Rogers County has rebounded from May tornado, commissioners say

Nov. 20—Rogers County has recovered from the May tornado’s devastation, said the Rogers County Commissioners at a Friday address.

The Claremore Area Chamber of Commerce hosted the annual State of the County in the ballroom in the Dr. Carolyn Taylor Center at Rogers State University Friday. Each of Rogers County’s three commissioners spoke to an audience of Chamber members about how the county and their districts have fared over the past year.

District 1 Commissioner Dan DeLozier, chairman of the commissioners, showed a three-minute video recounting the aftermath of the May tornado. Over a score of grandiose piano and strings appeared scenes of cleanup crews, battered buildings and heaps of debris.

According to the commissioners’ presentation, the county hauled about 90,000 cubic yards of debris. The storm damaged 1,200 homes and destroyed 300, displacing about 1,000 county residents.

DeLozier said he was grateful for all the volunteers who helped the city and county assist people after the tornado struck.

“We worked around the clock for days and days — well, actually … it took us about two months to get it cleaned up enough that we’re comfortable with where we’re at at the moment,” DeLozier said. “When the leaves come off the trees, we’re going to cut a lot of hangers along the roads.”

Grant Gingerich, a Claremore State Farm agent and corporate sponsor for the Chamber, presented awards to DeLozier and other community members who had assisted in the recovery.

Some of the people the Chamber honored were Claremore Mayor Debbie Long, who organized the Claremore & Rogers County Disaster Assistance group; Melissa Fullerton of Eastern Hills Baptist Church; and Cox Communications Vice President Roger Ramseyer.

“I’m glad to know and serve in this great community with each and every one of you, and to call you my neighbor,” Gingerich said. “Thank you all. As we recognize those who were instrumental in the relief efforts following the May 25 tornado, we want to acknowledge there were many others.”

DeLozier said despite the destruction the tornado caused, good things like the community banding together came out of it.

DeLozier said the tornado was a lot more than the commissioners are used to dealing with. He said though the recovery held up some road projects, the county has completed a few of them and continues to make progress on others.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s project on State Highway 66 near Chelsea is about 40% complete, DeLozier said.

“We don’t really have a lot to do with it, but we didn’t mind putting the picture on [our presentation],” he said.

District 2 Commissioner Steve Hendrix said the project to reconstruct the causeway over Oologah Lake near Winganon is about 50% complete. The $22 million project began in December 2023, and Hendrix said the county convinced ODOT to repair the surface of East 300 Road after completing the causeway so the burden doesn’t only fall on the county.

Hendrix said he is also glad ODOT has kept one lane of East 300 Road open throughout the project.

“That was one of our priorities,” Hendrix said. “Closing that causeway results in a 22-mile detour around the lake — not just an inconvenience for commuters, but a safety hazard for law enforcement, first responders, emergency vehicles.”

District 3 Commissioner Ron Burrows said a few projects in his district are nearly done. He said the overpass over State Highway 66 is about 90% complete, and King Road should reopen at its intersection with Highway 66 in about two weeks.

Burrows said he was glad to see the East 590 Bridge open in Inola after three years and East 500 Road become safer with the reduction of Justice Hill. He said the county and city teamed up to seal huge cracks in the Claremore Expo Center parking lot.

“That was to get it ready for the [Mid America] Shelby Nationals, just to roll out the red carpet for them,” Burrows said. “That was a tremendous success for them, but we should see them come back for many years to come. The revenue that that generated for not only the city, but the county, was tremendous. … Partnerships are critical for our success.”

Hendrix and Burrows spoke about their districts using chip sealing as a cheaper alternative to asphalt on several rural gravel roads, such as East 580 Road in District 3. Burrows said the county also has its own striping truck, which he said has let the county do much more road maintenance on its own than it could have paid to contract out.

Rogers County is a member of an 11-county group, Circuit Engineering District No. 1, which collects data on road maintenance in the region. DeLozier presented a report that showed of Rogers County’s 1,160 miles of road, 44 are unpaved; of the counties in the report, only Tulsa has fewer unpaved miles.

“We all kind of got a little bit dizzy-eyed over the fact that they’ve got us on here for 44 miles of gravel roads,” DeLozier said. “…Rogers County may have 20, max.”

The commissioners also touched on several grant-related projects they’ve discussed at their meetings throughout the year.

One is the county’s planned resource app, which DeLozier said would be called “Better Together.” He said the app will have three buttons for immediate help, a list of community resources and disaster recovery assistance.

The county is funding the app with a $289,173 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health.

“It’ll take a little while, but hopefully next year, we’re going to have everything on there that that if you need anything … in Rogers County, you’re going to be able to get it,” DeLozier said.

Another is the county’s pursuit toward expanding broadband access. The county has recently seen Cox Communications bring high-speed internet to rural parts of Rogers County like Tacora Hills and Owalla Road.

Hendrix said up to 90% of Rogers County could have access to high-speed internet in the next few years, thanks to the Oklahoma Broadband Office. It has provided millions of dollars of grants to Cox and other telecommunications companies to install broadband infrastructure in Rogers County.

“This solves a lot of problems, and no other county the state of Oklahoma has done what we’ve done,” Hendrix said. “When this is completed, we are way, way ahead of the game. It’s another example of the progressive leadership in Rogers County, and what we can accomplish.”

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