Local News
White Christmas proves costly
DUNCAN — It was a dream come true for many youngsters across Stephens County; a white Christmas. For Dee Bowen, Todd Churchman and Darrell Sparks, the County Commissioners of Stephens County, it was just another day at the office. Paper clips and staplers are not the tools of their trade; road graders, back-hoes, and front loaders fit the bill. Gary Ball, the Emergency Management Director for Stephens County, estimates that $86,000 has been used for fuel, equipment, materials and manpower countywide.
“We worked a little bit Christmas Eve, but we weren’t able to do much, we really started 5:30 a.m. Christmas, and worked 12 hours,” Bowen said. “We worked Saturday and Sunday also.”
The county is mainly responsible for clearing county roads. The county also did some work in Loco, Velma and Comanche.
Churchman said, “We had guys out there from Christmas Eve, and they are still out there. We had five graders, front loaders, and just about everything else to try to help people. There are no roads closed, there are some out of town that will be hard to get into.”
In District One alone Sparks estimates $30,000 was used to clear roads. “On some of our east to west roads, there were drifts six feet deep, that stretched close to a mile long,” Sparks said. “A grader can’t go through six foot drifts of snow, we really aren’t geared up for this kind of weather.”
Stephens County is currently under a state of emergency declared by Gov. Brad Henry. An application for FEMA has been submitted, Ball said it should take two or three weeks for all the numbers to be compiled. If the numbers warrant a Presidential Declaration, the Federal government will cover 75 percent of the damages. Ball expects the statewide costs to exceed what is necessary for the Presidential Declaration. “We had had (Presidential) declarations in the past for the 2006 wildfires, ice storms, and even for the Velma fires, so I don’t think it will be an issue,” Ball said.
The estimates for damage could raise significantly once all the ice melts and the full extent of damage to county roads is seen.
The blizzard had a uniting element, that pulled everyone in the community together to help one another. “Overall, people have been really patient with us,” Sparks said. “Mother nature showed she can still do what she wants to.”
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David Laughlin is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 144, or via e-mail at david.laughlin@duncanbanner.com.
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