Mayor offers apology to city
Turner says action is being taken to help frustrated residents
“We’re not just here today and gone tomorrow. I just want you to understand that. There’s nobody that’s little, nobody that’s big. Everybody’s important.” Mayor Sylvester Turner
Mayor Sylvester Turner faced roughly 1,000 victims of the flood-ravaged Greenspoint area at a community meeting Wednesday afternoon, many of them frustrated and angry after Monday’s deadly deluge forced them to abandon their homes and wade through chest-deep water to safety.
Earlier in the day, the mayor apologized for what several Greenspoint residents said was a sluggish city response in their neighborhood, where an estimated 17 apartment complexes were damaged.
“Do I apologize to anyone who believed that we didn’t respond to them in time?” Turner said earlier after a City Council meeting. “Absolutely. I’m the CEO and manager of the city, absolutely.”
The mayor sought to reassure residents that the city would help by assigning additional police officers to the area and trying to secure temporary housing for the displaced by the end of the week.
Among those angry at the city’s response was Philip Johnson, whose family waited in their flooded Rockridge Bend apartment for 12 hours Monday, perching on countertops to stay clear of the thigh-high water.
Johnson, who was sleeping at the M.O. Campbell shelter, said he called city emergency lines for help a dozen times before a city dump truck arrived to rescue his family.
“The whole response overall was
poor,” said Johnson, 41. “They’re supposed to be first response, but it was like we wasn’t the first on their agenda.”
Houston Fire Department spokesman Ruy Lozano stressed that firefighters had to prioritize life-threatening incidents over relocating other flooded residents.
“We have to try to save as many lives as possible,” Lozano said. “Once we know all those lifethreatening calls have been satisfied, now we’re coming back and relocating. So, if they start relocating themselves prior to us hitting that second phase, that’s very much a possibility.”
Lozano said the Houston Fire Department was able to relocate close to 300 people from the Greenspoint area on Monday.
The agency sent at least 100 of its 845 responders to Greenspoint on Monday, according to Assistant Chief Richard Mann, with the city allocating 11 boats, 12 dump trucks and two high-water vehicles to the area.
As of late Wednesday afternoon, county officials said almost 900 buildings had been affected with an estimate of $8.1 million in damages, and seven floodrelated deaths in the area had been confirmed.
Turner did not dwell on what happened during the meeting at Greenspoint’s Harvest Time Church, focusing instead on the steps the city planned to take going forward in the area where residents have little in the way of extra resources. He addressed topics such as when next month’s rent would be due and whether renters or their landlords should be tasked with pulling up waterlogged carpet.
“We’re not just here today and gone tomorrow. I just want you to understand that,” Turner said. “There’s nobody that’s little, nobody that’s big. Everybody’s important.” Some are homeless
Turner was accompanied by several city department directors and their staff, who interviewed attendees for more than an hour after the city’s presentation.
“Where we supposed to live?” 62-year-old Willie Williams pressed Turner as he took questions from throngs of flood victims. “They ain’t doing nothing. … Nobody’s really trying to help us.”
Turner told Williams that he already had asked the owner of her Brekenridge apartment complex to provide her with a letter detailing the cleanup that would be taking place in her unit.
“They’re coming back to take away that sheetrock, to move all that stuff out of there,” Turner said, before directing her to a city staffer.
Back in the audience, Guillermo Seminario said he was satisfied with the city’s efforts thus far.
“So far, so good,” said Seminario, a 58-year-old cab driver still living in his flooded apartment. “I don’t have any place to go.”
Dozens of attendees are living in the M.O. Campbell shelter, while dozens more indicated they remained in their apartments, despite believing their units were unsafe. The vast majority were renters. Apartment troubles
Mark Loethen, who oversees code enforcement for the city’s Public Works Department, said the city met Wednesday morning with the owners of four Greenspoint apartment complexes, none of which had structural damage. However, many of the units had electrical and air conditioning problems.
City officials encouraged flood victims to express their unique concerns, instructed them to place wet clothes and furniture in dumpsters, and said that an additional 36 police officers had been tasked with patrolling Greenspoint’s heavily damaged areas.
City Councilman Jerry Davis said he is researching how much it would cost to equip targeted fire stations with inflatable rafts and equipment to wade into deep water.
“One of the best practices I saw that day was citizens just jumping out with regular inflatables,” Davis said.
Moments Johnson, a 44-year-old nurse’s aide whose car was inundated with water on Monday, lauded the city for its quick response.
“As soon as the floods started coming, they didn’t wait,” Johnson said.
A second meeting with Turner drew a small crowd in Meyerland, where low-lying areas have been hit hard by flooding twice in less than 12 months. ‘Get you to stay’
Residents were mostly upset about drainage in their neighborhood close to Brays Bayou, a key watershed. A few dozen homeowners and renters turned out to the information session at Mark Twain Elementary School.
Many residents saw their homes flooded last Memorial Day, only to suffer through similar damage again this week. In some cases, it was shortly after they moved back in, or were poised to return to renovated homes.
Turner encouraged homeowners to stay in the area.
“The city of Houston will be diminished if you make the decision that this is not where you want to be,” Turner said. “We’re going to do everything we can to get you to stay.”
Most homeowners at the meeting said they were relatively satisfied with the city’s flood response, and only upset about longterm delays to improving drainage. But renters in the area, where most of those affected are eligible for grants and other services for homeowners, felt left out.
Hua Wang, who lives in an apartment on Brompton near North Braeswood, said her complex is overrun by sewage. It happened in October also, during heavy rains, and her management isn’t doing anything about it during this flooding.
Gus Useche, a vice president for construction at a property company, said 91 first-floor units at the company’s Meyergrove Apartments were badly damaged.
New tenants had just moved in within the past few months, after previous tenants were released from their leases because of damage last May.