The city of Durant is getting back on its feet step by step following the 2017 EF-2 tornado that ripped through the community, killling one man when the roof of his home collapsed.
That tornado also laid bare some infrastructure problems that have since plagued the city, according to Mayor Henry Robinson.
“Since that tornado, we’re still finding problems that are causing more outages,” he said of the city’s electrical infrastructure.
He expects those issues to be resolved with the $413,000 grant the city has just received from the federal Department of Commerce.
“We’re happy to get this grant because it is going to improve life for our residents and help bring more industry and jobs,” he said. “We can do that if we can deliver dependable and reliable systems.”
That, in turn, he believes will increase the county tax base, as well.
Robinson said that winning the grant was a collaborative effort that the city undertook with Hunter Engineering, a large local manufacturer, and Rio Winters of the North Central Planning Commission.
Robinson said businesses like Hunter need to be able to rely on the electrical systems where they operate because if there is an outage, it takes technology-reliant operations at least half a day to get back up and running after an outage.
Prior to the forthcoming upgrades, Robinson said Durent has experienced an average of three significant outages each summer.
