Oklahoma governor, mayors want levee study following floods

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and three Tulsa-area mayors want the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expedite its study of the region’s levee system following severe flooding along the Arkansas River this spring.

Stitt, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, Bixby Mayor Brian Guthrie and Jenks Mayor Robert Lee sent a letter to Corps officials Friday requesting a study of the 75-year-old Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System be completed by the end of the year.

The Corps is required to complete a study of the nation’s levees by September 2020, but the letter says Oklahomans can’t wait that long. While Tulsa-area levees held back water for weeks, the letter says a breach would have caused catastrophic flooding over a wide area.

The letter says the Corps rated the region’s levees “unacceptable” in 2008.