Warr Acres declares emergency, authorizes emergency repairs after sewer main collapse on Shoreline Drive

Warr Acres city officials declared an emergency and authorized immediate action after a section of the city sewer main collapsed on the 7200 block of Shoreline Drive, creating a sinkhole and exposing an active sewer flow near private homes.

Public works staff told the council they received citizen reports and found a void that emitted hydrogen sulfide and audible flowing sewage. "It's about the size of 4 couches," a staff member said of the sinkhole, which staff estimated at roughly 7–8 feet deep. The same presentation included city flow estimates for the combined junction at about 3,000,000 gallons per day (about 34 gallons per second) and a warning that heavy rain could roughly double those volumes.

City attorneys advised that the situation met the statutory criteria for emergency action. Council members voted to declare an emergency under the Oklahoma Open Meetings Act to allow immediate deliberation and then separately declared an emergency under the Oklahoma Public Competitive…