However, by the turn of the 20th century the population growth had moved closer to the river, and the flatlands west of the Arkansas had begun to develop as well.
Since its founding, city leaders had responded to such events by simply rebuilding and replacing the property that had been destroyed in situ.
Not until 1970 did the city government begin developing strategies to mitigate floods or at least minimize property damage and prevent loss of life.
City authorities decided that then-existing Federal guidelines were inadequate to control the local situation and began to develop more stringent requirements.
In 1908, only a year after statehood, Arkansas River flooding at Tulsa caused $250,000 in damages ($8.48 million in 2023 dollars).
The city also issued its first flood control plan, attempting to put housing on higher ground and reserving the lowlands for parks.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) immediately built levees around the refineries, which were considered vital for the U. S. military in World War II.
[2] As Tulsa expanded into the surrounding countryside after WWII, flooding of urbanized areas frequently recurred, usually every two to four years.
The Mother's Day flood of 1970 in Tulsa caused $163,000 in damages ($1.28 million in 2023 dollars) to the rapidly developing areas along Mingo and Joe creeks in the eastern part of the city.
[1] A cold front that stalled over the Tulsa area on May 26–27, 1984 dropped between 6 and 15 inches (15 and 38 cm) of rain, flooding several parts of the city.
[3] In September 1986, the remnants from a hurricane in southwestern Mexico arrived in the Tulsa area and caused a rainfall of 24 inches (61 cm) northwest of Keystone Lake.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) needed to open the flood gates and release as much as 300,000 cfs of water into the Arkansas River.
In response, the US Army Corps of Engineers began to release water from the Keystone Dam into the Arkansas River.
Areas of Sapulpa, Southern Broken Arrow (known as Indian Springs), and Bixby, Oklahoma were submerged.
[12] As the day turned into night, another wave of heavy storms began to form near Oklahoma City, heading towards Tulsa.
Barges broke loose on the river heading towards the Webbers Falls Lock and Dam, threatening to collide into the structure.
President Trump approved the disaster declaration the following day, ordering Federal assistance to supplement State, tribal, and local responses.
Mayor Bynum also urged citizens protected by levees to begin making voluntary plans for evacuation.
The following day, even as another round of storms was going through Tulsa, the Army Corps announced they would begin cutting back the releases at the dam.
A month later, on Labor Day, Flat Rock, Bird and Haikey creeks flooded, affecting many suburban communities.
Tulsa then joined the NFIP's "regular" program, adopted a new 100-year flood standard, and promised to regulate floodplain land use.
Developers strongly objected, starting a debate over floodplain management, called "Tulsa's great drainage war" by the local media, which lasted for several years.
This system collects weather information (e.g., wind speed, rainfall, temperature) every 5 minutes from 120 Mesonet stations throughout Oklahoma.
The article quoted an official of the Tulsa Area Emergency Management as saying that his staff uses the Oklahoma Mesonet every day.
[6] The city officials believed that the standards set by the NFIP were inadequate, based on Tulsa's previous experience.
NFIP also requires that the lowest level of structures within the floodplain be at or above the elevation of the existing 100 year flood.
[19] Specific activities that FEMA cited were:"...acquisition of nearly a thousand flood-prone properties and the preservation of more than a quarter of its floodplain as open space; strong building codes, including the requirement of a two-foot safety factor (freeboard) in floodplain construction; and community outreach to advise residents of flood hazards and offer mitigation solutions and technical assistance.
Archived October 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine (1984) Retrieved May 25, 2014 "Mooser Creek Greenway:Restoration and Preservation of a Historic Pristine Stream."