The city earned a Class 1 rating from FEMA in 2021 - the second city in the country to achieve that accolade.īut Tulsa’s flood readiness looked very different in 1984, when the Memorial Day Flood left 14 people dead, hundreds injured and others temporarily displaced or homeless. Today, Tulsa is one of the nation’s most flood-ready communities. Though Sand Springs residents like Graham experienced catastrophe during the 2019 flood, just eight miles away in Tulsa, it was a completely different story. Since the house was abandoned, people have stolen the wiring out of it, their entire carport and looted everything from the attic. Graham said between a lack of law enforcement response to looting and a complicated state buyout program that takes years to process, he saw little support from elected officials during the flood recovery. “We weren’t even thinking about a Christmas tree, trying to just get a roof over my family, you know. So I’ve got a Christmas tree for your family.’ And he gave me a Christmas tree,” Graham said. And he was like, ‘Hey man, I know your family’s lost everything. “The guy who runs it, I actually graduated high school with. He gestured to a twinkling Christmas tree in the living room, courtesy of the local community center.
Sitting at his dining room table, Graham surveyed the house the family had been forced to start over in. The Grahams’ Christmas tree stands in their living room.
