Elaine Phillips’ May 7th Flood Story: One is the Loneliest Number

In 1969, the rock group Three Dog Night released a hit recording called “One is the Loneliest Number.” As I listened to Elaine Phillips tell me her story about the May 7th flood, I couldn’t get the song out of my head. Elaine, still fighting off the effects of chemo, found herself alone at home with floodwaters rising around her for the fifth time since 1997. With her husband in New York on business, and her grown children in Austin and Houston’s Midtown area, this CPA is now trying to fight cancer, contractors, and “government logic” – by herself. As this Kings Forest resident reaches for the Xanax, she’s still reaching out to help other “flood virgins,” as she calls them. Below are portions of my interview with a woman “at the end of her tether.”

Rehak: You bought this home in…

Phillips: July of 1997.

Rehak: And you’ve flooded how many times since?

Flooded Five Times in 22 years

Phillips: This is my fifth, I think. And it had flooded two times before we moved in.

Rehak: I took a picture of you earlier pointing to the water level from Harvey on your house. It looked like at least six feet.

Elaine Phillips showing how high the water reached in her home during Harvey.

Phillips: Yeah.

Rehak: You were reaching well above your head. Did it get that high previously? 

Phillips: Just enough to require three feet of your wall to be ripped down.

Water height on May 7
Erosion from/through the Phillips’ yard has likely caused sediment to alter the gradient in her drainage ditch.

Rehak: Earlier today, you and I walked around your property. You showed me a berm that your landscaper built to help divert water from your house to the drainage ditch. Erosion from that water was starting to crack your driveway and expose a drain pipe from your pool. So you’ve lost soil back there. And the water isn’t draining fully to the corner where it should. The city inspector who came out and talked to you about it said it was…?

Phillips: “Performing as designed. No action needed.”

Water sometimes flows backward from the drain toward the Phillips house.

Rehak: Your response to that was?

Phillips: It was designed to flood my home? Then success! (She throws up her hands and laughs.)

Rehak: Do you think that eroded sediment may have altered the gradient in the ditch and be backing water up? 

Phillips: Absolutely. Sometimes it flows backward in the ditch…away from the drain. I’ve lived here since ‘97 and we’ve never had the ditches worked on. Logic tells you that the sediment that gets left behind on all of these heavy rains is going to change the landscape and create more problems. 

Just Finished Harvey Repairs and Then…

Rehak: What happened on May 7th?

Phillips: The first thing we always notice is the backyard filling up. 

Rehak: And then?

Phillips: Within a heartbeat, it’s over the pool. And once it’s over the pool, it’s up to the back door.

On May 7, water started seeping through the back of the house from the pool area.

Rehak: And?

Phillips: Then I noticed it coming in. I ran to the front door and then it starts coming in there, too. But it starts at the back first. Then I watch the pool and once the pool has overflowed I know it’s a matter of minutes.

Rehak: You said on May 7th that the first water came from the back.

Phillips: The laundry room right there is where I noticed it first. I always start by putting a bunch of towels in front. Isn’t that adorable? Thinking that it’s just a little bit. And so I had towels in all the doors. I even sandbagged for Harvey. That was adorable, too.

Rehak: On May 7th, how long after the start of the rain did it take for the water to get in your house?

Phillips: It started around 10:30 a.m. and was in by 12:44 p.m. That’s when I shot this photo. There were never any breaks in it for the drains to catch up. 

Video showing intensity of rain on May 7, 2019.

Home Alone

Rehak: Your husband was working in New York?

Phillips: In the Empire State Building. I texted him that we were flooding and asked whether he was going to come home? He said, “Only if you need me.”

Rehak: He wins the sensitivity award.

Phillips: I’m glad you see the humor in that. I did what I could. I had already started taking some stuff upstairs. Then the next morning I just got in my car with my dogs and drove to Austin, where I stayed for five days. 

Refurbishing the kitchen that had just been refurbished from Harvey.

Begging for a Buyout

Rehak: Would you accept a buyout? 

Phillips: We’ve begged for one. FEMA has paid us around a million dollars over these five floods. It just makes common sense. As a CPA, I ask, “When do you cut your losses?” You buy this home and quit paying these people two to three hundred thousand every time they flood. But unfortunately FEMA’s not really here. We need to appeal to Harris County. I did speak to the county guy and he said they don’t buy out homes that aren’t adjacent to Flood Control property. So they continue to pay out. Hundreds of thousands each time it floods.

Rehak: You paid how much for your house?

Phillips: $180,000 back in 1997. 

Feeling a bit overwhelmed. Luckily, the home has an upstairs.

Repetitive Losses Add Up to 4-5X Value of House

Rehak: So they’ve already paid out the value of the house about five times! 

Phillips: I don’t know what one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in 1997 would equal in 2019. But yes, they’ve paid four to five times – at least. Thankfully, we’ve always had flood insurance from the day we bought it. I don’t think it was in a flood zone back then, but I think it’s deemed a 100-year flood zone now. We barely got done with the repairs from Harvey when May 7th hit. Our appliances were less than a year old!

The Phillips’ garage has become a carpentry shop.

One Problem on Top of Another

Rehak: You’re in chemo. Life’s been ganging up on you lately.

Phillips: I was diagnosed with cancer last November. It was a reoccurrence. I had cancer in 2009. I was in chemo from December to April and then two weeks after my last chemo, we flooded. And now I get to do this (gesturing to the construction work all around us). And I will say if there’s anything positive that came from it is that it has forced me to get up and start moving. I couldn’t just lay around convalescing.

Rehak: Your kids are grown and gone. Your son is in…

Phillips: Austin.

Rehak: Your daughter is in…

Phillips: Austin and the youngest son is down in Midtown in Houston. 

Rehak: And your husband is working in New York. You’re in a floating home. On chemo. Can it possibly get any worse?

Phillips: You know what? The sad thing is I know it can. And so I always feel blessed as long as my children are safe and healthy. The fact is this house is paid for. Yes, I can continue to live in it. I’ll just live upstairs and come down to cook or whatever.

Ideally, I would like to sell it. Or be bought out and then move to a house on a hill. A small house on a hill.

Lox and louvers for breakfast, anyone?

Feelings Toward Governmental Entities

Rehak: How has the government handled your case? You’ve dealt with them on the buyout issue…the drainage issue. What are you feeling at this point?

Phillips: Believe or not, I actually have nothing but positive feelings about FEMA other than the fact that they need an accountant that says, “Hey let’s quit paying this Phillips family. Let’s just buy their house.” Other than that, they pay quickly. Which makes it easy to get a contractor because if they know you have FEMA, they know they will get paid. In that respect, I have no problems with FEMA. 

The City? I’ve talked to well-meaning people; the man that came today couldn’t have been more polite. But nothing gets done. And there’s no rhyme or reason to what they do. They’re grading ditches two streets over. but not here. 

Rehak: So they’re grading ditches where people didn’t flood and not grading them where people did flood?

Phillips: Yes. They said, “Your area is at a lower elevation.” So basically, they’re saying, “You can’t be helped.” But I said, “So the people that need it most don’t get help?” The idiocy of it all! (She practically growls at this point.) 

Getting to a Happy Place

Rehak: What would you like to see happen now?

Phillips: In the short term as in now, tomorrow, next week? I would love the ditches to be regraded. From my house to the corner at the proper slope.

Rehak: That would cost less than fixing up the house again. (Then…noticing that she seems almost happy.) You don’t seem very stressed, despite all of this.

Phillips: I’ve been stressed since this entire thing started. The City, the County, the contractor, the workers, the adjuster…who has been a complete jerk this time…they all pushed me to the edge.  And then health issues, I’ve been so stressed out.

But then yesterday, something came over me. I just thought “I don’t even care anymore” and it was such a freeing feeling. When I was diagnosed six months ago, my doctor prescribed me some some Xanax (an anti-anxiety medication). I’m not sure where the Xanax is now, but I think I need to find it and just go to my happy place. (She laughs.)

I will just walk my dogs. WHISTLING a tune and I do not even care. I will say this.  Purging your home was an oddly good feeling to it.  Nothing purges your home like a flood. 

Putting Albums 4′ Up and Getting 6′ of Water

The worst part was, stupidly, things that belonged to my mom who is no longer with me. I lost all of that. It was on the first floor. My photo albums of my children. I put them on shelves four feet high. Then we got six feet of water. So, I’ve lost all of the things that can’t be replaced. That breaks my heart. I still kept those photo albums, but they’ve swollen like this big (she spreads her arms wide). And every time I open them I just want to cry, so I just don’t anymore. But as far as things, you know…clothes, shoes…I lost everything I owned. I don’t care. 

Rehak: Where do you go from here?

Phillips: Ideally…SELL IT. My husband has wanted to downsize forever. I just need to have a bit of a yard for the dogs…and on a hill. I don’t need a six bedroom, four-and-a-half bath house. I don’t regret living here one bit because my kids growing up here had an awesome time. I couldn’t have wished for a better neighborhood.

Rehak: What else would you like to tell people?

Looking for Results

Phillips: Everybody I talk to has been great. But I just haven’t seen any results. Even getting the debris picked up took a long time. It took four work requests. You put in a work request on 3-1-1. And then they say, “OK we’ll be out on such and such a day.” But then they didn’t come.

When I called to see what happened, they said, “Well, that work order is closed. It’s complete.” I say. “No, it’s not. The trash is still there.” So they rescheduled it and told me, “They’re coming tomorrow.” And guess what. They didn’t come again. It took four requests before they finally came! 

I think what put me over the edge before I arrived at my Xanax Happy Place was knowing that they graded the ditches over on Valley Manor. And that’s all I wanted here all along. 

Rehak: I feel for you. 

Flood Virgins

Phillips: I’d already been through chemo twice. It was hell. But never in my wildest dreams did I think a day of heavy rain would flood me.

 The people in Elm Grove. It broke my heart watching them being interviewed on TV, because I believe the majority of them did not have flood insurance. They had no reason to think they needed it when they were interviewing them on TV. They were just crying and sobbing. Grown men were crying! And it really broke my heart even though I was in the same boat, but I jokingly referred to them as “flood virgins” because they had no idea what it’s like. The heartbreak and the lack of control. There’s nothing you can do.

Tips for Dealing with Contractors

A lot of them had questions. Who do I call? What do I do? Can anyone recommend a contractor? They didn’t know where to go. I know it so well I don’t even need a contractor anymore. Maybe I should become their contractor. 

Despite digging in her heels from time to time, Elaine Phillips contractor has returned for the last three floods. She must be doing something right.

Rehak: Any tips for dealing with contractors?

Phillips: Except for $10,000 to $15,000 to get them started upfront, pay after the work is done. Only dole out money for work that’s completed. And don’t feel like you’re being bitchy if you say, “Well, I’ve already given you five thousand or ten thousand and you’ve only done this.” No. You dig in your heels. The contractor and I have a love/hate relationship. He loves it because we pay him. We pay him on time. And we pay him the full amount. But he also knows he has to work hard.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/21/2019

661 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Gretchen Dunlap-Smith’s Flood Experience: “You Sunk Us”

To date, most of the press coverage about the May 7th flood has focused on Elm Grove and North Kingwood Forest to the south of the new Woodridge Village development. However, the flood also affected many homes in Porter to the west of it. This is an interview with Gretchen Dunlap-Smith in Porter whose home was built in 1994. It flooded for the first time – after Woodridge Village started clearcutting and grading the land next to her, and wetlands disappeared.

USGS National Wetlands Inventory shows that government classified much of the northern section of Woodridge as wetlands (dark green overlays). Porter borders Woodridge Village to the west. Smith home located in white circle.

“This Area Never Flooded”

Rehak: Has this area ever flooded before?

Dunlap-Smith: This area never flooded.

Rehak: How far back does “never” go?

Dunlap-Smith: I grew up in the Kingwood area. My parents moved here in late 1976. We had 2.5 acres off of Hueni. My brother built this house in ‘94. So I’ve known this home since its inception. I saw it being built. One house at the end of the block did get water in it, but none of the other houses ever flooded. Ever!

Rehak: What do you think caused the flooding on May 7th?

Dunlap-Smith: (Pointing to bulldozers in the distance) The construction down there. That’s the only thing that’s changed. During Harvey, there was never any fear, threat, or worry in my mind that “I’m going to have water in my home.” Ever! During Harvey, during the Tax Day flood and all the stuff before that…never any concern. This (pointing to the construction again) changed the game.

We used to ride four wheelers on that property so I know there used to be a huge detention ditch and a huge pond. There used to be a natural creek down off of the end that went up to the wood line. From what I’ve been seeing and what I’ve been told, they backfilled all that in. The wetlands disappeared.

Note dirt pushed in ditch along western edge of Woodridge Village. Homes from the north end of this development in Porter all the way down to Mace and Joseph streets flooded, including Dunlap-Smith’s home on Flower Ridge.

Ditches No Longer Drain

Dunlap-Smith: Even now, the ditches don’t drain. Our ditches drained before. They never had standing water in them. You look at the ditches now and you will see green algae and moss growing in them. We never had that before. We could mow our ditches. They were dry, because the water drained. And now it doesn’t do that. 

Rehak: Where did the water go before? 

Dunlap-Smith: It went to the end of the road and flowed out.

Rehak: And now it’s getting to the end of the road and stopping?

Where drainage from Flower Ridge in Porter joins the new Woodridge Village in Porter.
Residents say water now stands so long in altered ditches that it grows algae.

Dunlap-Smith: Right. Now it’s backing up and flooding the street.

Rehak: Were you blocked in on May 7th?

Dunlap-Smith: We got out Tuesday night when the rain receded a little bit…for like 3 hours. The water went down enough to where I felt comfortable going through it with our Nissan Altima.

Ditches Became Invisible in Flood

Rehak: These ditches are kind of…deep.  If you didn’t know they were there…!!!

Dunlap-Smith: Yeah! You could really do some damage. Or worse, drown yourself in your car.

Photo by Gretchen Dunlap-Smith from May 7 of Flower Ridge in in Porter.

Rehak: How many homes in your subdivision were affected?

Dunlap-Smith: I don’t have a count. But I know that several homes flooded on our street and other streets in the subdivision.

Rehak: How high did the water get?

Dunlap-Smith: A couple inches in our house. Deeper in others.

Rehak: How much did you lose?

Saved by the Peaches!

Dunlap-Smith: Carpet. I was able to get some furniture up onto soup cans and big jars of peaches.

I put most of our furniture up on stuff like that. Hopefully, I may be able to salvage a couple rooms of carpet. Most of my house was tiled by my brother and sister. So the only rooms that had carpet were my living room and my three bedrooms.

Swamped utility room after the flood. Photo. by Gretchen Dunlap-Smith.

Rehak: Is there any concern that the water got under the tile?

Dunlap-Smith: I talked to a couple people about that. I have two dehumidifiers that have been going non-stop since the day after the flood. Those haven’t quit. I’m dumping them constantly. 

Cleaning Up the House Without Flood Insurance

Rehak: How long did it take the water to recede? When you came back the next day was it out?

Dunlap-Smith: It was out of the streets.

Rehak: How about the house?

Dunlap-Smith: No. The house…I had to pull every bit of carpet out. It had not receded.

Rehak: Did you have to squeegee it out?

Dunlap-Smith: That carpet was a soaking wet mess! You see that shop vac behind you? That’s a wet/dry shop vac.

Gretchen Dunlap-Smith tries to save her carpet by drying it on the bed of her truck.

You know, this isn’t a flood zone. When we bought the home, we weren’t required to have flood insurance. We called our agent after the flood and he said we weren’t covered, but we could get coverage for four or five hundred dollars per year. But it wouldn’t activate for 30 days.  

“You Sunk Us”

Dunlap-Smith: My neighbor told me that they were down there digging a ditch line, trying to open up the drainage again from the damage they had done. But you’ve already damaged natural drainage. You changed and affected how the flow goes. So I don’t care what you do now. You sunk us. 

Rehak: Their plan shows a huge detention pond up in the northwestern corner of this land that they clearcut. And then there’s a linear ditch running inside their property all the way down to the bottom.

Where N1 detention pond and drainage ditch should have been before flood. Excavation still had not started weeks after flood. This area used to be wetlands before the developer “improved” the drainage.

Dunlap-Smith: Right. But that ditch is not there. And if you look down Ivy Ridge, every home has trash in front because every one of them flooded.

Trash pile at end of Ivy Ridge. Looking east toward new development where drainage used to go.

“They Will Never Build on that Property”

The gentleman behind us, when he bought his house, told us there was an easement on that property. He was told they would never build on that property and not to worry. And here they are (pointing to construction).

Rehak: I’ve heard that same story from a dozen different people!

Dunlap-Smith: You get told something and you take it as gospel truth. And you run with it. You don’t check. You don’t research it. You just believe it because they’ve been honest up until now. Which is unfortunate.

Rehak: Do you have any idea what the financial loss is so far?

Counting Her Blessings, Minus the PTSD

Dunlap-Smith: Not really. Honestly, I counted my blessings. It could have been a lot worse. I saw what those people in Elm Grove were hit with. And my husband lost everything in the ’94 flood, including his whole family home. He lived right behind where Reeves furniture used to be on 59. It’s an antique store now. He lived on Treasure Lane. In ’89 there was a flood. They lost everything. But then the one in ’94 really did them in.

As far as the financial? I’m grateful. I know it could have been worse. But I know there’s been a huge emotional cost. It triggered PTSD in my husband.

Rehak: How?

Praying as the Water Rose

Dunlap-Smith: My husband is 6’4”. Not a little guy. He dwarfs me. Works for the Harris County Sherriff’s office. Takes down inmates every day. He’s not a timid guy.

When water was coming in the house, he sat down with his head in his hands and had tears. And I’ve never seen him cry.

We both were under stress. Water’s coming in our house. I have our dogs in a kennel. And I realized then…oh my gosh. The dogs are standing in water inside their kennels. So I moved them up. My husband and I were both getting a little snippy, which isn’t in our nature. There we were. Standing up to our ankles in water in the middle of our living room. He grabbed my hand and I grabbed his, and it’s like, “OK, right here. Right now. We’re praying. Stop. We have to see this for what it is not. It’s not as bad as it could be. And now he’s seeing that. 

That Sour Smell

Rehak: Are you going to have to pull out wallboard and electrical?

Dunlap-Smith: I don’t think so. That’s why I said, “I’m counting my blessings.”

Rehak: Floorboards?

Dunlap-Smith: (sighs heavily). Probably. After the first three or four days, I could smell the sour. There was a heavy sour smell. Not so much mildew, but sour.

May 15th was the deadline to dispute our taxes and ours went up like $10,000. So I’m disputing them. I fired off a letter. (She begins reciting complaints in the letter.) “Are we going to be in a flood plain now?” “Are we going to require flood insurance?” We’re not a high-income neighborhood. We don’t have money to throw at that stuff.

Rehak: What kind of assistance have you gotten from Montgomery County so far?

Dunlap-Smith: Nothing. (Pause) Absolutely nothing.

Too Poor to Repair, Too Proud to Ask for Help

Rehak: What would you like to get?

Dunlap-Smith: I would like to get those sticky floor tiles at cost or at a highly discounted rate. I don’t know. I would like to get a dehumidifier because they’re not doing squat about this or taking accountability. My husband and I don’t have credit cards that we can buy things with.

We bought two dehumidifiers out of our pocket. That was nearly 500 dollars. You’re living paycheck to paycheck and you want to fix your house back. My Aunt told me to call Red Cross. But I’m not going to take money out of somebody’s hands that I can see needs it more than I do.  I’m not going to do that.

Wants Developer to Restore Drainage

Rehak: Let me rephrase the question. In regard to your development, what would you like to see Montgomery County and the developer do?

Dunlap-Smith: For starters, come in and dig out the ditches. Maybe lower the streets to create more capacity for the water before it gets into our homes.

Rehak: And in regard to that new development going in over there?

Dunlap-Smith: I would love to see the County force the developer to create a true, correct drainage ditch.

Rehak: Do you think the county is even aware that you flooded?

Dunlap-Smith: No. They sent out a message on Twitter saying, “Contact us if you had any flooding.” I don’t think they have any clue. 

We had water backing up and leaking from our toilet. Our tub was filling up with this noxious looking water and a septic smell. It was brown. 

No, I don’t think the county knows that it happened in a place that it’s never happened before. The developer says they aren’t the culprit. But they changed the drainage. And they’ve gone too far to turn back.

Rehak: You can’t put back nature the way it was.

Dunlap-Smith: Agreed. I wish the county could force them to create drainage. This flooding will happen again if things stay as they are.

Reluctant to Water Plants

Rehak: How do you feel about your future here?

Note: As with other flood victims I have interviewed, curiously, Ms. Dunlap-Smith thinks in terms of tomorrow, not next year.

Dunlap-Smith: We have a little joke here. Every time I water my plants, it rains. For some people it’s washing their cars. But I told my husband this morning that, “I’m afraid to water my plants.” So … if that tells you anything.  (Laughing) I’d rather let the plants die.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/31/2019

640 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Jim & Melissa Balcom’s Hurricane Harvey Story: A Cautionary Tale

Interview by Bob Rehak

Jim and Melissa Balcom live in a spectacular three-story home built on pylons 12 feet above the ground and 20 feet above the San Jacinto West Fork. Their home fronts on the north bank immediately west of River Grove Park. They named one son River, another Talon (like the eagles that perch outside their windows), and their dog Rio. To say they love the river lifestyle would be an understatement. But they admit it comes with a high level of anxiety. Jim, who is a contractor, built the house himself on property that Melissa’s father owned for decades. Jim wrangled with the City of Houston and FEMA for TWO YEARS over permits. 

Their home now sits about 125 feet from the West Fork. Before Harvey, it was 300 feet. The flood eroded a peninsula and small channel between them and the river. The peninsula used to have a thick stand of trees on it. They’re all gone now. Harvey gave the Balcoms a spectacular view, but it also gave them a constant reminder of the river’s terrifying power.

I interviewed the Balcoms on December 30, 2018, as the river was coming out of its banks for the fifth time last year. 

Permitting Gauntlet and Post-Harvey Repairs

Rehak: You have a beautiful property here. Tell me the history.

Jim: Back in 2007, we started the permitting process through the city and FEMA. We went back and forth with them for two years. They were trying to shut down all building in the floodway and there was a huge lawsuit over it. But since we were in the process before they passed the ordinance about not building in the floodway, they let us finish. But dealing with them was very hard. I always tell people that if you want to buy property out here, you better look into it first. 

It’s very soft sand down here. The engineer told us we would have to go 25 feet down to go 25 feet up with pylons. It’s flooding now at a rate that’s 10 times normal. (Pointing to the rising water) A few more feet and we have to pack our bags and get out of here!

The Encroaching River

Melissa: Before Harvey, there used to be a giant bank of trees just off our property that formed a little canal. You couldn’t even see the river. Harvey took all that out.  

Aerial photo of Balcom property taken two weeks after Harvey.

That peninsula went all the way down to River Grove Park.

Note peninsula along north side of river before Harvey. Now you see it…
After Harvey, now you don’t see it. The peninsula eroded away, leaving the Balcoms almost two hundred feet closer to the river.

Melissa: Now it’s all gone.

Jim: We decided we were going to move in here and we were committed. Our house is all steel framing. We have a hundred yards of concrete in the foundation. The first finished floor is 20 feet above the normal river level, but we still had one foot in the house, which is about where that window ledge is. 

Harvey floodwaters came up more than 20 feet to the bottom of the Balcom’s window ledge.

Pre-Harvey Prep 

Rehak: Tell me about your prep before Harvey. You knew it was coming.

Melissa: We were ready to evacuate. We had our bags packed and were ready to go. We’d put everything up. At 3 a.m., we got a call from a friend in Conroe telling us about the dam release. So, we threw our bags in the truck and rushed over to another friend’s house in Trailwood. Our goal was just to get out. We thought the water would go under the house and everything would be fine. 

That Sinking Feeling

Melissa: But before you knew it, our Trailwood friends were starting to flood.Their house had neverflooded. Then we’re in a panic trying to help them save their house…which is not on stilts. Then we heard that there was water in Kingwood high school and we knew that our house was flooded, because if water got in the high school, it’s high enough to flood us.

Disappearing Neighborhood

Jim: This neighborhood is slowly going away. Pretty soon, it won’t be here. There used to be a hundred homes here. Then it went down to 60 after the ’94 flood. Then 50. Now we’re down to 25. That house on the corner has water in it every time it floods. I don’t even know how they’re surviving. 

Melissa: We moved here because my dad owned the lot for a long time. He’s a CPA by trade and does contracting as a hobby, too, so it was fun to think about building this kind of house. But it took six years to build. Everything took exponentially longer than it would to build a regular house.

Engineering Challenge

Jim: We had to go 25 feet down before we got to any kind of stable ground. The engineer I used was from Galveston. There, they only go 10 feet down. Sometimes less.

He designed an 18-inch solid slab, with three layers of rebar and grade beams around the edge. It all ties into the pylons. We have 4×16 steel beams. It also has an 8-inch thick concrete stairwell in the center. Everything at ground level is designed to let the water flow through, like these louvered shutters.

Rehak: How did you determine the height of the first floor?

Jim: We built this house three feet higher than FEMA required. 

Melissa: It was based on the ‘94 flood. 

Jim: Downstairs, the slab is at 50 feet elevation. 56 is the height of the spillway at the dam. The water elevation is normally at 42.5. Our finished floor was 14 feet above the slab, or 64 feet. We thought we were smart to do that. But still, with all of that, we had a foot of water in the first finished floor. From the ground to where the water came was 15 feet.

So at this spot, the flood reached 65 feet.

A subtle reminder and conversation starter, the Balcoms painted this high water mark next to their front door.

Melissa: The neighbor’s house is set lower than ours. She had eight feet of water in hers. Hers was built 20 years before ours, so FEMA wasn’t requiring what they’re requiring now. 

Rehak: So, they’re not permitting anything down here anymore? 

Jim: After we got our permit, they tried to shut everything down. They let the people who had already applied continue. Then they tried to shut down all floodway permits, but later pulled back on that.

A Home’s Value

Melissa: You may have noticed the for-sale sign down the block. That lot has been for sale the entire time we have lived here. People come out here and they look at it and say, “Wow, look at this. This is really beautiful. It’s great. Then when they go to get the permit, it’s impossible to get because of the location.

Rehak: Is it impossible or just cost prohibitive?

Jim: It took us two years of steady work with the city. Then they said, OK, now you have to get FEMA’s approval. They did everything they could to talk us out of it. It was just one thing after another – endless stuff you had to do. And that was before Harvey when things were flowing better around here. 

Rehak: So, having gone through all that, living in this gorgeous house with this gorgeous view, is it worth it in your opinion? Would you do it all over again?

Melissa: NO!

Rehak: (Laughing) That was pretty quick.

Jim: It’s really scary to think you could lose your home. 

Melissa: We will never be able to sell our house. It’s worth only what its value is to us. We can’t say, “OK, well let’s move.” There’s no way to get out of the house what we put into it. That’s because of Harvey.

Changes in River Behavior

Jim: We don’t know that for sure. I think anywhere on a waterway, you’re at risk. But what’s bad for us at this point is that it keeps flooding and keeps leaving mud in the yard and it didn’t used to do that. We’ve lived here for a long time. Every once in a while, water would come up in the yard, but nothing like it does now.

Rehak: In the eight years before Harvey that you lived here, how often did the water come up?

Melissa: Three times that we had to leave and go stay in a hotel. At 48 feet, the river starts to get in our yard. Anything over 50 feet, that’s when we have to leave to get our stuff out safely. 

Receding floodwater after Harvey

Endless Mud and Dead Trees

Rehak: What was involved in the cleanup?

After Harvey, sediment covered the stairs up to the second floor. Two to three feet covered the ground.

Melissa: After Harvey there were two to three feet of sediment underneath our house. We had to get a bulldozer and push it all over the yard. Harvey destroyed a houseboat and another house just up the canal from us and left debris all over our yard. Then there were all the trees that fell. We had to pick those up, too. 

Jim: We lost several 100-foot pine trees. They’re dying left and right from all the silt that the flood left on top of everything. 

Part of the tree tangle that the Balcoms had to clear from their property after Harvey

Melissa: That was the biggest part of the cleanup. The dirt everywhere. It gets in your house. 

Rehak: How long did it take you to clean up after the flood?

Jim: We’re still cleaning. With this recent flooding, there are so many branches and so much mud, it’s hard to really get it cleaned up completely.

Eagles Outside Your Living Room

Rehak: You said there were eagles living around here. Tell me about that.

Jim: Lately, we’ve had them flying nearby. Two weeks ago, we had two full grown eagles fly into the tree behind the house. White headed. Full grown. We’ve seen them several times. 

Rehak: Are you concerned about the impact of high rises on wildlife?

Soil Like Baby Powder in a Glass of Water

Jim: Yes, but a bigger concern is people’s safety. After spending two years to get a permit for this house, I can’t imagine how they would get a permit for all of that. The river is out of control. The flooding is out of control.  And then to build a road! The soil is so unstable. It’s like if you poured baby powder in a glass of water. If you’re not from around here, you can’t imagine what it’s like.  They would have to put in pylons. It would cost a billion dollars to do that. I can’t imagine how much money that would cost. 

Untamed Nature

Rehak: Still, you chose to live here.

Jim: My son caught a 44-pound catfish right on that bank when he was ten. We have eagles perching outside our living room window.

Pair of adult Bald Eagles perched in tree outside Balcom’s window.

Rehak: You are big nature people. If you take the anxiety of the flooding away, are you still happy you live here?

Melissa: Oh, absolutely.

Jim: We have the most unique house around. In some ways were the lucky ones. But we’re also the unlucky ones, too. In normal conditions, prior to Harvey, the water would get in the yard occasionally. But we never had to evacuate until the Tax-Day flood, the Memorial-Day flood, and Harvey. And those were followed by five more floods this year!

Future of North-Shore Area: Increasing Isolation

Rehak: What do you see as the future down here.

Jim: I feel like eventually were going to be one of the few remaining here.

Rehak: You’re becoming increasingly isolated. Is that good or bad?

Jim: We like the isolation, but I feel that we’re really at risk because of the river. We could lose everything we have.

Visual warning to high-rise developers. Photo taken by Jim Balcom near River Bend during Harvey. Note wet marks on pole. Water was actually several feet higher than shown here.

Melissa: We budgeted for all the trouble. But we have friends in Trailwood and Kingwood Lakes that should have never flooded. That wasn’t supposed to happen to them. So, it was a lot more devastating to them…even though we live right here.

I thank the Balcoms and leave, thinking about the folly of permitting new structures in such a dangerous area, even as the County and City are buying out and tearing down hundreds of homes nearby that were destroyed by repeated flooding. With all the Balcoms did, they still flooded. And Romerica plans to build 5000 condos EIGHT feet LOWER than the level that the Balcoms flooded at.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/15/2019

563 Days after Hurricane Harvey

John Rocco’s Harvey Experience: Death and Destruction in the X-Zone

John Rocco lives in Kingwood Greens where 225 out of 225 homes flooded according to statistics compiled by the Kingwood Service Association. John is a man of few words. He let these images tell the story for him and sketched out a few details (see below). All images were taken after he was able to re-enter his home. I can only imagine his horror. It looks like his whole home was shaken, not stirred. But the home wasn’t the real tragedy.

John Rocco #1
An inch of mud and flood damage up to the door knob.
John Rocco #2
Fine layers of silt cover everything.
John Rocco #3
Large screen TV flipped off its stand
John Rocco #4
Fridge on the fritz
John Rocco #6
Kitchen needs aide!
John Rocco #7
What 240,000 CFS can do to your home
John Rocco #8
His life was turned upside down.
John Rocco #10
Buried treasures.
John Rocco #11
Room no longer fit for living
John Rocco #12
Uncalm after the storm
John Rocco #13
Come right in and sit awhile!

Death and Destruction in the X-Zone

Said Rocco,  “I’m supposedly not in a flood plain (Zone X) and I did the research on the build up of the Greens area after the 1994 flood before buying here in 2015. My house was built in 2005. Before moving here, I lived on Scenic Shore in Kings Point since 2001.”

“My son lost his house in the Enclave as well as his business next to the FEDEX store. We restored both as well as my house. My neighbor and I rescued the 90-year-old next door just as the water was within an inch of covering her bed in her first floor master. She had no idea. Unfortunately, she died about 2 months later.” 

“My wife was suffering with stage 4 cancer. I had to carry her out of the house in waist deep water to a rescue boat that our son arranged to pick us up. She was in shock. She caught pneumonia twice,  spent time in the hospital. She passed away in May, 2018, nine months later. I’m not blaming the flood per se, but it certainly had an effect.”

“I will say this. I will not restore all this again if we don’t get appropriate actions to mitigate flooding problems.”

Directly Impacted by Mouth Bar

Thank you, John, for reminding our political leaders of the pain that thousands of residents suffered. The homes in Kingwood Greens, like those in Foster’s Mill, Kings Point, Kings River and Atascocita Point were directly impacted by the mouth bar.

A year and a half after Harvey, a year after Mayor Turner said the mouth bar would be removed, and six months after “everybody but Trump” met in Austin and agreed in principle to remove it, not one cubic yard has been removed.

Performance, Not Promises

As we head into another election season AND another hurricane season, we need to remind our elected officials that it’s time for performance, not promises.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 14, 2019

562 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Melissa Sturgis’ Harvey Story: Three Generations of Antiques Out on the Curb

This is another in a series of looks back at Harvey, as told through the photos of its victims.

Melissa Sturgis, self-described “oil-patch gypsy,” is still angry. “My entire home.  Treasured antiques, three generations back from New England, are on this curb. Furniture and collectibles from eight years overseas in Malaysia, London and Russia. It’s a crime.”

Melissa Sturgis #4. Treasured antiques 3 generations back from New England are on this curb. Furniture and collectibles from 8 years overseas in Malaysia, London and Russia.
Photo courtesy of Melissa Sturgis. Her entire home, three generations of family antiques, and treasures acquired from traveling the world for eight years…all went to the curb after Hurricane Harvey.
Melissa Sturgis #1
What was left on the inside of Melissa Sturgis’ home after Harvey.
Melissa Sturgis #2
Melissa Sturgis, who is 5’10”, shows how high the water got during Harvey.
Melissa Sturgis #7
Family heirloom warped beyond usability.
Melissa Sturgis #6
Catch of the day. Fish on the floor after Harvey.
Cleaning out the closet after Harvey.
Melissa Sturgis #13
Harvey’s wake-up call.
Melissa Sturgis #12
“Someone bring a mop.”
Melissa Sturgis #11
Morning after Harvey. Melissa Sturgis’ Slip ‘N Slide Dining Room.
Melissa Sturgis #5
Shattered dreams left behind by Hurricane Harvey.

Silver Lining

Melissa Sturgis lives in Alaska now and says she is not moving back, though she keeps in touch with all of her Kingwood friends.

“Harvey was devastating, but it actually had a silver lining.  It shook us out of complacency and made us more resilient…taught us that life is about more than things….it’s about perfect strangers coming together to help one another. People opening their home to the five of us for several days.”

“As a side note, my brother in law, sister in law, nephew and 2 cats from Sugarland were forced to evacuate. They drove hours in the torrential rain to get to my house in KW for safety–then lost their two cars in my driveway—AND THEY NEVER FLOODED IN SUGARLAND. And my sister in law had cancer at the time….and still does.”

“Yes it was tortuous, tossing out Great Grandma’s Dining Room table onto the pile….as Grandma (who also flooded and was evacuated from Arbor Terrace in Town Center) sat on the sidewalk watching her things and her mother’s antiques get tossed. Excruciating. But we survived. I’m just grateful I am no longer there. I was in Kingwood last week visiting my mother in law and Fosters Mill Estates STILL has houses abandoned or partially fixed and for sale. Some are still being worked on. It’s awful.”

Why I’m Posting These Now

Melissa donated her pictures to the cause in the hope that they will help create awareness of the devastation that flooding causes, and perhaps, just perhaps, they may create some positive change, too. Thanks, Melissa!

I’m posting these now for several reasons:

If you have pictures from Harvey that you would like to share with the world, please send them through the submissions page of this web site.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/13/2019

561 Days since Hurricane Harvey

PTSD, Re-Traumatization, a Lifeboat Mentality and Flood-Bond Politics

Yesterday, I learned about re-traumatization of people suffering PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from Harvey. I had contacted Janice Costa, one of Kingwood’s leading psychotherapists to gain some insight. Keep in mind as you read this that neither Costa, nor I, have any idea how widespread this phenomenon is. However, Stephen Costello, the City of Houston’s flood czar, while speaking to a symposium on flooding at the University of Houston last year stated that 18% of Harris county’s residents suffered some sort of serious psychological distress after Harvey.

From presentation by Stephen Costello to Houston Geological Society in 2018 during a symposium on Flooding in Southeast Texas: The Science Behind the Floods. Costello said 18% of Harris County residents were suffering from “serious psychological distress” after Harvey.

I pointed out to Costa how the traffic on my site spiked when I posted The Night 11,000 Lake Houston Area Residents Became Homeless. Thousands of people have viewed it in the last week and are still viewing it. In fact, it’s my most popular flood post ever with the exception of the one with that snappy headline, Public Notice.

Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.
Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.

What Did I Tap Into?

I had accidentally tapped into some powerful emotions, but I wasn’t sure what or why and hoped Costa could help. Costa said victims sometimes feel such images and stories “validate” what they went through. “Yes! See. It was that bad!”

In the case of Harvey, it’s difficult for some people to let go, because they are constantly getting “re-traumatized” from related sources, she says. The examples below represent my interpretation of what she said, not literally what she said. I added dozens of examples that people have shared with me along the lines she mentioned.

Re-Traumatization, Day after Day

As if Harvey weren’t a big enough disaster, how about these complications? Do any of them sound familiar?

  • Flooding, but not having flood insurance, because you thought you were safely outside the 500-year flood plain
  • Power outages, spoiled food, Igloo coolers and grilling in the rain
  • Food lines, second-hand shops and shelter life
  • Separation from families, not being able to find loved ones in the shelter system
  • Loss of important papers, tax documents, and family albums
  • Losing the Bible that had been in your family for five generations
  • Gutting your own house, often with the help of strangers
  • Not being able to monitor everything they dragged to the curb
  • Seeing your life’s work piled on the street and picked over by looters
  • Your first Christmas without wallboard
  • Family heirlooms destroyed
  • Showering with a garden hose
  • Being displaced and dispossessed
  • Being forced to accept charity instead of feeling privileged to give it
  • Finding temporary lodging with friends, family or in hotels
  • Moving every few weeks so you didn’t wear out your welcome
  • Finding a vehicle and then finding out it had concealed flood damage
  • Stress at work from not being able to focus on your job while you rebuilt your life
  • The bad performance review at work that you knew was coming
  • Losing a business
  • Kids who cried themselves to sleep every time it rained
  • Breaking out in a cold sweat when you hear a helicopter
  • Feeling guilty about not being able to thank all the people who helped you
  • The two extra hours a day you didn’t get to spend with your kids because they were being bussed cross town to another high school.
  • Report cards that showed plummeting grades because your kids were traumatized
  • Educational handicaps that your kids may face for the rest of their lives as a result of effectively losing a year
  • Living in a camper
  • Your insurance benefits running out before repairs were completed
  • Losing your job
  • Losing your mind
  • Losing your spouse from all the stress
  • Trying to find money to rebuild
  • Living out of your car
  • Not having a car to live out of
  • Battling with the insurance adjuster
  • Battling with FEMA
  • Looking for help and battling a million other people looking for help
  • Struggling to find a contractor
  • Struggling to get the contractor to show up and do the work
  • Giving up the family vacation to supervise a contractor who didn’t show up
  • The contractor who ran off with your check
  • Finding out that the contractor hung your new front door upside down
  • Shoddy repairs with inferior materials
  • The City inspector who said the contractor did it all wrong
  • Lung ailments from breathing that unique Houston brew of mold, varnish, plaster dust and Clorox
  • Seeing friends and relatives succumb to the stress
  • Friends moving away to escape the stress
  • Going to the laundromat and using the machine next to the guy who was washing the clothes he had on
  • Living upstairs for a year and a half
  • Using your garage as a walk-in closet
  • Actually beginning to think of Taco Bell as haute cuisine
  • Learning to cook with a hot plate and a microwave
  • The stress zit that looked like a third eye in your forehead
  • Your favorite stores and restaurants being out of business for a year … or disappearing altogether
  • Going to college classes in a rented warehouse
  • Commuting two extra hours a day because the 59 bridge was out
  • Draining your retirement funds to rebuild
  • Then finding that wasn’t enough and tapping into your kids’ college funds
  • Not knowing how you’ll replenish them
  • Gaining 20 pounds from Chunky-Monkey stress relief
  • Jaw and neck pain from constantly grinding your teeth
  • FEMA and HUD help that arrived after you’d already rebuilt your home
  • Discovering that you lost all your repair receipts
  • Aches and pains from doing-it-all-yourself
  • Learning to love scratch-and-dent sales
  • Refurnishing your house from “Flooding Kingwood with Kindness”
  • Losing someone to cancer or heart-disease while trying to cope with everything else
  • The neighbor that abandoned the house next door…affecting your home’s value
  • Fearing what the next storm front could bring

My apologies to anyone I omitted!

More Re-traumatization!

Now consider the political systems around you. While we struggled individually, government offered help. Then came other kinds of re-traumatization.

The Lifeboat Mentality

In my opinion, people are looking for help and seeing hurt ahead. Many SAW the flood bond as a lifeboat. It buoyed their hopes and dreams for a return to safer shores. They were counting on the mitigation projects in it to protect them. Now, they feel thrown overboard by the struggle over prioritization of projects, i.e., who gets theirs first.

Our county judge called it “class warfare.” Fox News called it “bait and switch.” I call it maddening. I think residents rich and poor would agree.

Residents who suffer from PTSD, have suffered re-traumatization – so severely, so many times – that they may feel there is no escape. Political jousting just re-traumatizes them.

No one is telling them that more than half of the flood bond projects have started already.

Meanwhile, depression, anxiety and related illnesses are starting to surface. One of my dear friends lost her home to Harvey, her husband to cancer, and now is struggling with cardiac issues as she tries to rebuild her home. Alone.

Turning Negatives into Positives

Costa did offer a ray of hope. Some people have managed to find something positive in the flood experience, she said. For instance, those intent on remodeling might suddenly have the insurance money to do it.

One of my dreams is that Republicans and Democrats find a way to work together again. Maybe, collectively, we’ll find a way to create a functioning government that reduces flood risk and restores a sense of order to our lives in time to handle the next big hurricane. I think that would be a positive outcome from all of this. For all of us.

Posted by Bob Rehak on March 7, 2019 with help from Janice Costa

555 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The Night that 11,000 Lake Houston Area People Became Homeless

Eighteen months ago, approximately 11,000 Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita residents went to bed thinking they had escaped the worst of Harvey’s wrath. Hours later, they woke up to find water seeping through their windows, doors and walls in the dark of night. Without any warning. Thanks in part to the release of 80,000 cfs from the Lake Conroe dam.

The Harris County Flood Control Damage Map shows that on the West Fork:

  • 3652 Homes were damaged in Kingwood
  • 366 in Atascocita
  • 466 in Humble
  • Total: 4184 homes flooded in this area partly because of the release of 80,000 cfs from the Lake Conroe dam.

With an average household density of 2.71, that means roughly 11,000 people became homeless that night.

Ironically, Thursday, February 28, the San Jacinto River Authority will vote on whether to continue lowering the level of Lake Conroe seasonally. The measure was designed to help reduce downstream flood risk until mitigation measures can be put in place.

However, rumor has it that one or more members of the board want to present a petition by Lake Conroe boaters to NOT lower the lake level this year. To everyone who signed that petition, I dedicate this photo essay.

Water Sculptures by Julie Yandell. Taken during Harvey.
Water Sculptures by Julie Yandell. Taken during evacuation. Yard decorations take on an ominous feeling in the flood.
Woodland Hills Drive During Harvey by Julie Yandell
The flood cut off Woodland Hills Drive, a major escape route for people in Kingwood Lakes, the Barrington and Kings Cove.
Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.
Trash Day in the Barrington after Harvey. Photo by Joy Dominique.
Siding from home washed downstream during Harvey. Photo by Dan Monks.
Water skiing, anyone? Photo by Sidney Nice of Atascocita Point after Harvey.
Water skiing, anyone? Photo by Sidney Nice of Atascocita Point after Harvey.
Sidney Nice's kitchen after Harvey flooded the house to a depth of 63".
Sidney Nice’s kitchen after Harvey flooded the house to a depth of 63″.
Sidney Nice's house in Atascocita Point during Harvey.
Sidney Nice’s house in Atascocita Point during Harvey.
Her home flooded 40 inches above the slab.
Rebecca Johansen’s front door shows how deep flood waters got in her home … 40 inches.
Townhomes on Marina Drive in Forest Cove. Concrete and steel were less effective at preventing erosion than blades of grass.
Residents trying to escape as Harvey's floodwaters rose
Elderly residents of Kingwood Village Estates trying to escape as Harvey’s floodwaters rose. Twelve residents later died: six as a result of injuries sustained during evacuation and another rise as a result of stress from losing their homes.
Marilyn Davenport: Home Damaged During Harvey
Marilyn Davenport: Home Damaged During Harvey
From Ann Crane: "We had over 70 people helping to clear and clean our house. The Kingwood community coming together."
From Ann Crane: “We had over 70 people helping to clear and clean our house. The Kingwood community coming together.”
Jennifer Manning: "What 18 inches of floodwater can do to your home." From Walden on Lake Houston.
Jennifer Manning: “What 18 inches of floodwater can do to your home.” From Walden on Lake Houston.
Jennifer Manning: "We lived in Kingwood from 1992-2012 before buying a house in Walden that was 'built above the '94 flood.' We finished our rehab in June." Ten months!
Jennifer Manning: “We lived in Kingwood from 1992-2012 before buying a house in Walden that was ‘built above the ’94 flood.’ We finished our rehab in June.” Ten months!
The Kelsey Seybold Clinic has also been vacant since Harvey. 44% of all businesses in the Lake Houston Area Chamber were damaged. Some will never return.
Picture by June Ledet of Harvey flooding in Kingwood corner of Kingwood Drive and Forest Garden
Picture by June Ledet of Harvey flooding in Kingwood. Corner of Kingwood Drive and Forest Garden. Flooding here cut off escape routes for thousands more.
Classroom building at Lone Star College/Kingwood flooded during Harvey after SJRA release. Six of nine buildings flooded causing more than $60 million in damage. The College just fully reopened this month.
Milan saunders
Milan Saunders home in Kingwood Lakes
That’s all, folks! Harvey flipped the baby grand piano and broke to legs off the heirloom.
Repairs to IH-69 took about 10 months and $20 million, disrupting all traffic into and out of the City for hours each day.
The mother of all walk in closets…Amy Slaughter’s garage.
Home of a single mother who had just lost her job.
When sewage treatment plants flooded, toilets began flowing in reverse.

So please, Lake Conroe boaters. Let’s keep this in perspective. We understand your inconvenience. Please try to understand ours. Help us recover our lives.

To see more examples of how Harvey affected the lives of Lake Houston Area residents, please see the Submissions Page of this web site. It contains images submitted by residents affected by Harvey. If you have images you would like to share, please send them in via the Submissions Page.

Posted by Bob Rehak on February 28, 2019

548 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Tammy Gunnels Flooding Story: Ten Times in Ten Years

If they kept world records for flooding, surely Tammy Gunnels would have the gold medal. Her home flooded 10 times in 10 years, once due to Hurricane Harvey and the other times due to inadequate or damaged storm drains on her street. The lady, who works as a maid and has scrubbed toilets for 33 years, has sought help from Montgomery County, the State of Texas, and FEMA – all to no avail. But rather than walk away from her mortgage, she and her husband have spent a quarter of a million dollars on flood mitigation for an $80,000 house. This family not only slipped between the cracks, it got swallowed by them. Learn how two people’s lives changed forever when they bought a house from an unscrupulous seller who hid past flooding problems. I interviewed Tammy in her modest home in a modest neighborhood called River Club Estates. The neighborhood is between Sorters Road and the West Fork of the San Jacinto in Montgomery County.

Tammy Gunnels baking Christmas cookies in her kitchen with her son Justin Davis and husband Ronnie Gunnels.

Rehak: When did you buy this house?

Gunnels: In December of ’08, exactly ten years ago.

A low lot and inadequate drainage: a bad combination for the Gunnels family.

Rehak: When did you first flood?

Gunnels: Four months later, in April, ’09. We’ve flooded nine more times since. If the forecast calls for 2 to 5 inches, we have to prep for flooding. Before we built a concrete berm that runs 8 inches below and 8 inches above ground around the house, a heavy rain would flood us in half an hour. Now, it takes about two hours of heavy rain. It all depends on how fast it comes down.

Rehak: How do you prep for a flood?

Gunnels: We put all of our furniture up on wooden blocks that we store out in the garage. The only carpets we have now are area rugs, so we roll those up and put them up on couches or tables. 

Extensive Flood Mitigation Efforts

Rehak: What else have you tried to mitigate flooding?

Gunnels: Everything anyone has ever suggested. The first thing to go was carpets. For a while, we tried indoor/outdoor carpets. A contractor told us we could just suck up the water after a flood with a shop vac and then dry it out with fans. But that theory only lasted until the septic backed up. So we ripped everything out and then painted the concrete. But floods make the paint bubble up. We repainted a couple times and spot painted for four years. Then after Harvey, we realized “NO MORE.” I wanted something that I never had to mess with again. So, we went to stained concrete.

Rehak: It’s beautiful. How do you like it? 

Gunnels: When we get water, my husband shop-vacs it up and we’re good.

Rehak: What else have you done?

Gunnels: We have three-inch plastic baseboards instead of wood. They never rot. They are clipped into place so we can remove them before water starts coming in.

Removable kick plate conceals flood space under elevated cabinets.

We raised all the cabinets and sinks up off the floor, like in a motel. Some of those have removable plastic kick plates, too.

Because we usually only get a couple inches in the house, our sheetrock no longer goes all the way to the floor. It stops 2 inches short. We’ve installed pre-treated studs everywhere, even on the inside of the house. We use green board, which is made out of cement, instead of normal wall board which soaks up water. We’ve installed gutters and downspouts to carry the water away from the house. And we’ve put in French drains for the same reason. We’ve even elevated appliances like the water heater.

Wallboard stops above floor. All studs made from pre-treated timber, even in interior of house.

Rehak: How much water did you have in the house during Harvey.

Gunnels: Over 4 feet. That was from the river, not the street.

Source of Problems

Rehak: Do other people in the neighborhood have the same problems?

Gunnels: Since we’ve been here, aside from Harvey and the Tax Day Flood, no one else has flooded except for us and the house next door. When it starts to rain, water is supposed to drain out through the neighborhood. But there’s not enough slope or capacity to carry it away. We’re at a low point, in a little bowl.

First time we flooded was from a flash flood. We got 4 or 5 inches. Nobody in the whole, entire neighborhood flooded but us.

Insurance approved repairs up to two feet. Once we cut into the walls, we saw water marks three feet up on the studs. The people we bought the house from only disclosed two floods, neither more than a couple inches, and said it was because of the lack of maintenance from the county. We found evidence of other floods that were much worse when we started to investigate.

From Misrepresentation to Mitigation

Rehak: How did that affect your insurance?

Gunnels: When we bought the house, we were in the 500-year flood zone. So, our insurance was only $285.

After our very first flood, State Farm said you’ll have to go direct to FEMA; you’re high risk. That’s when we learned how bad the problem was. FEMA told us the house had flooded FIVE times. The sellers only disclosed two and said water had never gotten over the baseboards. That was an outright lie from the water marks under the wall board.

Once we found out all that, our contractor recommended that we build a concrete berm 8 inches below and 8 inches above ground around the house. So, we sunk money into that. We were good for a couple years. We later realized that our “good luck” was the drought. The following year, we flooded three times in a seven-week period. As soon as we got sheet rock cut, it would flood again. It just would not stop!

Don’t forget to step up when you leave through the front door!

When State Farm sent us to FEMA, FEMA wanted $2,000 per year. After constructing the berm, gutters, French drains, and more, my husband and I felt we would be OK without the insurance.

Hit Five Times in One Year Without Insurance

Then we got hit five times in one year. When I tried to get insurance, they now wanted $3,000 a year. But we hadn’t made any claims except for that one in ’09.

Not even a concrete wall around the exterior of the house was enough to stop the flooding. 
Gunnels tries to sop up the leakage with extra sheets.

We had done everything anyone had told us to do. Except for elevating the house. We got three different estimates for that. Not including electrical, plumbing or anything else, the lowest was over $100,000. That just wasn’t feasible for us.

Not Enough Claims Means No Buyout

At this point we were up to six or seven floods. Then the Tax Day flood happened. That’s when Montgomery County stepped in. They said, “We’re going to start offering buyouts. We asked for one, but they said, “You don’t qualify because you haven’t maintained insurance.”

I said, “Because I didn’t file claims, you won’t offer a buyout?”  He said, “Unfortunately, that’s the way the system works.

So, we bit the bullet and got insurance in 2015. In our bathrooms, our vanities and everything are elevated. There’s nothing touching the floor.

Example of elevating cabinets to reduce flood damage.

I had my kitchen cabinets specially built. The kick plates are removable. They’re made out of plastic and clipped on. In a flood, I can pull off those kickplates and let the water go under. Usually, we only get a couple inches.

Rehak: But in Harvey the whole neighborhood flooded?

Gunnels: Pretty much. Just a few homes that sit up higher did not flood.

Advice For Others

Rehak: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give homebuyers to avoid the situation you’re in?

Gunnels: Buy flood insurance and file a claim every time it floods.

Also, I didn’t know you could get a history. Of course, sellers should disclose. But sometimes they conceal things. Don’t take the seller’s word for it. Get a print out from FEMA. They’ll give you a history on any property that’s had a flood claim on it. Also, talk to neighbors. It’s very important to talk to the neighbors because we flooded without insurance, so it’s not on record. But our neighbors know.

FEMA had paid out a total of a quarter million dollars on this property BEFORE our claims. We’ve now made three. 

Rehak: FEMA paid $250K. You put another $250K into it. So you have half a million dollars into a house that cost $80K. 

Gunnels: (Laughs.) Yeah, pretty much. In a home built in 1967. It makes absolutely no sense.

Search for Help from Officials

I clean homes for a living. One of my clients is a lawyer. After Harvey, she sent some letters for me, trying to get a buyout. But the answer we got was, “No funds available, Montgomery County is no longer doing buyouts.” 

I don’t know who to contact at this point. I contacted county commissioners Jim Clark and Ed Rinehart. I’ve contacted Cecil Bell, our state representative. I have already made plans to call the new county commissioner James Metz. He starts in January. We’ve talked to FEMA numerous times.

The county engineers came out and explained how the drainage works.

They said we need a wide drain that goes from Sorters Road to Lana Lane.  We said, “Well, build it.” They said, “We can’t. It’s on private property.”

When the property owners gave them permission, they said, “Oh no, we can’t. It’s too much of a liability. We can’t do that.”

My neighbor uncovered some emails saying they were going to do it, and then somehow, the money wasn’t there for them anymore.

Emotional Losses Compound Financial Losses

Rehak: Financially, the floods have been devastating for you. How have you survived emotionally?

Gunnels: In every flood, I’ve lost something. I inherited things from my great grandmother, grandmother and mother. Slowly but surely, over nine or ten floods, I have lost everything they gave me. After each flood, I told myself that “It’s just stuff.” But at a certain point, I said, “It’s my stuff.”  

The hundred-year-old family bible Gunnels inherited from her mother: an irreplaceable loss to flooding.

Everything that you look at in this house is brand new. Everything. From the lamps to the tables. To the throw rugs. I have lost everything. But with Harvey. This was lost. (She plops a swollen book on the table; at first I don’t recognize what it is.) This is my mother’s family bible from 1918. I can’t turn the pages because they are stuck together. (She breaks down crying.)  That is what it does to me. 

Gunnels’ husband and son return from an errand.

No Way Out

Rehak: What would you like to do now if you could do anything?

Gunnels: Get bought out. Give me anything. A FEMA trailer and a piece of land. I’ll be happy. 

My grandkids who visit every two weeks religiously have their own room here and they have lost everything, too. They can’t keep toys or a doll house or anything here. In EVERY flood, we lose something..

The first thing people say when they hear about our situation is, “Well, just move.” “Really? Where are we going to move to?” We’ve even looked into walking away from this house and letting it go into foreclosure. But that ruins our credit. We wouldn’t even qualify to rent a plastic shed from Home Depot.”

“We also looked into buying another house while we still owned this one. But the bank wanted to see a year of payments made on two places before loaning the money.” There’s just nothing that anyone can suggest that we haven’t looked into.

Fighting a Tax Increase

Rehak: So, I’m guessing that if you’re running Tammy’s Maid Service and you’ve sunk a quarter million dollars into this place, you’re not a shirker.”

Gunnels: Right! (Laughs.) I’m not high educated, but I’ve scrubbed toilets for 33 years. We’ve worked for what we have.

The Montgomery County Appraisal District wanted to raise our taxes one year.  “Oh ho ho,” I said. “You want to raise my taxes on thisplace? They tried to come at me with, “The home over here is worth this and the home over there is worth that.”

I said, “Look at the pictures. You got raw sewage in the ditch. I flooded this many times.” They dropped our valuation down to $60-something thousand dollars. At first, they tried to argue with us. But the board voted unanimously to lower our appraisal.

Montgomery County wanted to increase the appraisal on Gunnels’ flood-prone property, but ultimately backed down.

If this house didn’t flood, it would be worth about $160,000 with all the improvements we made. We upgraded everything. We even replaced all the wiring in the house. Replaced aluminum with copper. Put in smoke detectors. A new breaker box. The works.

I’m not asking for anything more than what I have. I’ll even take smaller. As long as it doesn’t flood.

Gunnel’s Husband: My family all lives near here. So it’s important to us that we stay in the neighborhood.

Impact on Retirement and Savings

Rehak: What next for the Gunnels family?

Gunnels: Every single time a claim is paid out on this house now, it’s taxpayer money. We waste taxes on this. 

Rehak: How much have you received in flood insurance claim reimbursements?

Gunnels: About $180,000.

Home Wet Home! No way to live with it and no way to leave it.

Rehak: What has happened to your savings?

Gunnels: We’ve burned through his 401K and every bit of savings we had. DONE! He is 53. I will be 49 next month. To our name, we have about four grand in savings.

Gunnels’ Husband: I didn’t know we had that much!

All: (Belly laughs.)

Gunnels: He’s got a little bit left in his 401K. Maybe 20 grand.

Rehak: That’s not going to last very long in retirement. 

Gunnels:  One year. Maybe. Everybody I talked to has empathy, but apparently there is no sympathy … because “Here we are.”

This was going to be our retirement home. When we moved here, we still had two kids left in school between us. Now they’ve moved on and we have grandkids. This was going to be our last home ever. We were fixing to die in this home. And we probably WILL. 

Everyone: (More belly laughs.)

Posted by Bob Rehak on December 28, 2018

486 Days since Hurricane Harvey

The Great Escape: Rebecca Johansen’s Hurricane Harvey Experience

Rebecca Johansen is a Kingwood-based CPA, specializing in taxes. Before Hurricane Harvey, using technology and remote capabilities, she was able to work primarily from her home in the Enclave. Almost 15 months later, she’s finally back in her home, but “scared to death” of the possibility of another flood. Her journey since Harvey has been a remarkable blend of heroism and humility. The only constants in her life have been stress, Lysol and sleep deprivation. Now, at age 62, her main goals in life are simply to enjoy the holidays with her family and not see a waterline on her walls. This is the sixth in a series of interviews with Harvey survivors.

Rebecca Johansen today in her kitchen, remodeled for the second time in two years. Her elderly neighbor, Jean, perched on the granite countertop during Harvey, waiting for rescuers.

Rehak: Tell me about the night of the flood.

Johansen: I owned a small generator. I remembered being without electricity during Ike for two weeks and didn’t want to go through that again. I didn’t think we would flood, but I was certain we would lose power.

Helping Elderly Neighbor

After I got my generator started, I went over to my neighbor’s house. She was 85 at the time. Her name is Jean. I said, “Come on. You’re spending the night at my house.” She refused at first, but I didn’t want her to be there by herself in the dark, especially if we flooded. She had almost drowned as a young girl and was deathly afraid of water, so we packed her medications and a change of clothes. I set her up in a spare room with a little lamp and a TV. About 10 p.m., Jean went to sleep.

Shortly after that, things started to go downhill. We started getting water in the garage, so I had to turn off the generator. Then, it was pitch black. I thought we would just get an inch or two, so I started putting stuff up on tables.

Calls for Help Go Unanswered

It was kind of hard to do in the dark. Then about 2 o’clock in the morning, water started coming in the house, too. After a while, I figured I had to get Jean someplace safer, so I put her on my kitchen counter. I told her that as soon as daybreak came, I would try to get us help. But the water was coming up pretty fast. I called 911, but I couldn’t get through.

Desperate Attempts to Attract Rescuers

When daybreak finally came, the water was coming up and up and up. I went out into the street because I could hear helicopters. But we have so many trees. They couldn’t see me. Eventually the water in the street was up to here (gesturing to her chest).

I tried crawling up on the brick wall between our houses, anything to be seen. No luck. I kept going out to find help and back in to check Jean. This went on for a while.

Eventually I made my way down the street, waving a white shirt. Finally, a helicopter saw me. They looped around and lowered a man down on a cable.

I was so worried about Jean. At one point, I went back in to check on her and she saw one of my shoes float by. She said, “Rebecca, I always did like those shoes.” We both laughed.

Rehak: You were rescued by helicopter?

Evacuation and Search for Remaining Residents

Johansen: No, he called for a boat. I can’t say enough about how professional everyone was. He was so kind. Jean was stressed. He reassured her. He said, “Everything’s going to be OK.” Then he took her up in his arms. By that time, a Coast Guard woman had come in and the two of them got her in the boat. They were just stellar.

They asked me if I knew who else on the street needed to be rescued. Then I told them about another neighbor. They went to her house and banged on the front door, but no one answered. They came back and said, “No one’s home, so we’re moving on.” I said, “I can’t believe that she isn’t there. She wouldn’t just leave the two of us here if rescuers came.”

Rescuing More Neighbors

We were about to leave. They had called another boat in to help a lady across the street. Our boat just idled for a minute to make sure they didn’t need assistance when I saw my other neighbor waving in the front window. I said “She’s there! We gotta go back.” So they went back and came out with this large suitcase. Presumably, she had been in the back of her house packing some things when they first knocked and didn’t hear them. She followed them out with another bag and a cat in one of those cat things. Then we left by boat.

“Wearing” Debris on Long, Wet Boat Ride

I had debris all in my hair and clothes. The debris that came through there was just unbelievable.

Rehak: Give me some examples.  Woody?

Johansen: That kind of stuff, plus trash. I didn’t even realize at the time that the floating debris had injured me. You’re just in “fight or flight” mode. This whole arm was black and blue. It looked like someone had just beat me.

Chemical storage tank that washed up in Rebecca Johansen’s yard during Harvey.Note mud line on wall relative to the height of the people on the right.

So, they get her in the boat. We pull out. We’re on our way across Kingwood Drive, through the H-E-B parking lot, It’s pouring rain. They dropped us off by the Park ‘n Ride. We had to walk a fair distance to where you could get a ride.

Volunteers Help Transfer to Creekwood Middle School

Finally, a very nice man with his wife and daughter took us over to Creekwood Middle School in their pickup.

Rehak: Did Creekwood stay dry throughout the ordeal?

Johansen: Yes, but there was no power. Jean has compromised lungs, so I was very worried about her. She got soaked.

I said, “Jean, we have to get you into some dry clothes.” So, we go in the ladies’ room. I had a little flash light. It took her about 20 minutes to change into dry clothes, then I changed. My clothes weren’t dry, but at least they didn’t have twigs in them.

At Creekwood, the community response was overwhelming. Drinks. Water. Snacks. Clothing. Shoes. People brought food and everything you could imagine. It was amazing how quickly people responded. Just amazing.

So Bruised, Doctor Suspected “I was Battered Wife”

The next day I got an infection. Of course, I’d lost my car, so I got a ride to a clinic. I told the doctor I was there for an infection and he looked at me like I was crazy. I think he thought I was a battered wife.  He said, “What in the wide world happened to you?” It was from all the flood debris bumping into me.

Rehak: How long were you in Creekwood?

Johansen: Not long. Jean’s son-in-law and daughter live in Kingwood Lakes. She has another daughter who lives in Atascocita. They were frantic, just beside themselves, worried about Jean. I let them know that she was OK and that I had her at Creekwood. They had flooded too, but had some friends pick us up. Thank God, we didn’t have to worry about that, too!

Sheltered by Strangers

For the first few days, we all stayed with the friends. I didn’t know them, but Jean said, “Stay with me.” She wanted us to be together, so I stayed four or five days, then found somewhere else.

(Johansen chokes up at this point.)

Rehak: How long did it take you to get back to your house after the flood?

Johansen: The water came up fast and went down fast. We got rescued sometime during the morning. Then a couple of days went by. I guess it was on the third day that I got to my house.

The water had drained out. It was just mud, gunk, and a couple of dead fish. It’s amazing how 40 inches of water can move things around your house. The refrigerator turned over. Furniture scattered everywhere. The garage doors buckled from water pushing against them. It was the worst sight you can imagine.

No Warnings to Evacuate

Rehak: Did you get any warnings to evacuate?

Johansen: No.

Rehak: Did you know that they were releasing water from the dam?

Johansen: No. I figured they would have to release something, but nothing like what they released. I was more worried about the power outage than the flood.

Rehak: When you first sensed that water was coming in the house, was it already too late to get your car and evacuate?

Johansen: Yes. No one could get out. Before nightfall, Kingwood Drive was already blocked off.

To not start the dam release earlier and issue proper warnings…someone really dropped the ball. That’s my personal feeling. A week before, we all knew that this storm was going to move slowly and drop a lot of rain, so I’m at a loss as to why there wasn’t an earlier release.

Battling Inexperienced Insurance Adjuster

Rehak: Did you have flood insurance?

Any place can flood. The drain on your street could get plugged with debris and you would flood. I never thought I’d need it, but yes, I had it. Thank God.

Rehak: Did you battle with adjusters and contractors?

Johansen: I think my first adjuster had never done any adjusting before. She was terrible. I ended up being a squeaky wheel. I couldn’t even get her out to the property. Eventually I got through to somebody. My insurance agent, called me. He said, “Rebecca, I don’t know whose cage you rattled, but they are going to call you and offer another adjuster. I got a call within the hour. He showed up at 8 a.m. the next morning.

At that point, I was still pretty sleep deprived. I forgot to discuss some things. So I called him back the next morning. He said, he would proceed quickly and not to worry. After three and a half weeks of hell with the first adjuster, this guy got it done in two days. I guess my perseverance paid off.

Everything was a battle at that time. You have to get a contractor. File insurance claims. Buy a new car. Find a place to live. Fight for attention with millions of other people! All at once.

Lucking Out with Great Contractor

Luckily, I had a great contractor, Randy White, owner of Superior Home Renovations. He had done my kitchen the year before. Unfortunately! (We chuckle at her joke, i.e., how she got to replace her kitchen twice in one year.)

Randy is a very good man. He’s local. He does excellent work. He’s honest. And right after the flood, he showed up to check on me to see if I was OK. Randy White was a godsend. I like him personally and I would recommend him to anyone. He’s been there for me through this whole thing.

Rehak: How long did it take him to get all the work done?

Johansen: Until mid-June. They’re still working on some things. Like I just got the exterior painted last week. But the house is basically complete. They’re just finishing punch-list items. I’m so grateful that I have Randy.

Jean Gets Back in Her Home

Rehak: What happened to Jean?

Johansen: Jean wanted to get back in her house. Kyle and Charlie Campbell, her daughter and son-in-law found a contractor for her. They hadn’t even started on their own house by the time they got Jean back in hers. Right after the flood, she was very ill with pneumonia and was hospitalized. She had a rough time, so she was everyone’s focus.

Kyle and Charlie are now working on their house in Kingwood Lakes while living with Jean.

Enclave Still the Place to Be

Rehak: Tell me about the Enclave.

Johansen: You know before the flood, people were clamoring to get into that neighborhood. Location. Location. Location. Houses were selling quickly … especially if they had updates. Everybody wanted to live in the Enclave. It skewed to retired people because it’s one story, small yards, that kind of thing. But there’s a mixture of people. The location is wonderful; there’s so much that’s walkable. You could live your life and not go much more than a mile in any direction.

I love it; I intend to live the rest of my life there as long as I’m healthy enough. But if I go through another flood again, I won’t rebuild.

Single and Senior: How She Did It

Rehak: You’re single?

Johansen: Yes.

Rehak: That makes it harder.

Johansen: Yep. No back up. Everything is on your shoulders. My livelihood. Everything.

Rehak: How did you do it?

Johansen: “One hour at a time. Also, I ended up staying with a friend who was also a client. Her husband passed away about four years ago. She travels a lot. She doesn’t have any children. And she’s super nice. She said to me, “Rebecca, I’m gone quite a bit. Why don’t you stay at my house? It’s quiet.” She lives in Sand Creek. So I stayed there and am grateful for all that she did for me. I was working seven days a week. You don’t ever do it all by yourself. People help. I was lucky to have my son, daughter, family, and so many friends and colleagues who reached out to help me. I can’t thank them enough.

Best Way to Help: “Just Show Up”

Rehak: Tell me about the help you got.

Johansen: This whole thing taught me something. If something really bad happens, and I am in a position to help, I’m not going to call and say, “What can I do to help?” I’m just going to show up. That’s what you do. You just show up. You look around and you start doing things. The people that did that for me were so special. I will be forever grateful.

Rehak: Before the flood, you worked primarily at home. Did you lose a lot of records?

Johansen: Yes. A lot of equipment was destroyed along with most of my physical files. Luckily, my main computer, laptop and backup hard drive survived.

Ensuring Flooded Files Were Destroyed Properly

Rehak: What did you do with all the files that flooded?

Johansen: That was one of the most stressful parts of the flood. I had fourteen 4-drawer file cabinets locked up in my garage and several inside. Each flooded except for the top drawer. I had to figure out how to destroy all the flooded records. No one would take them wet and you can’t just have somebody haul off records like that. I had to find a safe way to dispose of them.

I pulled all the drawers out and ServePro built a tent over them in the garage. Dehumidifiers and fans ran under the tent for four and a half weeks. When I took the tent off, I found the paper had expanded so much, it buckled the drawers. I couldn’t get anything out!

So one Sunday, we loaded all the drawers up in trucks and drove them a hundred miles north of Houston to some private property. With a hammer, I beat all those file drawers apart and got the files out.

Then we poured diesel fuel over them. It was hard to get them to burn at first. But eventually, they did. It took all day. I got back very late that night.

Late-Night Resurrection of Crucial Files

Once I got that off my plate, there were some files we had to resurrect. They went back under the tent for another week. They came out gnarly looking, let me tell you. Mud and gunk everywhere. When they were all dry, I sprayed them with Lysol and once that dried, I boxed them. Every day, I was up at my new office location till all hours peeling papers, making copies, shredding and reconstructing. A friend called me in December and said, “OK, what letter of the alphabet are you up to now?”

I was working at that seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, just trying to get back to where I could function.

Rehak: Will you ever go back to working at home?

Johansen: The thought of going through that again just scares me to death. I can’t do it.

“I Know This Has Changed Me”

Rehak: What do you want your future to be? (I catch her off guard. There’s a LOOOOOONG pause.)

Johansen: You know I’ve been in recovery mode so long, I’ve just started to think about that.

I want to have a little family reunion with my son and daughter up near Seattle. We’ve arranged a trip to a little Bavarian town in the Cascades called Leavenworth. I just want to be with my kids. (Choking up again.) It’s kind of hard to talk about. I know this has changed me.

Rehak: How so?

Johansen: Well, it’s definitely taken a physical toll. I’ve started to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life and how I want to live it, because all you have is today.  Things can change just like that (snapping fingers).

I’d also like to have a little bit of peaceful time back in my house and not see the water line on the wall.

Rehak: (Joking) Gee, you want it all!

Johansen: (Laughs)

 

Posted by Bob Rehak on November 15, 2018

443 Days after Hurricane Harvey

Harvey Experiences of Robert Westover and Pat Klemz at Kingwood Village Estates  

Harvey’s floodwaters at Kingwood Village Estates in the heart of Kingwood, 1.4 miles from the San Jacinto River

Interviewed by Bob Rehak:

In 50 years of professional writing, this is the hardest story I have ever written. Twelve people died. Seniors. People like me. Had they evacuated sooner, many might still be alive. But there was no warning until water started creeping under the doors of Kingwood Village Estates at 3 a.m., on August 29th, 2017.

Kingwood Village Estates is a gorgeous retirement community in the heart of Kingwood. It contains 120 condominiums and a clubhouse nestled around tranquil, tree-lined streets.

Today, a casual observer would never know Kingwood Village Estates flooded. 

Residents range in age from 65 to 95. Some have lived there 20 years. That’s remarkable given the age of residents. Many are widowed. Many have impairments. But all still live independently … with help from each other. It’s a tight-knit community.

Robert Westover is the property manager. Pat Klemz, at 65, is the youngest resident and president of the condo association. This is the story of how they got more than 75 people out alive during Harvey. Sadly, it’s also the story of how twelve later died of injuries sustained during the surprise evacuation or the stress that followed.

The Day Before the Flood

Rehak: “Tell me about the day before the evacuation.”

Westover: “We had never flooded before. The day before they opened the gates at the Lake Conroe Dam, we felt like we could manage. The drains were clear. The streets were clear. There were no evacuation warnings. However, we did encourage people to move to higher ground just to be safe and some left to stay with their families. Then at 3 a.m. the next morning, water began crawling up the staircases. The fire department came in and said, ‘You have to leave.’”

Rehak: “What was their concern?”

Westover: “Electricity. Fear of electrocution. We started waking people up and they carried them out mostly by airboats brought in by the Cajun navy. We evacuated 75 to 80 people who were still here. Every first-floor unit flooded.”

“Water Rising Right Before Our Eyes”

Klemz: “I got a phone call early in the morning of August 29th while I was still sleeping. One of our buildings already had four or five inches of water. It just kept coming. You could see it rising right in front of your eyes; it was that fast. I got another person and we went door to door waking people up. Some people didn’t want to leave. All we had to do was ask them to look out of the window. When they did, everybody cooperated. We sent them upstairs first.”

Lobby of Windsor House at Kingwood Village Estates today after flood repairs. Residents waited at the top of these stairs to be rescued by boats the night of the flood.

Westover: “The elevators had been knocked out by then. No electricity. Everything was dark. Some people couldn’t get upstairs by themselves, so we had to help them.”

Rescue Boats Came Through Front Doors

Klemz: “It took two or three hours for first responders to get here. They literally had to break down doors to float their boats into our lobbies.”

In the dark, early hours of August 29, 2017, rescuers broke down these doors to rescue people with airboats.

“I did triage at the top of the stairs, while Kay Lake, another resident (age 68), went around with first responders to make sure everyone was out. They also had to break down the doors of some units. Some people simply refused to open their doors. They were scared and didn’t want to leave.”

“Most left only with the clothes on their backs. Many people had pets. Some forgot their identification. Some forgot their medicines. And some had to be carried down the stairs in wheelchairs. It was frantic. But when it came to loading boats, everybody cooperated fantastically. We had to balance the boats to make sure they didn’t tip.”

Evacuating In Darkness

Westover: “All this happened in darkness. It was a couple hours before the sun came up. It only took four or five hours for the water to go from the gate to the highest building. The flooding started at 3 a.m. By 5 a.m., we already had four or five inches of water everywhere. The water didn’t stop rising until it reached Wendy’s about three quarters of a mile up the road. Ultimately, we had to rip out sheetrock to the top of door frames.”

“No One Died that Night, but…”

Klemz: “No one died that night, thank God.”

Westover: “However, by the end of the year, 12 of our residents died. The flood and the stress were just too much for them to go through.”

Rehak: “What was the most poignant story from that night?”

Klemz: One man in the early stages of Alzheimer’s was also afraid of heights. His wife came up to me and said, “I don’t know if he’ll make it down the stairs.” So I sat with him for about ten minutes and just talked with him. When first responders came to pick up his wheelchair, I walked down the stairs next to him.”

Westover: “His wife said, ‘He wouldn’t have made it out of the building had it not been for Pat.” He was diabetic. Had lots of problems. He went into the hospital. Came out. Went back in.”

Klemz: “Sadly, he passed two months later. There are so many memories like that from that night. I had one woman who came up to me after we moved back in. She said, ‘You saved my life.’”

At this point, Klemz’ eyes turn bleary and she chokes back tears. “She said if I hadn’t been there to talk her down the stairs, she wouldn’t have been able to get down. She told me, ‘You saved my life.’”

Memory Loss, Short Tempers, Symptoms of PTSD

Klemz: “This was extremely stressful for anyone, but especially for older people. Many didn’t even know whether their families were safe; cell phones weren’t working. They were shuffled from shelter to shelter or taken in by strangers.”

“Later, many would come up and tell me, “I’m having a terrible time with my memory; I’m short tempered; things like that. I saw the same symptoms after Katrina. Most in their seventies and eighties never expected to go through something like this.”

Rehak: “What kind of symptoms?”

Klemz: “People are distracted. They can’t concentrate. They anger easily. They can’t sleep. They become agitated every time it rains. The stress is overwhelming. People in their eighties lost homes and all their belongings. Some people were so traumatized they couldn’t remember their names.”

Rehak: “What triggers the PTSD?”

Klemz: “Rainstorms set people off. Also, if you feel like you’re not in control, you more easily lose your temper. People lost that sense of control; they couldn’t stay. Even when the water went down, there was nothing around us. Toilets would not work. Everything was backed up. There were: no alarm systems, no doors on the first floor, no elevators, spotty electricity. We didn’t get electricity back completely till the third week of December!”

12 Deaths Attributed to Injuries and Stress

Rehak: “Tell me about the people who died? How was their health before the evacuation?”

Westover: “They were generally in good health, but fragile in the sense of hips, knees and that kind of thing. Six died within 30 days. They were on the staircase being handed down into a boat. Of the six, one was male; the rest were female. All were in their eighties.”

“Six more died within six months – we think from the stress of not being able to come back to their homes. We lost 12 altogether from injuries directly related to the event or from the stress that resulted from it.”

Rehak: “How does that compare to the normal mortality rate for people in this age group?”

Westover: “Normally, we might lose one or two folks a year. Twelve in six months is highly unusual.”

Lack of Warning

Rehak: What was the most terrifying part of the experience?”

Klemz: “When my phone rang at 5 a.m.”

Westover: “Monday everything was fine. We were totally unprepared for Tuesday. There was no warning whatsoever of what would happen when Lake Conroe opened its gates.”

Klemz: “Harvey was diminishing at that point. There was no indication so much water was going to come down the West Fork. That’s why most people didn’t evacuate. If they had said Monday night that so much water was coming, people would have been out of here.”

Rehak: “What was the best part of the experience?”

Both: “Getting everybody out alive.”

A Second Miracle

Westover: “The repairs were our second miracle.”

Rehak: “How so?”

Westover: “Because of the ownership structure, no banks would loan us money. They were concerned about our ability to pull everyone together and rehab the place. Residents own their own units. They also own a percentage of the common areas proportional to the size of their units. We had to rehab 64,000 square feet at a cost of $3.5 million. Every penny of that came from the owners.

Less than 5% had flood insurance and most are widows. People had to come up with $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the size of their condo. It was amazing how folks came together. They found a way to finance repairs and wrote a check. If that hadn’t happened, it would have affected all of Kingwood.”

Kingwood Village Estates today. 

“Ninety percent of the owners are back in their units now. The rest should be back in their units soon. They like it here. They miss it.”

Rehak: “How did you manage? Your personal home was flooded, too!”

Westover (choking up): “One day at a time.”

Pat Klemz, left, president of Kingwood Village Estates Condo Association and Robert Westover, the property manager.

Posted by Bob Rehak on October 13, 2018

410 Days after Hurricane Harvey