I believe any plan for changes in the Arkansas River corridor at Tulsa needs to be managed through a comprehensive river management plan, recognizing that this 1,450-mile river drains 168,000 square miles, that control structures at Tulsa are 50 to 70 years old and have finite capacity, and that the river and its tributary floodplains are a single interacting system so that changes in one place have corresponding effects elsewhere.
River development plans need to recognize the potential for catastrophic damage that can occur when heavy rains upstream of Tulsa (possibly hurricane-driven) exceed the control capacity of Keystone Dam and the levee system that is in great need of repair (now rated in the bottom 5% of the most dangerous levee systems in the nation).
A River Runs Through it
Some experts suspect the levees now may not withstand a flood of the magnitude that occurred in 1986, which would also flood the new developments that have been built along the river floodplain since the 1986 flood. Far larger floods are possible along this corridor and need to be accounted for in planning, because they could pose great danger to thousands of people and cause catastrophic damage to property and the environment.
Any responsible plan for river development needs to include, at a minimum, funding for levee repairs, protection of those who live and work and travel behind the levee, adequate funding for operation and maintenance, an updated floodplain management program, and a comprehensive river management plan that recognizes the current and future needs for river and floodplain management.
Thank you, Ann Patton,
A River Runs Through it
Author: Ann Patton
Ann Patton is a writer and consultant specializing in disaster management, urban affairs, and grassroots partnership building. She has 45 years’ experience in journalism, program management, and consulting. She heads APLcorps Books LLC and Ann Patton Company LLC, a professional writing and consulting firm.
Ann’s recent publications include a true crime political history named UNMASKED! The Rise and Fall of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan as well as The Tulsa River, and Dan’s War on Poverty. She was also principal investigator and writer for a groundbreaking 2014 FEMA report on tornado safe rooms, “Hide from the Wind.”
Patton was a charter member and convener of the team that created Tulsa’s award-winning flood-hazard mitigation program. She has worked on local hazard mitigation planning with Tulsa Partners Inc., on children’s disaster safety issues with Save the Children, and on many issues relating to building disaster-resilient communities.
Expanding into multi-hazard management, she was founding director (1997-2001) of Tulsa’s Project Impact, Citizen Corps, and Medical Reserve Corps programs, as well as Tulsa Partners Inc., a 501-C-3 nonprofit corporation (2001-2004). This family of programs mobilizes public-private partners and volunteers to create safer, sustainable, more livable communities and to curb disaster losses.
Ann was vice chair of the City of Tulsa Stormwater Drainage and Hazard-Mitigation Advisory Board. She is an organizer and board member of the Dan Allen Center for Social Justice and a volunteer for Tulsa Partners, Inc.
In 2015, Ann and her husband Bob moved from their Tulsa home to Orlando, Florida. The couple has 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren. She has graciously agreed to continue to lend her time and talents to serve the Smart Growth Tulsa Board of Trustees and her peers on the Advisory Board.
