Community meeting held to update Barnsdall community on tornado recovery

A community meeting was held Monday evening in Barnsdall to update the community following a deadly EF4 tornado that hit the city.

Barnsdall Mayor Johnny Kelley provided several updates Monday evening at the football field.

Kelley said when it comes to FEMA disaster assistance, people can call 1-800-621-3362 or go to www.disasterassistance.gov .

The SBA is also offering disaster assistance to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters.

If you are denied disaster assistance, you should keep trying and talk to someone so they can help you go through the process and point out any errors.

“FEMA will be around for a while in town, they are located at the County Barn. If you are denied benefits come and visit with them. There may be a minor error that can be corrected such as a spelling error. FEMA and SBA will be going out into the community to help with the application process. The application process takes only 20 minutes,” Kelley said.

The biggest thing to say is, “Yes, I have damage.”

Kelley said a lot of people were affected in the rural areas near Barnsdall, and they are eligible to apply too.

Kelley also said the 9 p.m. curfew will be lifted today and the boil order is lifted too.

According to Kelley, there is a rumor about homes being torn down and that is not true.

“There’s rumors flying around that we’re going to start tearing down houses in the community, this is false, we won’t tear your house down unless you’re ready. Make sure that your insurance has given you the go ahead to tear the house down if you have insurance, if don’t have insurance don’t tear your house down until FEMA has been around and inspected it, take plenty of pictures and be sure to document everything,” Kelley said.

Kelley said Red Cross came to town Sunday night and they are another resource people can reach out too.

According to Red Cross, they have expanded hours for recovery casework in Barnsdall.

Caseworks will be available tomorrow and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. They will be at Osage County District 1 Barn at 506 South Fifth Street, Barnsdall, according to Red Cross.

1st Baptist Church will have daycare opportunities.

Kelley said the hotline for special requests is 682-263-5481, and they will need your name, address, and what services are needed.

During the meeting, Kelley also addressed scams occurring due to people’s cards being stolen.

Kelley also gave his thanks for the help Barnsdall has received.

“Want to take a minute here and be sure, you know, when things go wrong first thing everybody wants to do is gripe and complain and you wonder, and everybody says reach out to your politicians and complain to them about this that or whatever, but Barnsdall needs to reach out and tell them all we appreciate them, because they went to work for us and they did what they’re supposed to do, they did their job, they went above and beyond. The kind of help we’ve received here is unreal,” Kelley said.

The next meeting is 6 p.m. Thursday at the football field.

Barnsdall Public Schools said while school has ended, graduation will be at 7:30 p.m., May 17 at the Bartlesville Community Center.

For more updates, be sure to follow the City of Barnsdall Facebook page .