Families ‘lose everything’ to Wichita-area flooding. Here’s how you can help

Olivia Munoz was home Tuesday in El Dorado with her seven children as rain pushed the water from the creek higher and higher.

Parts of Wichita and around El Dorado received between 3 and 6 inches of rain from Monday night through Tuesday. The ground had already been soaked from a wet Memorial Day weekend, leading to flooding in the area.

Munoz and her husband bought the home, their first, in October, and neighbors said the area flooded every few years, but the waters never reached the house.

This time was different.

As the rain pushed higher, Munoz and her children started evacuating their farm animals, including their horse, Torta, who was in waist-high water.

The water did eventually reach their house, but Munoz at the time didn’t realize what that meant.

“It was never in our head that we are going to lose everything,” she said.

What insurance won’t cover after flooding

Juan Gutierrez, Munoz’s husband, left work and rushed to their home in south El Dorado, close to the HF Sinclair El Dorado Refining.

By then, the family had grabbed what they could and were standing in the street, watching the water creep up. It was two feet high in the worst spots and about 18 inches in the least, Munoz said.

The chickens and ducks were safe in their coop. The dogs were safely taken from the home. But their roughly 11 quail didn’t make it.

All the bedding, furniture and other items in their house were destroyed.

“Everything is basically ruined and we don’t have the funds to get that stuff again,” Munoz said, adding they had flood insurance, since it is in a flood zone, and homeowners insurance.

They also have a $5,000 deductible.

The 38-year-old said she was surprised to learn neither insurance is going to cover damage to their belongings, appliances, driveway or garages on the property -- only the home damage.

Their insurance also will not cover the cost of a hotel where they are staying until repairs are done, Munoz said. She doesn’t know how long she, her husband and their children, ages 2 to 19, will be in a hotel. A crew is coming Monday to start gutting the home.

Munoz has set up a GoFundMe to help with expenses. It can be found at shorturl.at/B1fJr.

Others have set up fundraisers as well.

Baby books, old family photos lost in Wichita floodwaters

Tracy Toguchi is hoping to raise enough money to get her and her three children a new apartment after flooding destroyed many belongings, including a washer and dryer, in the walk-out basement of their townhome.

“Everything else I lost is irreplaceable,” she said. She lost things like baby books and family photos dating back to 1980.

She said her neighbor’s basements flooded as well.

The 39-year-old said there was 3.5 feet of water in the basement during Tuesday’s flooding, which has since receded, but “you can smell the funkiness everywhere” in the rest of the home.

They have lived at the townhome near Douglas and Rock for about three years. She said there had been about a foot of flooding in the past, so she put everything into plastic totes, but now those are just filled with water as well.

The broker’s assistant has a set of twins, a boy and girl ages 4, and an 11-year-old son. The GoFundMe she started can be found at shorturl.at/AwtbQ.

Myra DeGrandmont-Martinez also set up a fundraiser for her grandmother, who she said had to evacuate her El Dorado home because of flash flooding, according to a GoFundMe post.

“We do not know much about what all is lost but from the photos her home is destroyed,” she wrote in the GoFundMe post.

That fundraiser can be found at shorturl.at/8Dl1g

Resources for flooding victims

Anyone who needs help after this week’s flooding can reach out to United Way of the Plains at 211. The organization can help steer you to available resources.

This story was originally published June 6, 2025 at 11:01 AM.