Oklahoma Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat has signed an executive order granting an emergency declaration to Tulsa County and several other counties impacted by the storm that swept through the state overnight Saturday.
More than 110,000 Public Service Company customers in Tulsa County are still without power after the storm brought 100 mile per hour winds through the state's second-largest city around midnight Saturday. In total, more than 125,000 PSO customers are still without power since the storm hit.
The emergency declaration assists Tulsa, Choctaw, Creek, Delaware, Harper, Mayes, Pawnee, Payne, Rogers and Wagoner counties.
“This state of emergency will be key in the coming days as we continue to work with our emergency management partners across the state and at FEMA to identify damages in the impacted areas and determine whether aid may be available to assist communities,” said ODEMHS Director Mark Gower.
“The state, including the Oklahoma Department Emergency Management and Homeland Security continues to be responsive through emergency declarations, waivers, and requests to impacted areas to restore power, protect critical infrastructure and to get Oklahomans the resources they need during these trying times," Gov. Kevin Stitt said in his statement.
At a news conference shortly after the order was signed, Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said he's confident Tulsa will qualify for FEMA assistance.
"The threshold that I've heard that we need to meet that locally is around $7 million or $8 million — well, we met that with one building, the convention center," Bynum said.
In his statement, Stitt said the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management "continues to be responsive" through declarations, waivers and responding to requests for assistance.
Treat signed the executive order because Stitt and Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell are both out of Oklahoma and are thus kept from signing by the Oklahoma constitution. According to a Rose State College Facebook post, Stitt is in Paris, France for the Paris Air Show.
Bynum said Treat visited Tulsa over the weekend and "was aware of the damage."
Treat's office said the Senate leader signed the executive order within an hour of being told he was acting governor, and within 20 minutes of reviewing pertinent documents.
"As he told me, as soon as he found out that he had the opportunity to act, he jumped right in his car, drove to the Capitol and signed the declaration," Bynum said at the news conference.
Pinnell argued on Monday that local municipalities and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management were still assessing the situation.
Tulsa Emergency Management Director Joe Kralicek said Monday that the county had submitted a request for emergency declaration to the state, and that Stitt's office had told them they would try to approve the request by end of day Monday. A spokesperson for Stitt's office did not immediately respond to request for comment from Public Radio Tulsa on Tuesday.
Bynum said he has spoken to Pinnell, but has not heard from Stitt. But he also gave Stitt the benefit of the doubt, pointing to the governor's attentiveness to Tulsa during the 2019 Arkansas River flood.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Attorney General Gentner Drummond called on the State Legislature to update the laws to improve communication when a governor travels out of state and modify requirements for issuing executive orders.
