes damaged. County officials say the main focus is getting the power turned back on to areas in the dark.

Roughly 150 linemen are working to get power restored to the area. Almost all the power is restored in the city, but there is a lot of work to do in rural areas east of town along Highway 20.

Crews are focused in the Carefree Valley neighborhood, where the bulk of downed poles remain. The county is working to give those workers as much room as possible.

“We’re blocking roads in there and a lot of areas to keep traffic down so we can move quicker through what we’re doing,” said Dan DeLozier, Rogers County District 1 commissioner.

FEMA is looking at the heavily damaged areas but county officials say it is not yet time for victims to meet with them. The agency first has to finish conducting its surveys.

“These are preliminary assessments, this has not been declared federally,” said Steve Massey, Rogers County emergency management deputy director. “I want to be clear, we are still in the assessment phase and we are not at the point where they’re meeting with individual folks.”

Massey says it is a huge process to get a federal disaster declared.

“Imagine how many trees have been blown over and the root ball is exposed,” said Massey. “We have to GPS every one of those for the documentation, hoping we get the declaration. That is a 100% requirement through FEMA.”

The Red Cross is assisting with damage surveys and is also on site helping victims.

“Our teams have looked at about 400 homes at this point,” said Matt Trotter, Red Cross. “By our tally, about 100 have been severely damaged or destroyed. Those people may be eligible for financial assistance later on as we get through the recovery process.”

County officials are also considering an extension of the curfew, which is currently set to run through June 1st.