Strategic policy innovation and flash flood hazard mitigation: The Tulsa story

Abstract

The story of Tulsa, Oklahoma's triumph over the recurring threat of flash flooding is a dramatic tale that has been discussed at several natural hazards conferences and workshops in recent years (e.g., Flanagan and Associates 1994; Hinkle 1994). Tulsa, which once was vulnerable to repeated devastation of homes, buildings, and loss of life, undertook a major effort to diminish the destructive power of episodic flood events in its Mingo Creek watershed. In the wake of the 1984 Mother's Day flood, which incurred losses of $184 million in damages and 14 lives, Tulsa adopted an innovative program that enabled the city, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), to design and construct an award-winning flood control system comprised of a network of landscaped detention basins along Mingo Creek, organizational changes in city government, and land use reforms that has signaled an end to the city's constant flood worries while serving as a model program for the nation (Hardt 1994; Patton 1993; Patton 1994 ).