FORT SILL, Okla. (June 4, 2015) -- Chief Warrant Officer 3 Tony McCord, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 6th Air Defense Artillery, and his wife were at home off post watching TV in their living room on the evening of May 23.
McCord got up to get something and noticed water was coming through the crack in the door of the kitchen. He told his wife they needed to leave, so they gathered up their three dogs and one cat and jumped into their Toyota Tacoma 10 minutes later.
By then the water was already a foot and a half high.
They left with their animals, wallets, cell phone, keys and the laptop and iPad McCord passed on his way out of the house.
By the time they made it into the street, the water was between 2 and 3 feet high. They put the truck in 4-wheel drive and made their way slowly down the street passing neighbors who waved them on.
They learned later two of their neighbors got stuck in their truck and were unable to open the doors as their truck was pushed into an open field. They broke the glass and climbed on top of the cab waiting to be rescued. McCord said 35 people had to be rescued by boat that evening.
The next day, dressed in her Sunday best, Cindy Cline, a civilian who works with the garrison chaplain's office, and her family made their hasty exit. The floodwaters had encircled her neighborhood and her home was next.
"Around 7 a.m. we were awakened by a fire truck driving through the neighborhood telling us via megaphone that we were being evacuated," Cline said. "At 7:30 there was a little bit of water running over the road out of the neighborhood but within 15 minutes the entire neighborhood was flooded. We took some belongings and our pets and were driven out of the neighborhood in the front loader of a bulldozer."
Staff Sgt. David Gonzalez and his family were also evacuated by bulldozer that morning.
He made his way to Best Western only to be evacuated again because of the threat of flooding.
"It was an interesting morning," said Gonzalez, Headquarters and Head-quarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery. "We left everything but our animals. All the vehicles and everything we had were left in the neighborhood. My house had about 6 inches of water throughout."
The families of Cline, Gonzalez and McCord were three of 25 Fort Sill families displaced by the flood waters resulting from weeks of rain. As of May 28, 16 families returned home leaving the remaining nine seeking shelter with family, friends or local lodging, according to Justin McNealy, assistant operations specialist with the Fort Sill Emergency Operations Center.
Cline and McCord found shelter with friends, but Gonzalez chose to use temporary on-post lodging for his family and his pets.
"Everyone has been extremely helpful," Gonzalez said. "My chain of command knew about it Sunday evening, and immediately I had three or four co-workers offer me to stay with them or bring food. But it's easier with the pets to be on post. I got a call from our brigade chaplain on Tuesday making sure everything was going well."
Chaplain (Col.) Matthew Pawlikowski, Fort Sill Garrison chaplain, said he encouraged his chaplains to contact their commands to be informed of any families in their units who were displaced.
"(The chaplains) do a needs assessment and find out if (the families) need anything, if they don't need anything, if they say they don't need anything but really they do," said Pawlikowski. "Sometimes just a phone call can be encouraging."
Pawlikowski said chaplains have use of Operation Helping Hands, which is a source of money available in emergency situations in the form of commissary cards.
"The chaplains find out what their situation is and don't hesitate to make that stuff available," he said. "I trust their assessment. There is also a list of local helping agencies the chaplains can contact if they find people with particular needs."
"I talked to my unit chaplain and was offered financial aid but we don't really need it at this point," McCord said. "Right now we're fine so there's no need for it but depending on what happens with the house we'll have to see."
McCord said his family is a little better off than others in his neighborhood. The flood waters pushed holes through walls in every room and two exterior walls, damaged part of the roof, destroyed a two-story shed in his backyard as well as two motorcycles, his wife's vehicle and severely damaged his own truck, but because of his flood insurance, he has more assistance available to him.
"Having flood insurance has been the best thing for me," he said. "There are people who don't have flood insurance, just regular homeowners insurance which doesn't cover flooding. So they're paying for it all out of pocket. The cleanup crew is covered by my insurance, but others have to do it themselves or rely on volunteers. So I'm trying to help other people in the neighborhood to clean up."
Gonzalez said he was asked to come and talk with the post's leadership on how to better the communication between those in need and those who can help.
"We basically talked about ways the (commanding general) can prepare his leaders on how to deal with these issues better," Gonzalez said. "The goal is to try and get ahead of the game with better notices. I only had half an hour, so [we need] ways to improve notification times for Soldiers who live on the outskirts of town."
Soldiers and families who need assistance are encouraged to contact their unit religious support team, or Army Emergency Relief and Army Community Services.
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