Lawsuit says city at fault for flood deaths
Elderly couple were given inadequate life jackets, family says
The surviving family of an elderly couple who died during a botched rescue in the 2015 Memorial Day Flood has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city of Houston, saying the city’s cost-cutting decisions cost the couple their lives.
Jack Alter, 87, and his 85-yearold wife Shirley were among the nine local residents who died in the historic flooding after storms pelted the area with 12 inches of water in just 10 hours. Afterward, a scathing internal report found that responding firefighters were insufficiently trained and lacked critical resources.
The lawsuit filed this week in Harris County court focuses on one of those missing resources: life preservers up to the task of a swift-water rescue.
“The Alters just didn’t have a chance when they went in the water,” said Terry Bryant, attorney for the couple’s surviving children. “If the city had invested in the proper equipment, we believe that Mr. and Mrs. Alter would have survived.
“The city took the cheap route by buying the cheap life preservers, so they’re saving money as opposed to saving lives.”
On May 25, 2015, the Alters spent a joyous night watching their granddaughter’s high school graduation. Afterward, the couple piled into a car with their daughter Leslie Alter and headed to their son’s house on North Braeswood.
They were waiting for their son — who was coming home from the same graduation — but he was stuck by the rising floodwaters.
The Alters spent the night in the car, but later moved to the porch of the house as the waters continued to rise.
Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, the family flagged down fire crews ferrying trapped Houstonians up and down Brays Bayou. The rescuers couldn’t stop on their first pass, but eventually picked up the waterlogged family just after daybreak.
First responders helped the Alters put on Type II Personal Flotation Devices — a type of life preserver ill-suited to swiftwater rescue. The firefighters,
“The Alters just didn’t have a chance when they went in the water. If the city had invested in the proper equipment, we believe that Mr. and Mrs. Alter would have survived.” Terry Bryant, attorney
meanwhile, were wearing Type V Life Jackets, according to the lawsuit.
En route to dry land, the fire crews picked up Dr. Anh Phan Nguyen, whom they found wading in chest-deep water.
The rescue boat was just a third of the way across the bayou when it hit a submerged object. The motor flew up out of the water and shut off; the boat capsized before firefighters could restart it
Everyone on board flew out into the swirling waters around them. The firefighters and Leslie Alter survived, but Nguyen and the elder Alters did not.
Shirley Alter’s body was recovered downstream in the bayou, and her husband was found dead days later in the Port of Houston. Neither was wearing a life vest when they were found.
Now, Leslie and two of her siblings, W. Kevin Alter and Rory Alter, are accusing the city of negligence.
“The firefighters that operated HFD rescue boats were provisioned with and always wore Type V Life Jackets. Type II PFDs are not intended for use in swift water,” the suit alleges. “Type V Life Jackets are intended for use in swift water.”
More than six months after the fatal flooding, a Houston Fire Department internal review concluded that while a senior captain and other firefighters trained in swift-water rescue realized that the currents were too swift for safe passage, it was not clear if the boat that picked up the Alters ever got the warning.
Problems with the radio system, a lack of swift water rescue training and crew fatigue also impacted rescue efforts, the review found.
Despite all that, it was the cheap life jackets that doomed the Alters, according to the lawsuit.
“Now they’re using the proper type of life preserver in their rescue boats,” Bryant said. “If they had done that before, we think that Mr. and Mrs. Alter would be alive.”
The city’s legal department did not respond to a request for comment.