RECOVERY:
Water likely to stay a week in a few areas; rest of region cleaning up
Days after Southeast Texas was buffeted by a devastating drenching, thousands of residents are still waiting for floodwaters to recede so they can begin the recovery process already underway in much of the region.
Harris County officials monitoring levels at the Addicks and Barker reservoirs say both will continue to rise — slightly — even though they’ve opened reservoir gates to drain the accumulated floodwaters. That reality will prolong the misery of waterlogged northwest Harris County subdivisions that won’t subside until later this week and complicate the life of residents like Malissa Sheibley, 31, who on Saturday visited her flooded home in Bear Creek Village. The water had risen a few more inches, she said, roughly estimating water levels at about 2 feet high.
“You can’t even drive anywhere,” said Sheibley, whose situation is complicated by the fact that she is 34 weeks pregnant.
She was trying to sort out what to
do after her home was flooded, destroying the gifts the couple had received at their recent baby shower.
“It hasn’t really set in,” she said. “It’s kind of shocking — it seems like a movie.”
Addicks, which is in far northwest Harris County, is expected to rise slightly over the next few days, preventing water from draining immediately out of neighborhoods such as Bear Creek Village.
Barker, which is closer to eastern Fort Bend County, is expected to rise another foot over the same period, Jackson said. Officials do not anticipate new flooding for homes and streets in surrounding areas, including a small section of Cinco Ranch.
“Even though they’re releasing the water, the reservoirs continue to rise because they continue to get water from the creeks flowing into them,” said Kim Jackson, spokeswoman for the Harris County Flood Control District. Threat of rain
Officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have increased the pace of dam releases into Buffalo Bayou.
“They’re releasing a little bit more,” Jackson said, adding that officials expected the reservoirs to begin falling early next week. “They’re trying to get the water out as quickly as they can.”
Water remains on the streets in the community closest to Clay Road, which began pooling Thursday from the rising Addicks Reservoir.
Officials predict the neighborhood “will have water in there for about another week” — though the latest round is not expected to impact many houses, Jackson said.
“Those folks are in some tough shape there,” she said. “It’s not going to get in their homes, but it’s still difficult. It’s in their streets and even creeping up their driveways.
“This is more of a mobility problem, but it’s still impactful.”
The possibility of more rain early this week means the Corps may interrupt the release of water.
“Any time there’s a threat of rain, they have to close the gates,” Jackson said.
Finally, flood control district and emergency management authorities are warning people not to enter enticing creeks and bayous — on watercraft or otherwise.
“The creeks are running fast and high. It’s a beautiful day and tempting to go out on a raft or boat, but stay away from them,” Jackson said. “There’s a lot of stuff in that water — a lot of debris and little critters. Snakes. So, it’s just not safe.”
Meanwhile, residents elsewhere across the region continued the long process of drying out. City officials said they would begin picking up flood-damaged items Saturday, particularly from these areas: Acres Homes, Alabonson, Chateau Forest, Kempwood/Bingle, Hollister, Larchmont, Link Meadow, Linkwood, Meyerland, Spring Branch, Blalock, Gessner, Hemstead and Westbury.
As crews worked to pluck flood-damaged debris from streets, city officials asked residents to divide trash into several categories: normal household trash, vegetative debris, construction and demolition materials, appliances, electronics — like computers or radios — and household hazardous waste, like cleaning supplies, batteries and lawn chemicals. Assessing the damage
County officials, meanwhile, said Friday they’d submitted an initial report to the federal government, tallying the damage.
At least 4,300 homes in Harris County, Houston and the region’s smaller cities flooded, Jackson said, adding that those numbers are expected to continue to rise.
Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for the county’s emergency management office, said that with water finally receding, damageassessment crews were starting to evaluate flooded homes in the hardest-hit areas.
With dropping flood levels, “we anticipate we will see a surge of requests for assistance,” he said, adding that residents looking for resources to help clean up and rebuild should call 211.
Volunteers and organizations across the area were offering assistance to victims of flooding. Vicki Eichstaedt, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said shelters were open in Conroe, Jersey Village, Spring and Brookshire; two others were set to close Saturday.
Flood victims at Royal High School in Brookshire were being relocated to the Brookshire Civic Center on Saturday afternoon.
So far the Red Cross has had 1,407 overnight stays in shelters and distributed 12,063 relief items, Eichstaedt said.
“We’re continuing to provide relief supplies so people can start to move forward,” she said. “We also have several emergency response vehicles that will be touring affected areas.”
Assessors also continued sending damage assessments to state officials, Sanchez said. The estimates are important to eventually have a federal disaster declaration, which would bring federal dollars to help rebuild.
“The damage assessment is going to continue for a while,” he said, adding that estimates here have already tallied almost $30 million. Total damages must reach at least $35 million before state officials could apply for a federal disaster declaration, a figure Sanchez said will likely be reached. ‘Count on our neighbors’
Families in Cypress-Fairbanks spent Saturday searching for normalcy. School was out the entire week in the district, which suffered $4 million worth of damage to various campuses.
“The one thing our families need is a break, an opportunity to step away from the chaos,” said Jana Needham, principal of Moore Elementary School. “Our kids haven’t been together in a week; they needed an opportunity to get together, see that their friends are OK and that their teachers care.”
At a hot-dog cookout, families reunited and received donations from area businesses and nonprofit organizations.
“The kids’ life was suddenly uprooted,” said Mickie Long, a behavioral interventionist at the school. “They all say they don’t want to be in school, but I know school is important for them, and I expect Monday that they will super energetic and ready for recess.”
Rachel Freeman brought her two children and her mother Melody Rountree to the cookout. They have lived in the area for nearly 20 years and never experienced a flood like this one.
“The water was so far. I mean, we saw kayakers,” she said. “But we are grateful that there is a really good sense of community down here. We know that we can count on our neighbors, and they can count on us.”