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Storm Damage Could Top $150 Million, Oklahoma Death Toll Rises To 6

Gov. Mary Fallin meets with cabinet secretaries and emergency management officials at the state Capitol Tuesday to discuss May storm damage.
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Gov. Mary Fallin meets with cabinet secretaries and emergency management officials at the state Capitol Tuesday to discuss May storm damage.

Damage from May’s severe storms could exceed $150 million.

Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management Director Albert Ashwood and Gov. Mary Fallin met Tuesday and updated reporters and the public on the progress of the recovery and assessments in 70 counties that have reported storm-related damage.

Fallin has declared a state of emergency in all 77 Oklahoma counties, and $13 million in infrastructure damage to roads, bridges, and other facilities has already been recorded.

During a conference call Tuesday afternoon, Fallin said she’s confident the state will fully recover.

“May was a difficult month, but we are resilient people, and I am continually impressed by the strength of our community, the generosity and compassion shown by Oklahomans during times of crisis, and the quickness with which we rebound from all these hardships,” Fallin said.

Cleveland, Grady, and Oklahoma counties have been approved for individual and business aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Earlier this week Fallin asked FEMA for aid for 13 more counties. Ashwood says as many as 50 counties could eventually ask for federal assistance.

May was the wettest month on record in Oklahoma, and some parts of the state got more than two feet of rain. The Associated Press reports Oklahoma’s secretary of commerce and tourism Deby Snodgrass said state parks sustained heavy damage, and all or parts of several parks are closed. Beaver’s Bend State Park near Broken Bow in McCurtain County doesn’t have drinking water.

The death toll from severe weather, flooding and tornadoes in Oklahoma since the Memorial Day weekend has risen to six with the separate drowning deaths of two men in eastern Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission says firefighters from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, recovered the body of Gary Thomas on Monday. Thomas was reported missing Sunday after he disappeared along a low-water dam at a bridge across rain-swollen Flint Creek in Delaware County.

Thomas and his wife were attempting to walk across the top of the dam when they lost their footing and fell into the water. He was able to push his wife to safety, but did not make it out of the water. His body was recovered below the dam's main spillway.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says 73-year-old Benjamin Morris was overcome by the rushing current early Monday while driving along Highway 87 southeast of Tom in far southeast Oklahoma. He disregarded barricades blocking a flooded area and his truck was disabled by the water.  Firefighters recovered his body Monday afternoon.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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Brian Hardzinski is from Flower Mound, Texas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. He began his career at KGOU as a student intern, joining KGOU full time in 2009 as Operations and Public Service Announcement Director. He began regularly hosting Morning Edition in 2014, and became the station's first Digital News Editor in 2015-16. Brian’s work at KGOU has been honored by Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI), the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters, the Oklahoma Associated Press Broadcasters, and local and regional chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists. Brian enjoys competing in triathlons, distance running, playing tennis, and entertaining his rambunctious Boston Terrier, Bucky.
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