Office of Governor Brad Henry
State of Oklahoma
State Capitol – Oklahoma City OK 73105
405-521-2342

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Feb.  25, 2010

(Oklahoma City) – The White House announced today it has granted Gov. Brad Henry’s request for a major disaster declaration for the Christmas Eve blizzard that blanketed Oklahoma late last year.

“The federal aid will help cities and counties pay the bills related to their response and recovery efforts,” said Gov. Henry.  “The Christmas Eve blizzard was a historic weather event, and we appreciate the White House’s assistance in helping Oklahoma recover from the storm.”

Under the declaration, 29 counties will receive public assistance for expenses related to response and recovery efforts during the December 24-25, 2009 storm.

The counties are Canadian, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Craig, Delaware, Garvin, Grady, Hughes, Jackson, Jefferson, Kay, Lincoln, Love, McClain, Muskogee, Noble, Nowata, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Ottawa, Payne, Pontotoc, Pottawatomie, Rogers, Sequoyah, Stephens, Tillman and Tulsa.

In these counties alone, preliminary damage estimates exceeded $18 million.  

Emergency management officials noted that damage assessments continue in other counties throughout the state. If those damages reach the federal threshold for relief, a request will be made to add additional counties to the disaster declaration.

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