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<br />PREFACE It was 3 a,m, The newly elected city commissioner, in office only 19 days, was jarred from <br /> <br />fitful sleep by the loud ringing of his bedside phone. <br /> <br />"Commissioner!" Through phone static, he recognized the voice of the mayor. "I need you to come <br /> <br />to the emergency operations center right away. I'll send a truck to get you. It's flooding." <br /> <br />"No!" said the commissioner. "Where?'T <br /> <br />"Everywhere. " <br /> <br />Thus began Tulsa's worst natural disaster, our 1984 flood. City leaders huddled in the Emergency <br /> <br />Operations Center throughout the nightmare night, shell,shocked by volley after volley of horrifying <br /> <br />reports of destruction all across town. They mustered all available forces to battle the flood. There were <br /> <br />miraculous victories, such as in Holiday Mobile Home Park, where a life flight helicopter pilot braved <br /> <br />the storm to rescue 40 people; they were plucked from their roofs, one by one, by the outstretched <br /> <br />hand of the chopper nurse. Overall, our forces were puny by comparison to the overwhelming power <br /> <br />of the water reclaiming its floodplains. Before dawn, as much as 15 inches of rain had fallen. Fourteen <br /> <br />Tulsans had lost their lives in flashing waves of water. Another 288 were hurt. Nearly 7,000 homes and <br /> <br />businesses were ruined, and another 7,000 cars and trucks - including city fire trucks, police cars, and <br /> <br />ambulances - were destroyed. Damage was $183 million, <br /> <br />In the darkest hours of that terrible night, the commissioner and our new young mayor vowed to <br /> <br />do whatever they could - and the political cost be damned - to prevent Tulsa from suffering such a <br /> <br />disastrous flood again. That commitment produced Tulsa's comprehensive stormwater management <br /> <br />program - a program bom of great loss, hard lessons, and tremendous political courage. Ann Patton, <br /> <br />Community Affairs Manager, Tulsa, Oklahoma <br /> <br />This document was prepared to help you, as an elected official, plan and take action to prepare your <br /> <br />community for floods that will happen, if not during your term of office, then later. It is hoped that, by <br /> <br />taking these measures, you will avoid facing what Tulsa, Oklahoma, experienced. <br />