Oklahoma Disaster Relief Volunteers have been busy this year thanks to the weather that has brought the need for fire, wind and rain responses. Since April 28, there have been DR volunteers serving Oklahomans impacted by tornado damage.
Chainsaw teams continue to work in the Claremore area this week. These teams are somewhat local and are driving from home on the days they are working. After this past weekend there are still around 50 homes needing assistance – This is out of the 454 total work requests received.
Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, June 18 – 19 – Texas County in the Oklahoma Panhandle received anywhere from 6-10 inches of rain, which led to flash flooding. Yes, that’s right – flooding in the Oklahoma panhandle in June. It appears the communities of Goodwell and Guymon experienced the largest impact to homes and other properties.
Disaster Relief volunteers will be using Sunset Lane Baptist Church in Guymon as their base of operations. The water receded enough over the weekend to allow assessors to begin meeting with homeowners to offer assistance with clean-up. Flood recovery teams (mud-out) are arriving today, Monday, June 14, and will began work tomorrow.
Currently, DR has received 17 requests from home-owners for assistance and anticipate that number will increase. Usually, it takes about a day and a half to complete one home. Teams will work through July 2 and will start back again the week of July 7 – taking off the 4 of July weekend.
Currently, DR estimates they will be in the panhandle for at least 2 – 3 weeks depending on the number of volunteers available that are willing to serve.
For more information about Oklahoma Disaster Relief, visit https://www.okdisasterhelp.org.
