DENTON, Texas – The City of Tulsa has advanced to Round 2 consideration for FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant. The nearly $20 million project would improve the city’s resilience to flooding and extreme heat, as well as its water quality. If selected, the City of Tulsa would use the funds to make significant drainage improvements to Fulton Creek.
FEMA’s Acting Resilience Deputy Administrator Victoria Salinas joined Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and other local officials at a media event today to recognize city leaders for this achievement and other ongoing efforts to strengthen their neighborhoods, protect their citizens and to lower flood insurance rates.
FEMA’s BRIC Grant Program supports states, local communities, tribes and territories for mitigation planning, adoption and enforcement of building codes and standards, project scoping and small-scale mitigation projects. Tulsa’s grant submission was selected based on the highest composite score assessed during the review.
Tulsa has spent decades developing lofty stormwater management goals including drainage system maintenance and floodplain development priorities. These actions have helped to reduce risk from future flooding and to save lives.
“The City of Tulsa serves as an example of how a people-centered, city-wide resilience strategy benefits the whole community,” FEMA’s Victoria Salinas said. “FEMA commends Tulsa as a national leader in community flood risk reduction, and for proposing a project that will create more equitable outcomes for all area residents, businesses and homeowners. We are excited that Tulsa has advanced in the BRIC grant application process. The possibility of providing more funding to help them implement a project that will further community resilience is exciting and encouraging to other communities that wish to do the same.”
The City of Tulsa has a system-based approach to improving resilience to flooding, heat and water quality. To reduce flooding, Tulsa’s project submission will allow the city to make infrastructure enhancements along Fulton Creek by increasing the capacity of the storm sewer system and constructing two detention ponds and culverts. Stormwater runoff prevention will also be enhanced by adding trees to reduce heat and limiting development.
These improvements will result in a more usable, environmentally sensitive, healthier, and safer community while reducing risk from future flooding and to save lives.
Project awards could be announced as early as Spring 2023. For more information on the BRIC Grant Program and other mitigation funding opportunities, visit fema.gov/grants/mitigation.
Tulsa's Top NFIP Community Rating Reduces Insurance Rates for Residents
On April 1, Tulsa hit the highest possible rating under the National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System (CRS). Achieving a Class 1 rating has only been accomplished by one other city in the country. Tulsa’s leaders and planners long ago realized something had to be done to avoid future losses from floods. This Class 1 rating is reducing insurance rates for residents by 45 percent. Learn more about the city’s CRS achievement at fema.gov/blog/city-tulsa-rises-top-leader-risk-reduction.