SAPULPA, Okla. — Kazuko Stell takes pride in her yard, which is full of flowers and her fruit and vegetable garden.
She considers herself lucky her house didn't suffer much damage in last month's storm.
What upsets Stell is the leftover storm debris OG&E cut down from power lines which she said actually came from her neighbors' properties.
She said neither the City of Sapulpa nor OG&E will pick it all up, and OG&E policy dictates it's the homeowner's responsibility.
"Nobody wants to come pick it up," Stell said Thursday. "And I'm on social security, (a) fixed income...I don't even know how much it costs (to hire someone)."
Stell isn't alone. Creek County Commissioner Leon Warner told 2 News his office has been flooded with requests for help for weeks, and said they can only now get ready to set up waste drop-off sites.
"We've got two places in our district that we're waiting for FEMA approval," Warner said. "I don't want to say what those are just yet, but one is in the Pretty Water area which is north of Sapulpa, and one is in the Drumright area, which is the western part of our county. We're just telling (residents) just hang on. We're putting together our plans as we speak. It's never fast enough, and we understand that. But help is coming."
City of Muskogee announced earlier this week its city council voted to use emergency funds to initiate a citywide pickup not just at curbside, but also in backyards including limbs that don't even belong to the homeowner.
"It overwhelmed a lot of citizens to have that responsibility dropped into their lap in such a short notice," Muskogee Public Works Assistant Director Avery Rigney said Tuesday. "And there was some discrepancy in people getting brush that didn't belong to them."
Stell said she would like to see something similar in her city.
"I mean, it's not fair that all the cities around us, they are picking up," Stell said. "They're taking a long time, but City of Sapulpa, they said no."
2 News reached out to City of Sapulpa to ask what help they can offer, but have yet to hear back as of Thursday evening.
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