Marine Corps Veteran and Wife, Displaced by Arkansas Floods, Receive Brand-New Home After 6 Months in Motel

Marine Corps veteran Curtis Sollars and his wife Connie have been living out of a suitcase in a motel for six months in Mannford, Oklahoma — a rural town along the Arkansas River Basin — because their home was destroyed in the 2019 Arkansas River Floods.

After four years and the collaborative efforts of 28 different charities, they settled into their new home this past Saturday, as first reported by KOTV- DT.

The Arkansas River floods started in mid-May 2019 and continued until mid-June 2019, causing more than three billion dollars in damages between Oklahoma and Arkansas, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

The average home in the National Flood Insurance Program received $71,300 for repairs, and those not in the program obtained only $9,700 in federal disaster aid.

The Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that flood insurance can be expensive, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fails to be transparent on areas’ flood history.

According to a November 2022 GAO report focused on Disaster Recovery, actions are needed to improve the distribution of disaster relief. The report found that the differing requirements and time frames for accessing aid, the multiple federal authorities, and limited data sharing are challenges “which could make it harder for communities—and particularly vulnerable communities, such as lower income areas—to successfully navigate multiple federal programs.”

That’s where Recovering Oklahomans After Disaster stepped in for Sollars and his wife. Since 2015, the non-profit organization has helped 201 disaster survivors and completed $770,035 of work in volunteer labor. Teamed with Soldier’s Wish, Habitat for Humanity, and Purple Heart Homes, the organization was able to not only build Sollars a new home but one tailored to his mobility needs.

Project manager Sam Trinity told KOTV-DT that the house was raised up high to prevent any future damage from flooding.

“They know I want out of this motel real bad,” Sollars told KOTV- DT. “It’s the best thing to ever happen to us in 37 years of marriage this is fantastic, I just can’t thank them enough.”