Company helps employee’s family get out of Puerto Rico
Tulsa World ginnie.graham@oklahoman.com
TULSA — When Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico as the strongest storm to make landfall in 85 years, the Flores family in Tulsa and Edmond couldn’t find their mother for a week.
The category 4 storm whipped in on Sept. 20 with 155 mph winds, immediately ripping out the infrastructure of clean water, electricity and life’s other basic necessities.
Somewhere in the middle of that devastation were Rose Rivera and her husband, Andres Vargas, who reside in Toa Alta. Her Oklahoma-based children watched from afar, without a way to look for or help their extended family living on the U.S. island territory.
“We didn’t know whether she was alive,” said Javier Flores, a member of the Union High School Baseball Hall of Fame and threetime All-American baseball player for the University of Oklahoma, including starting as catcher when the Sooners won the 1994 College World Series.
“And about 90 percent of our family lives in Puerto Rico.”
His sister, Rosa Flores Winters, who lives in Jenks with her husband and children, recalls the stress of those first days.
“I know I cried every day,” she said. “I would take the kids to school and try to get through. Always trying to get through.”
Eventually, a cousin sent Winters a Facebook message with photos showing that her mother and stepfather were OK. Then, an app allowed for a text message every few days.
Stress intensified as the conditions worsened. At one point, their mother, who is diabetic, was down to two cans of beans and some rice, but no water. She found a little more food at a local church.
Each day for their mother meant waiting in lines for gas to run a generator and other lines for the limited amounts of food and water, if available. The shelters were full, and darkness was the norm. Cash was unavailable because banks went offline.
“It’s almost incomprehensible. I can’t understand it,” Flores said. “I’ve lived there and never gone through anything like this, and we’ve seen storms there before.”
The focus for the Flores family turned to getting their mother and stepfather to Oklahoma until the danger passed. That proved nearly impossible. at night or on weekends.
“They’d ask, ‘What can do we do? How can we help?’ I didn’t know what to do,” Flores said. “There was no power. We couldn’t get calls out. We couldn’t even wire money.
“The most frustrating part is the feeling of helplessness. There was nothing we could do but wait, wait and wait.”
Flintco stepped in with an action plan instructing the company’s travel agency to take over transportation arrangements by using any means necessary.
“It was pretty humbling,” Flores said. “I knew before they would try to help, and I knew how the company treated their people. But, I didn’t know what to say. It took a little bit to understand the magnitude of what they just did.”
On Oct. 9, a Delta flight leaving San Juan in Puerto Rico took Rose and her husband to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Atlanta and then Tulsa. There, Winters and her teenage daughter welcomed her with hugs and a maybe a tear or two.
“My first thought was ‘thank God’,” Winters said. “Then, I noticed she looked really skinny and wanted to get some weight on her.”
Flintco released a statement from Kollman, the central region president.
“At Flintco, we’ve always been purposeful to create a culture built on positive contributions and community,” Kollman stated. “Javier is an important part of our team and investing in him and his family was an easy decision, especially given the magnitude of the disaster and ongoing challenges facing those in Puerto Rico.
“We are fortunate to be able to step in and provide assistance in situations like these, and we’re glad to provide peace of mind to Javier, his mom and their family.”