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Once on land, the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, but days later the storm regained its power as it moved over southwest and central Oklahoma (some called it a “second eye of the storm”). In August 2007, Tropical Storm Erin struck the Gulf of Mexico before moving southwest into the United States.
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This dangerous decision also caused the cleanup to slow down due to the difficulty of clearing the snow with stranded cars on the roads.įloods were the second most common weather disaster in Caddo County, but the most bizarre and powerful flood to hit Caddo County actually began as a tropical storm.
RAIN TOTALS TODAY IN OKLAHOMA DRIVERS
More cars than usual were on the road due to the holiday and some drivers made the rash decision to abandon their vehicles and walk. In nearby Oklahoma City, all interstates around and inside the city were shut down, which caused thousands of people to be stuck in their cars for hours. One especially damaging storm on Christmas Eve in 2009 was both powerful and ill-timed, causing one emergency manager to call it “ one of the most widespread and damaging blizzards to affect Oklahoma in decades.” In Caddo County, five to seven inches of snow fell, accompanied by winds of up to 60 mph. The local power companies estimated that the November ice storm knocked out power for 14,397 customers and cost $2.1 million-a significant number considering the county only has a population of 29,300.īlizzards, too, are dangerous in Caddo. Two ice storms of this nature, for example, occurred in Caddo County during November and December 2015. During ice storms, one of the biggest threats is the accumulation of ice on power lines-the weight of which can pull down lines, even the poles themselves, and cause widespread power outages. Ice storms are one of the most damaging storm types for Caddo. We also filtered out any disaster declarations that were not weather-related, such as oil spills or terrorist attacks. * For our research purposes we looked at Major Disaster and Emergency declarations, but did not include fire management declarations. Since 1982, Caddo County, Okla., has had 30 FEMA disaster declarations.* And that’s only scratching the surface. To make matters even more complicated, Caddo County has some of the worst weather in the United States. One legacy of 19th century federal policy is that the county is still checkerboarded in places, so that First Nations, such as Caddo Nation, do not have continuous property rights, but rather a patchwork of city, county, and private jurisdictions. Caddo County is also home to multiple American Indian First Nations, many of whom have lived there for generations, but only after being forced off their ancestral lands. Small towns such as Anadarko, with a population of 7,000 people, are scattered around the many farms and energy operators (including oil, natural gas, and wind) that dominate the land area. Caddo is a rural county located in the southwest region of Oklahoma.
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