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
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 developmentwhere 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: 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.
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
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/HighWaterMark.jpg?fit=1500%2C915&ssl=19151500adminadmin2019-03-14 23:36:582019-03-15 09:40:33Jim & Melissa Balcom’s Hurricane Harvey Story: A Cautionary Tale
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
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.
“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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
That peninsula went all the way down to River Grove Park.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Endless Mud and Dead Trees
Rehak: What was involved in the cleanup?
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.
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.
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.
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