Before Harvey, Jennifer Parks lived in the Forest Cove Townhomes with her husband, four kids and cat. They absolutely loved the river lifestyle and the friendships they built with neighbors. Harvey was the eighth of seven floods in five years. It destroyed their 4-story townhome, a close knit community and a life they loved despite the trouble. This is a story about how a flood changed the trajectory of six people’s lives forever.It’s the latest in a series of Impact stories.
2019 Fire Brings Back Memories of 2016
Rehak: You lived in the complex on Timberline at Marina Drive that burned on July 4th this year?
Parks: Yes. We were the four-story unit at the end, two doors down from where there was another fire in 2016.
Rehak: How many fires have there been there this year?
Parks: Three. Two during the week of July 4th and one earlier over by the pool.
Rehak: The fire department came out in force for this one. They had 10 fire trucks plus two ambulances. It was impressive.
Ten fire trucks were called out to battle the blaze in Parks’ townhome complex on July 4.
Parks: When we had the fire back in 2016 there were 32 fire trucks. The whole street was lined all the way. On both sides. Every truck in Kingwood, plus Porter and Atascocita came in. It was craziness but people lived there, then. So lives were at stake. Now, the townhomes are abandoned.
“We Always Flooded on My Husband’s Birthday”
Rehak: How long did you live there?
Parks: Five years. We moved in at the end of March, 2013. We had our first flood on Memorial Day. My husband’s birthday was Memorial Day and we always flooded on his birthday.
Rehak: (Laughs)
Parks: Yeah (also laughing sarcastically) it was nice. At first, we would flood from the streets when the storm drains backed up. The first time I ever saw the river come over the bank was Memorial Day of 2016. It filled the area up like a bowl. People would drive around to look at it and splash water into our garage. It ruined everything we had on the floor.
Eight Floods in Five Years
Parks: We had a total of eight floods including Harvey in the five years we lived there.
Rehak: (Incredulous) Eight floods in five years!
Parks: Yeah. We had to move our vehicles and water got into the first story. Usually it would just splash in, but for the Tax Day flooding, we had three feet of water. That was the first time we left our house in a canoe. Then that Memorial Day we had eight feet. That was the second time we left in a canoe. Then there was Harvey. We had 20 feet.
Rehak: How many?
Parks: 20 feet is what FEMA measured.
Parks’ second story living room went under water during Harvey. FEMA says water reached 20 feet.
Rehak: Oh geez!
Parks: It went over my TV in the second story.
Man Cave on First Floor
Rehak: Were those apartments vacant on the ground floor?
Parks: They were all built with the garage on the first. We have a big truck that did not fit in there. So we had a bar, darts and lights. Ours was decked out. It was more of a man cave than a garage. We never managed to get a lava lamp. But it was pretty cool. We were the neighborhood hang-out. We were always told that we were the welcoming committee.
As Harvey’s floodwaters receded, Parks’ husband took this picture from a canoe while returning to save the family cat.
The kids would be playing board games in the front. They had a TV, a table, a microwave and a refrigerator. It was like a snack hangout area. People would walk by, see us out there, and be like, “Hey, how you doin’!” That’s how we’d meet all the new neighbors. We were just in a friend’s wedding who we met that way. He went by one day to get the mail at stopped in to say hi. It was a very tight knit neighborhood to say the least.
Structural damage made townhomes unlivable. City condemned them all shortly after the flood.
Sense of Community Lost
Rehak: What brought you together?
Parks: Just living close to each other. Plus, the backyards were large. The driveways were very long. And then there was a big beautiful field. We have four kids. So our kids were always back there playing and we were outside. We did a lot of landscaping and gardening and we helped other neighbors. I think just being outside all the time was a large part of it because it was such a beautiful area to be outside.
Collapsed first floor game room where kids and neighbors once gathered.
Rehak: It’s easy to see why you miss it.
Parks: That’s how we made friends. And then there was the canoe.
Rehak: Canoe?
Parks: A neighbor with a canoe kept rescuing my children. Needless to say, we became very close with him. His name is Bob.
And then there was all the bonding during cleanups. After the bigger floods, the sand deposits were crazy. It got in your house. So there was a lot of pressure washing and a lot of cleaning.
The first story had Blowout walls. They are intended to blow out with a flood.
Repairs and Clean Up Brought People Together
Rehak: So you had to rebuild those.
Parks: Yes. The structural walls with cement and cinder blocks … there was a lot of rebuilding those, too, and sand removal and pressure washing. The whole neighborhood just kind of came together. We would go from one drive to the next. Someone would be shoveling sand out of one. Someone would be pressure washing the next. I think that brought us really close together. We helped each other out. Then the Memorial Day flood happened and it was like ten times worse.
We had the Red Cross truck here three times a day with food. It was amazing. My kids joked, “Heyyyyy! We’re getting snacks from the Red Cross today!”
Rehak: Red Cross Cuisine!
Some of the sand deposited by Harvey in front of Parks’ Townhome.
Parks: Yes. And you know, it wasn’t bad…considering you work all day, and then you come home and you’re going to pressure wash or shovel sand. Because with sand come roaches and to try to keep the roaches out of everybody’s house, we’re trying to move the sand as quickly as possible.
Rehak: I hadn’t even thought about that.
Parks: It was disgusting. You would shovel it to scoop up sand and roaches would just scurry. And we never had roaches before the Memorial Day flood. Never! It was baaaad.
Why They Stayed Despite Flooding
Rehak: If you flooded eight times in five years, why did you stay?”
Parks: The first few weren’t that bad. Then the next two were big and really rough. We contemplated what we were going to do. One big argument for staying put was that our kids went to Foster Elementary school. It was and is an amazing school. And we didn’t want to pull our kids out. Another big factor was finding another rental in the area that was within our $1400 budget. That was just not happening unless it was an apartment. And we really didn’t want to do an apartment. Finally, there was also the beauty. Every time we felt we couldn’t go through another flood, we’d take a look at how beautiful it is here. We’d say, “It’s worth it to stay. And we have our community here.” So we stayed.
“You Know We’re Not Coming Back This Time, Right Bubba?”
I have a video of my husband and Bob in a canoe. As Harvey was receding, they went back and got our cat. In the video, it’s like the most heart wrenching thing you will ever hear. Bob says to my husband, “You know we’re not coming back here this time, right Bubba?”
Every single time I watch that video it brings me to tears because it tells you how much that place meant to all of us. My husband and I actually got married there. It’ll be four years in October. We got married right on the river bank. We had party tents in our driveway and we had a big wedding. It meant so much to us.
I get a little defensive when people say, “Oh, you lived in the crackhead apartments? No, it was not crackhead apartments in any way, shape, or form! Sorry if I get a little defensive.
Parks surveys the gang graffiti where her children once played.
Too Heartbreaking To Go Home Again
Rehak: When you go down to your old neighborhood today, what does it make you feel?
Parks: I don’t go down there. I can’t. It’s heartbreaking. It’s disgusting. It amazes me how in two years … how it got so bad. A friend who is a police officer was down there after the last fire. He took pictures and there’s graffiti all over my beautiful garage. Like disgusting graffiti. And it’s…it’s gang graffiti. It’s absolutely gang graffiti. There are gangs living in my beautiful home.
As Parks gave me a tour of her former property, she discovered this looseleaf notebook that looters had thrown from her kitchen. It contained a lifetime of recipes. She tried to salvage her family cookbook.
Our house was completely redone after the 2016 fire. All the walls. All new appliances. Everything was brand new. Flooring and carpeting. It was beautiful. So that’s the other thing people don’t know because they hadn’t been inside the townhomes. A lot of them were gorgeous.
Rehak: Did your kids end up in a different school?
Learning Firsthand What It Means to Be Homeless
Parks: We actually were able to stay. Because our status was “homeless,” which is always interesting, our daughter was able to stay for fourth grade at Foster without any question. That was fantastic. But then for the fifth grade we would have had to transfer. Her guidance counselor told me to note, “mental stability of the child at stake due a natural disaster.” And so she got to stay for fifth grade and finish up at Foster.
Rehak: Tell me about the homeless aspect for a second. What did that mean in practical terms?
Parks: We were fortunate. I’m involved in Cub and Boy Scouts. One of my Cub Scout friends, she actually lived here her whole life. She knew that in the ’94 floods, a couple of the townhomes collapsed. So after Harvey she was, “Get out, get out, get out, right now.” She said, “Come stay with me.” I only knew the family for two years from Monday night Scout meetings. But we ended up living with them for months while we bought our current house.
We were actually renting the townhome in Forest Cove, but wound up having to buy a house because we were “homeless.” It took time. While we were looking, we were considered “displaced due to natural disaster.” They condemned the townhomes pretty quickly. We couldn’t even think about going back because of structural damage. What else?
School Restores Sense of Normalcy for Kids
Parks: So the kids got free lunch at school.
Foster Elementary was one of the highest impacted elementary schools between teachers and students because of where it is and because it services Forest Cove.
Many of the teachers were impacted, too, and the school did amazing things, incredible things really … like blankets were donated to the kids. Something so simple. But my daughter didn’t have the blanket that she grew up with anymore. So you know having a new blanket was something really special.
They gave all the kids year books that year.
When the book fair came around, they gave the kids gift certificates.
They were just a lot of little things that happened even after we bought our house.
We moved in the day before Thanksgiving so we were pretty quick. Others were displaced for so much longer and still are. We were fortunate that we had friends and family that helped financially. We were able to furnish our new home. We have all this stuff and a beautiful house. But getting there was not fun.
Friends Now Farther But Not Forgotten
Rehak: I certainly understand that. What has happened to your old circle of friends? Are you still in touch?
Parks: We are. Except for one who moved pretty far away … out to Crosby. We see Bob at least on a weekly basis. That was a hard transition from seeing him every day to now only once a week or so. He bought a house in Porter. His daughter … I see her at least two or three times a week still.
And Jane and Rob. It’s gone from seeing them every day to once a month now.
Rehak: On balance, are you happier now?
Learning to Live with Moderate Neighborhood-Ness
Parks: I don’t know if you can compare. Everything in our lives is pre-Harvey or post-Harvey. Which kind of sucks. I would say that the happiness is different because we’ve made friends with our neighbors in Woodland Hills. We just don’t see as many people as often. But we still have moderate “neighborhood-ness.” I would say we’re equally happy.
I can tell you that the six to twelve months after Harvey was very, very difficult. Probably the most trying time in my life and my husband’s. And my kids! My kids were thoroughly traumatized, to say the least.
Rehak: Your lives were turned upside down.
Parks: It’s hard when the kids say, “Hey Mom, do you have X? And I have to say, “I’m sorry. No, we won’t have that anymore.”
The tree under which Parks got married with all their neighborhood friends. San Jacinto West Fork and US59 Bridge are in the background.
It’s little stuff like my daughter’s Build-a-Bear. And all their school supplies that were sitting on our kitchen table. We had to get new school supplies all over again; I had just bought them the week before Harvey. That was fun. (Rolling eyes.)
Rehak: Not easy on a young family’s salary.
Husband Forced into New Job That Takes Him Farther from Family
Parks: And my husband did private construction. All of his tools were in our living room. Before Harvey, we moved them up from the garage so they wouldn’t get flooded or stolen. Then our living room flooded. We didn’t just lose our house. My husband lost his job, too, because we couldn’t just go out and replace thousands of dollars in tools. So he ended up going back to the oil fields and travelling. It’s not so bad on me, but…it’s hard on the kids.
Rehak: When you saw those townhomes burn, did you still have an emotional attachment to them?
July 4 Fire Triggered PTSD
Parks: I’m so ready for them to just be gone. I don’t even care how they go. I’m tired of the community badmouthing them; they were not bad places. But at the same time there’s some PTSD. Because of the 2016 fire, all that trauma comes back really fast when we see fire.
We had so much fun there for so many years. Ironically, we had a big fire pit out front and we would burn whatever was laying around. It was right on the river. We had crawfish boils over there and now we’re like, “Oh my gosh! This place is gone.” In a not-so-comfortable way.
Parks: Adding insult to injury?
Parks: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. “Insult to injury.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 30, 2019
699 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Exterior-Parks-Home-1-e1650134710966.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=16751200adminadmin2019-07-29 16:28:222019-07-29 17:00:35After Eighth Flood in Five Years, Forest Cove Townhome Renter Forced Out and Burned Out
It wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did. After receiving two letters and two visits telling Elaine Phillips that the City could do nothing to fix her drainage, trucks magically showed up this morning … and fixed it. They gave her no explanation.
Epic Battle over Partially Blocked Drainage Swale
You may remember me posting about Elaine Phillips on June 21. Elaine was battling cancer, contractors, and the City of Houston bureaucracy all by herself. Her home had just flooded for the fifth time since 1997 and her husband was working in New York. The swale in front of her home had never been regraded and was partially clogged with sediment.
Surprise Turn of Events
“We had been told, as recently as Wednesday, 7/10, that nothing would be done in the near future, despite the unrelenting efforts of both Dave Martin’s office and Dan Crenshaw’s office,” said Elaine. “Then I woke up to four city trucks and a back hoe Thursday morning. They regraded the ditches from my house to the corner and Cindy’s house to the corner. Don’t know how, who, or why it’s happening, but I’m not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. It’s Christmas in July! Many thanks to Kaaren Cambio from Dan Crenshaw’s office and Dave Martin’s office as well!”
Elaine Phillips newly graded ditch should help ensure positive drainage in future storms and move water away from her house faster.
Altogether, Phillips estimates that various city, county, and congressional representatives worked dozens of hours trying to help her for a job that ultimately took about five hours from start to finish.
Other Possibilities Still Remain
Phillips has also explored elevating her house and buyouts. Both remain possibilities thanks to their extra efforts on her behalf.
In the meantime, Phillips is giddy with glee. Until today, progress had remained elusive for 22 years.
For good measure, and in the spirit of Christmas, while the City of Houston crew was out helping Phillips today, they also deepened the ditches in four more homes near the same intersection.
A hearty thanks to the City from the Kings Forest Board and residents.
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 12, 2019
682 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG_3535.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=120001500adminadmin2019-07-12 17:14:512019-07-12 18:33:34Christmas in July for Elaine Phillips
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 7Erosion 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
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PhillipsElaine_01_01.jpg?fit=1000%2C1500&ssl=115001000adminadmin2019-06-21 17:55:082019-06-21 19:21:23Elaine Phillips’ May 7th Flood Story: One is the Loneliest Number
After Eighth Flood in Five Years, Forest Cove Townhome Renter Forced Out and Burned Out
Before Harvey, Jennifer Parks lived in the Forest Cove Townhomes with her husband, four kids and cat. They absolutely loved the river lifestyle and the friendships they built with neighbors. Harvey was the eighth of seven floods in five years. It destroyed their 4-story townhome, a close knit community and a life they loved despite the trouble. This is a story about how a flood changed the trajectory of six people’s lives forever. It’s the latest in a series of Impact stories.
2019 Fire Brings Back Memories of 2016
Rehak: You lived in the complex on Timberline at Marina Drive that burned on July 4th this year?
Parks: Yes. We were the four-story unit at the end, two doors down from where there was another fire in 2016.
Rehak: How many fires have there been there this year?
Parks: Three. Two during the week of July 4th and one earlier over by the pool.
Rehak: The fire department came out in force for this one. They had 10 fire trucks plus two ambulances. It was impressive.
Parks: When we had the fire back in 2016 there were 32 fire trucks. The whole street was lined all the way. On both sides. Every truck in Kingwood, plus Porter and Atascocita came in. It was craziness but people lived there, then. So lives were at stake. Now, the townhomes are abandoned.
“We Always Flooded on My Husband’s Birthday”
Rehak: How long did you live there?
Parks: Five years. We moved in at the end of March, 2013. We had our first flood on Memorial Day. My husband’s birthday was Memorial Day and we always flooded on his birthday.
Rehak: (Laughs)
Parks: Yeah (also laughing sarcastically) it was nice. At first, we would flood from the streets when the storm drains backed up. The first time I ever saw the river come over the bank was Memorial Day of 2016. It filled the area up like a bowl. People would drive around to look at it and splash water into our garage. It ruined everything we had on the floor.
Eight Floods in Five Years
Parks: We had a total of eight floods including Harvey in the five years we lived there.
Rehak: (Incredulous) Eight floods in five years!
Parks: Yeah. We had to move our vehicles and water got into the first story. Usually it would just splash in, but for the Tax Day flooding, we had three feet of water. That was the first time we left our house in a canoe. Then that Memorial Day we had eight feet. That was the second time we left in a canoe. Then there was Harvey. We had 20 feet.
Rehak: How many?
Parks: 20 feet is what FEMA measured.
Rehak: Oh geez!
Parks: It went over my TV in the second story.
Man Cave on First Floor
Rehak: Were those apartments vacant on the ground floor?
Parks: They were all built with the garage on the first. We have a big truck that did not fit in there. So we had a bar, darts and lights. Ours was decked out. It was more of a man cave than a garage. We never managed to get a lava lamp. But it was pretty cool. We were the neighborhood hang-out. We were always told that we were the welcoming committee.
The kids would be playing board games in the front. They had a TV, a table, a microwave and a refrigerator. It was like a snack hangout area. People would walk by, see us out there, and be like, “Hey, how you doin’!” That’s how we’d meet all the new neighbors. We were just in a friend’s wedding who we met that way. He went by one day to get the mail at stopped in to say hi. It was a very tight knit neighborhood to say the least.
Sense of Community Lost
Rehak: What brought you together?
Parks: Just living close to each other. Plus, the backyards were large. The driveways were very long. And then there was a big beautiful field. We have four kids. So our kids were always back there playing and we were outside. We did a lot of landscaping and gardening and we helped other neighbors. I think just being outside all the time was a large part of it because it was such a beautiful area to be outside.
Rehak: It’s easy to see why you miss it.
Parks: That’s how we made friends. And then there was the canoe.
Rehak: Canoe?
Parks: A neighbor with a canoe kept rescuing my children. Needless to say, we became very close with him. His name is Bob.
And then there was all the bonding during cleanups. After the bigger floods, the sand deposits were crazy. It got in your house. So there was a lot of pressure washing and a lot of cleaning.
The first story had Blowout walls. They are intended to blow out with a flood.
Repairs and Clean Up Brought People Together
Rehak: So you had to rebuild those.
Parks: Yes. The structural walls with cement and cinder blocks … there was a lot of rebuilding those, too, and sand removal and pressure washing. The whole neighborhood just kind of came together. We would go from one drive to the next. Someone would be shoveling sand out of one. Someone would be pressure washing the next. I think that brought us really close together. We helped each other out. Then the Memorial Day flood happened and it was like ten times worse.
We had the Red Cross truck here three times a day with food. It was amazing. My kids joked, “Heyyyyy! We’re getting snacks from the Red Cross today!”
Rehak: Red Cross Cuisine!
Parks: Yes. And you know, it wasn’t bad…considering you work all day, and then you come home and you’re going to pressure wash or shovel sand. Because with sand come roaches and to try to keep the roaches out of everybody’s house, we’re trying to move the sand as quickly as possible.
Rehak: I hadn’t even thought about that.
Parks: It was disgusting. You would shovel it to scoop up sand and roaches would just scurry. And we never had roaches before the Memorial Day flood. Never! It was baaaad.
Why They Stayed Despite Flooding
Rehak: If you flooded eight times in five years, why did you stay?”
Parks: The first few weren’t that bad. Then the next two were big and really rough. We contemplated what we were going to do. One big argument for staying put was that our kids went to Foster Elementary school. It was and is an amazing school. And we didn’t want to pull our kids out. Another big factor was finding another rental in the area that was within our $1400 budget. That was just not happening unless it was an apartment. And we really didn’t want to do an apartment. Finally, there was also the beauty. Every time we felt we couldn’t go through another flood, we’d take a look at how beautiful it is here. We’d say, “It’s worth it to stay. And we have our community here.” So we stayed.
“You Know We’re Not Coming Back This Time, Right Bubba?”
I have a video of my husband and Bob in a canoe. As Harvey was receding, they went back and got our cat. In the video, it’s like the most heart wrenching thing you will ever hear. Bob says to my husband, “You know we’re not coming back here this time, right Bubba?”
Every single time I watch that video it brings me to tears because it tells you how much that place meant to all of us. My husband and I actually got married there. It’ll be four years in October. We got married right on the river bank. We had party tents in our driveway and we had a big wedding. It meant so much to us.
I get a little defensive when people say, “Oh, you lived in the crackhead apartments? No, it was not crackhead apartments in any way, shape, or form! Sorry if I get a little defensive.
Too Heartbreaking To Go Home Again
Rehak: When you go down to your old neighborhood today, what does it make you feel?
Parks: I don’t go down there. I can’t. It’s heartbreaking. It’s disgusting. It amazes me how in two years … how it got so bad. A friend who is a police officer was down there after the last fire. He took pictures and there’s graffiti all over my beautiful garage. Like disgusting graffiti. And it’s…it’s gang graffiti. It’s absolutely gang graffiti. There are gangs living in my beautiful home.
Our house was completely redone after the 2016 fire. All the walls. All new appliances. Everything was brand new. Flooring and carpeting. It was beautiful. So that’s the other thing people don’t know because they hadn’t been inside the townhomes. A lot of them were gorgeous.
Rehak: Did your kids end up in a different school?
Learning Firsthand What It Means to Be Homeless
Parks: We actually were able to stay. Because our status was “homeless,” which is always interesting, our daughter was able to stay for fourth grade at Foster without any question. That was fantastic. But then for the fifth grade we would have had to transfer. Her guidance counselor told me to note, “mental stability of the child at stake due a natural disaster.” And so she got to stay for fifth grade and finish up at Foster.
Rehak: Tell me about the homeless aspect for a second. What did that mean in practical terms?
Parks: We were fortunate. I’m involved in Cub and Boy Scouts. One of my Cub Scout friends, she actually lived here her whole life. She knew that in the ’94 floods, a couple of the townhomes collapsed. So after Harvey she was, “Get out, get out, get out, right now.” She said, “Come stay with me.” I only knew the family for two years from Monday night Scout meetings. But we ended up living with them for months while we bought our current house.
We were actually renting the townhome in Forest Cove, but wound up having to buy a house because we were “homeless.” It took time. While we were looking, we were considered “displaced due to natural disaster.” They condemned the townhomes pretty quickly. We couldn’t even think about going back because of structural damage. What else?
School Restores Sense of Normalcy for Kids
Parks: So the kids got free lunch at school.
Foster Elementary was one of the highest impacted elementary schools between teachers and students because of where it is and because it services Forest Cove.
Many of the teachers were impacted, too, and the school did amazing things, incredible things really … like blankets were donated to the kids. Something so simple. But my daughter didn’t have the blanket that she grew up with anymore. So you know having a new blanket was something really special.
They gave all the kids year books that year.
When the book fair came around, they gave the kids gift certificates.
They were just a lot of little things that happened even after we bought our house.
We moved in the day before Thanksgiving so we were pretty quick. Others were displaced for so much longer and still are. We were fortunate that we had friends and family that helped financially. We were able to furnish our new home. We have all this stuff and a beautiful house. But getting there was not fun.
Friends Now Farther But Not Forgotten
Rehak: I certainly understand that. What has happened to your old circle of friends? Are you still in touch?
Parks: We are. Except for one who moved pretty far away … out to Crosby. We see Bob at least on a weekly basis. That was a hard transition from seeing him every day to now only once a week or so. He bought a house in Porter. His daughter … I see her at least two or three times a week still.
And Jane and Rob. It’s gone from seeing them every day to once a month now.
Rehak: On balance, are you happier now?
Learning to Live with Moderate Neighborhood-Ness
Parks: I don’t know if you can compare. Everything in our lives is pre-Harvey or post-Harvey. Which kind of sucks. I would say that the happiness is different because we’ve made friends with our neighbors in Woodland Hills. We just don’t see as many people as often. But we still have moderate “neighborhood-ness.” I would say we’re equally happy.
I can tell you that the six to twelve months after Harvey was very, very difficult. Probably the most trying time in my life and my husband’s. And my kids! My kids were thoroughly traumatized, to say the least.
Rehak: Your lives were turned upside down.
Parks: It’s hard when the kids say, “Hey Mom, do you have X? And I have to say, “I’m sorry. No, we won’t have that anymore.”
It’s little stuff like my daughter’s Build-a-Bear. And all their school supplies that were sitting on our kitchen table. We had to get new school supplies all over again; I had just bought them the week before Harvey. That was fun. (Rolling eyes.)
Rehak: Not easy on a young family’s salary.
Husband Forced into New Job That Takes Him Farther from Family
Parks: And my husband did private construction. All of his tools were in our living room. Before Harvey, we moved them up from the garage so they wouldn’t get flooded or stolen. Then our living room flooded. We didn’t just lose our house. My husband lost his job, too, because we couldn’t just go out and replace thousands of dollars in tools. So he ended up going back to the oil fields and travelling. It’s not so bad on me, but…it’s hard on the kids.
Rehak: When you saw those townhomes burn, did you still have an emotional attachment to them?
July 4 Fire Triggered PTSD
Parks: I’m so ready for them to just be gone. I don’t even care how they go. I’m tired of the community badmouthing them; they were not bad places. But at the same time there’s some PTSD. Because of the 2016 fire, all that trauma comes back really fast when we see fire.
We had so much fun there for so many years. Ironically, we had a big fire pit out front and we would burn whatever was laying around. It was right on the river. We had crawfish boils over there and now we’re like, “Oh my gosh! This place is gone.” In a not-so-comfortable way.
Parks: Adding insult to injury?
Parks: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. “Insult to injury.”
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 30, 2019
699 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Christmas in July for Elaine Phillips
It wasn’t supposed to happen. But it did. After receiving two letters and two visits telling Elaine Phillips that the City could do nothing to fix her drainage, trucks magically showed up this morning … and fixed it. They gave her no explanation.
Epic Battle over Partially Blocked Drainage Swale
You may remember me posting about Elaine Phillips on June 21. Elaine was battling cancer, contractors, and the City of Houston bureaucracy all by herself. Her home had just flooded for the fifth time since 1997 and her husband was working in New York. The swale in front of her home had never been regraded and was partially clogged with sediment.
Surprise Turn of Events
“We had been told, as recently as Wednesday, 7/10, that nothing would be done in the near future, despite the unrelenting efforts of both Dave Martin’s office and Dan Crenshaw’s office,” said Elaine. “Then I woke up to four city trucks and a back hoe Thursday morning. They regraded the ditches from my house to the corner and Cindy’s house to the corner. Don’t know how, who, or why it’s happening, but I’m not going to look a gift-horse in the mouth. It’s Christmas in July! Many thanks to Kaaren Cambio from Dan Crenshaw’s office and Dave Martin’s office as well!”
Altogether, Phillips estimates that various city, county, and congressional representatives worked dozens of hours trying to help her for a job that ultimately took about five hours from start to finish.
Other Possibilities Still Remain
Phillips has also explored elevating her house and buyouts. Both remain possibilities thanks to their extra efforts on her behalf.
In the meantime, Phillips is giddy with glee. Until today, progress had remained elusive for 22 years.
For good measure, and in the spirit of Christmas, while the City of Houston crew was out helping Phillips today, they also deepened the ditches in four more homes near the same intersection.
A hearty thanks to the City from the Kings Forest Board and residents.
Posted by Bob Rehak on July 12, 2019
682 Days since Hurricane Harvey
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.)
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.
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