Details offered about emergency measures for Tulsa County paint a murky picture of communication between public representatives in the aftermath of a severe storm that left at least one Tulsan dead and thousands without electricity.
On the night of June 17, Oklahoma's second-largest city was hit with 100 mph winds and heavy rains that left more than 160,000 Public Service Company customers without power. The storm also damaged more than 1,000 homes in Tulsa County, according to Tulsa Area Emergency Management Agency Director Joe Kralicek.
Kralicek said TAEMA submitted details to the state for an emergency declaration necessary for critical federal assistance on the day after the storm, a Sunday. Kralicek said he was told by members of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office they would have something for him by the end of business hours Monday.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell responded to several people on Twitter that an emergency declaration could come to Tulsa, but that the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and local crews were still assessing damage.
That afternoon, Tulsa officials announced a person had died because their respirator was without power.
Pinnell said later that ODEM Director Mark Gower wanted to "bundle" all the affected counties into one emergency declaration. Pinnell also asserted it took Tulsa authorities "at least 72 hours" to assess the situation in the city.
“You'd have to ask the governor where he was at on that as well, but where the [state] emergency management director was at was, 'I'm almost done — I'm almost done, and we're going to get you something to sign on Tuesday,'" Pinnell said.
It wasn’t until Tuesday that media outlets reported Stitt and Pinnell were both out of Oklahoma and therefore couldn’t sign an emergency declaration under state law. Stitt was in France for the Paris Air Show, and Pinnell was at a Republican lieutenant governors’ conference in Georgia.
Responsibility for storm response fell on Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, who signed an emergency declaration for Tulsa and nine other counties on Tuesday afternoon.
In a news release, Treat's office said the Senate leader signed the emergency declaration about an hour after discovering he was acting governor, and within 20 minutes of reviewing pertinent documents. Treat said he should have known sooner about his temporary role as head of state, however.
"It’s just been the tradition and practice to be notified by the governor and lieutenant governor," Treat said at a news conference in Tulsa Wednesday. "We need to double down on that, because that’s not been happening this past year."
Treat agreed with Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond's call for the state legislature to update laws about communication when the governor or lieutenant governor leave the state. Pinnell said the law requiring the governor to be in the state to declare an emergency should be updated as well.
Stitt subsequently told media outlets the timeline to declare an emergency wouldn't have changed whether or not he was in Tulsa.
Even after the emergency declaration was signed, it was unclear if, and to what extent, Stitt communicated with Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum about the storm's aftermath.
All the way until Tulsa officials' 4 p.m. news conference on Thursday, Bynum maintained he had not heard from Stitt. Bynum said at the news conference that he tried to reach Stitt but was unsuccessful.
After the news conference, Stitt spokeswoman Kate Vesper said in an email that Bynum and his team had "been in constant communication with the Governor's Office through the Chief of Staff and other members" since the storm hit Tulsa. Bynum said he learned late Thursday Stitt and Pinnell would be visiting Tulsa Friday.
"I can tell you that the first conversation that I had with Governor Stitt about this disaster was when he stepped off the elevator on this floor to visit the emergency operation center today," Bynum said Friday. "I know that the governor's chief of staff has been communicating with my staff."
Bynum also mentioned a text chain that he and Stitt were in, but said Stitt did not respond to any of the texts.
Bynum noted that there has been interest in his communication with Stitt, perhaps from a political standpoint.
"The important thing to me, though, is we are gettin what we need from the state," Bynum said.
Public Radio Tulsa reporter and host Ben Abrams contributed to this story.
