Metro Retirement Community Floods Sparking Concerns With Residents

Around 8 p.m. Wednesday night, Oklahoma City fire crews responded to the Wesley Village Retirement Home and found the sprinkler system going off, and flooding in many of the units there.

“Well at first it was a trickle and then in a matter of minutes it was a gusher,” said Arthur Copeland, who lives on the fourth floor of the Wesley Village housing complex.

Copeland called News 9 for help as soon as the building started flooding. “We looked our floor over, and saw it wasn't necessary to evacuate our floor because it was going below us.”

Residents took the News 9 crew inside to see some of the damage up close.

Most of the water had been cleaned up by the time the News team arrived. But, you could still see where it flooded the stairways and the ceiling tiles of the first floor, second floor and third floor.

It even caused the buildings only elevator to be out of order and caused water damage to at least one person's stove and kitchen.

“Everything was gushing and coming down pretty fast,” said Copeland.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department told News 9 they responded to a 911 call at the retirement facility Wednesday night, and found the sprinkler systems going off on the third floor, but there were no signs of fire or a gas leak.

They say they did find a stove that was left on, which was spewing gas fumes into the air.

But firefighters shut off that stove and code enforcement came out as well, leaving the residents out of harm's way. But residents still had a lot of questions about their safety.

That's because many of them are physically handicapped and mentally ill.

“These people said don't rock the boat, because if you do -they'll kick you out,” said Copeland. “And this is all we can afford!”

There are signs outside stating construction and remodeling is still going on. But that's little consolation for the people living inside.

Most of the residents were just too afraid to speak on camera. They say they're afraid they'll get kicked out if they do.

News 9 placed a call to management, but the person who answered said they would have no comment and hung up.

News 9 was told despite the flooding; no residents had to be displaced.

Also, News 9 checked with Red Cross who said they were called by a relative, but they did not end up having to relocate any of the tenants.