HEARTBREAK IN IMELDA’S WAKE
For countless Houstonians, the damage is just emerging
Caney Creek firefighters reported to Station 81 early Thursday, prepared for a long day of rescues and work — only to find a foot of floodwater in their firehouse; furniture bobbing and an American flag floating in the currents. Then the calls started flooding in: Send help. We need a ride out. We’re trapped.
“It was a crazy day,” said Raymond Flannelly, chief of fire department in Montgomery County. And as it ended, the firefighters — and tens of thousands across Southeast Texas — faced cleanup efforts once again. “It does bum you out. But we’re here for one reason — to respond to calls in the community. And we did that.”
And as skies began to clear — though parts of the region remain under a flood warning through Saturday — the scope of Tropical Storm Imelda’s damage began to emerge. And the arduous hours mucking out homes, towing cars and filling out insurance claims began again for countless Houstonians.
Authorities attributed at least three deaths to the storm, including 47-year-old Malcolm Foster who was found in a Toyota Prius in a canal just south of Beaumont’s downtown. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said his deputies also found the body of a man last seen walking in the storm in a ditch in north Harris County, but awaited autopsy results to determine whether the death was stormrelated.
By 3 a.m. Friday, Houston firefighters performed more than 1,000 rescues. Harris County sheriff ’s deputies made an additional 400. And authorities towed more than 2,000 vehicles off county roads.
In Montgomery County, which saw 20 inches of rain in a day, more than 650 people were rescued, according to Meghan Ballard, spokeswoman for the county’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. More than
150 people sought help in shelters, she said.
At least 15 school districts canceled classes Friday — more than double the number that closed Thursday. A dozen or more roads remained flooded, according to Harris and Montgomery county authorities.
The heavy rain forced hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater and sewage to overflow. More than 100,000 gallons spilled from a site in north Houston on Thursday, and 275,100 gallons were released Friday near the University of Houston-Downtown. Thirty miles to the east, Baytown weathered three separate overflows Wednesday, affecting Black Duck Bay, Cedar Bayou and Carey Creed receiving streams, with about 100,000 gallons released at each site.
The overflows didn’t affect the cities’ drinking water supply, but officials advised those with private wells located within a halfmile of the spill to only use distilled or boiled water for personal use.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said the county avoided the worst effects of the storm, but that it is “heartbreaking” for residents, many of whom are still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. She and Mayor Sylvester Turner launched an assistance fund, to be overseen by a nonprofit, similar to what was created in the wake of Harvey.
New areas flooded
At an emergency meeting Friday, Harris County Commissioners allocated $5 million to address local flooding, while county engineers began assessing damage.
County Engineer John Blount said crews might need until Sunday to get to some flooded areas. Dozens of teams deployed by the county had found at least 130 flooded structures, but said “significantly more” need to be reached. In some cases, as with the Caney Creek firefighters, structures that had never flooded suffered serious damage.
During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the back of the fire station had high water, Flannelly said, but the building itself didn’t flood. Imelda put about 17 inches of water in the station, the chief said.
Fernando Carmona, 39, of Conroe, said his neighborhood in Lake Wildwood began flooding within 10 minutes of rain early Thursday, sending his gas tanks and other belongings down the street. By 5:30 a.m., he and his wife Maria Sanchez, 36, moved their cars up the street.
By 6 a.m., their mailboxes were fully covered and they returned to help neighbors struggling in the high waters. The trailer home where they live with their two sons was still dry, they said, but their neighbors weren’t so lucky. Some had to be evacuated.
Carmona’s neighbor Alfonso Reyes, 45, of Conroe, said after 20 minutes of rain, a creek behind his home overflowed and the street became a river.
His wife and sons retreated to a nearby McDonald’s, where they stayed for hours before returning around 6:30 p.m., only to find 2 feet of water in their home. A ditch in front of his home collapsed sometime during the storm.
Although the neighborhood has flooded before — sending his cars floating down the road — Reyes said this was the first time water made its way into his home.
State Rep. Armando Walle pleaded for help combating “storms of biblical proportions,” saying some areas in Aldine have flooded four times.
“These are acts of God,” he said at the emergency meeting’s public session.
Flannelly, whose colleagues responded to the Lake Wildwood area, said the impact to homeowners — many of whom had spent years saving to buy a home — has been devastating.
“You do what you can to pick up the pieces,” he said. But the damage the flood has wrought is not easily overcome, he said.
And every new storm now brings new dread.
“Every time it rains, you think to yourself,” he said. “‘Is it this, again?’”
Further south, near Galveston, Jose Cruz and two friends sat around a table in the dark interior of Jose’s Cantina Restaurant, trading war stories of the latest storm to wallop the region.
Imelda’s remnants knocked out power for all Bolivar Peninsula residents around 2 a.m. Thursday. Cruz had arrived in Bolivar on Thursday from Beaumont, after a harrowing drive through Winnie, where floodwaters washed out main roads and nearly cut off access to the peninsula.
“I couldn’t even see the road,” Cruz recalled. “There was at least 2 feet of water. I kept pushing and pushing and pushing and I finally made it.”
A haven in the storm
Several miles down Texas 87, Bolivar residents flocked to the Gulf Coast Supermarket — “The Big Store,” as it’s known — one of the only businesses still operating, thanks to a 400-kilowatt generator purchased by owner Keith Zahar, who has weathered three decades of storms.
“This is a marine generator; it’s like the ones they put on the (oil) rigs,” Zahar said.
An spokeswoman for Entergy, which supplies power to the area, said more than 5,000 customers lost power and that they hope it’s restored by Saturday evening.
At the supermarket, customers stocked up on supplies, including ice and non-refrigerated food. The deli at the front of the store was packed with folks sitting down for a hot meal.
“Just buy cookies and stuff that won’t go bad,” said Maurice Ritchie, a retired carpenter loading bags in his pickup truck. “If you want biscuits and coffee you gotta come early.”
Ritchie and his wife are moving from Beaumont to a house they purchased on the peninsula. A Northern Ireland native who has lived in Southeast Texas since the early 1970s, Ritchie said his family had a generator sitting outside the house ready to be installed before Imelda swept through.
“We don’t have any juice. Trying to put the windows up, put the screens on and try to keep cool and eat whatever we have,” he said. “It’s annoying, we could’ve been sitting comfortably.”
By 10 a.m., the supermarket had exhausted its gasoline supply. Zahar wasn’t sure when he’d be able to refuel, since barges hit the Interstate 10 bridge over the San Jacinto River had closed the freeway in both directions.
Supplying water
Lack of power wasn’t the only post-Imelda concern. The peninsula’s water treatment facility in Winnie, flooded in the storm, forcing a conservation notice. The plant supplies the potable and nonpotable water for the peninsula.
Jo Ball, the general manager for the Bolivar Peninsula Special Utility District, was in Winnie on Friday morning assessing the damage. Flooding was so bad he arrived by boat.
“They won’t even be able to get in there without a boat for probably about a week,” Ball said. “There’s no place to pump the water.”
In the meantime, Ball was working on making an emergency connection with the Trinity Bay Conservation District to supply treated water to the peninsula, which is relying on its now half depleted storage tanks.
Far northeast of downtown Houston, Huffman residents in Lochshire neighborhood on Friday were being evacuated from their flooded homes. By early afternoon, about 50 to 60 people were rescued by boat from the neighborhood, authorities said.
Teresa Hand, 46, watched from her driveway, where her home remained relatively dry. She lives on the cusp of where water was coming in, and deeper in the neighborhood, the water was much higher. Neighbors blame nearby Luce Bayou.
Two years ago, neighbors helped each other clean up after Harvey. Now, they will endure the same task.
“So many of us went over there and helped clean those houses out and rebuild them,” Hand said, tears in her eyes. “We’re going to do that again, just like we always do.”