we had to evacuate Monday evening

#1

County police in a boat came by around 5 pm, telling us of a mandatory evacuation.

Guessing that our area got over 2 feet of rain since Friday morning, we watched the street fill up and then the water slowly advance towards the house. Carried as much paperwork, clothes, personal possessions, etc. upstairs. The wife and I couldn't do furniture by ourselves; we're just too old.

By Monday morning the water started getting into the garage, wicked through the drywall and started saturating the master bedroom carpet. By 4 pm it went up 4 more inches, over the brick porch and started seeping under the front door. So when the rescuers came by in the boat, we hoisted the white flag. Grabbed laptops, cash, cell phones and charging cords, her insulin and insulin pump supplies, and got into the boat. They took us to a nearby main street where a dump truck was carrying people; that took us to a nearby private elementary school. We transferred to another truck which took us to the nearby high school, but they were out of room for any more evacuees. Somehow my wife reached a friend and got us a ride over there. Her house still had passable streets, electricity, and running water. We stayed there for 2 days, but she is an odd sort of character, so we had to get away:

Tuesday we heard that a nearby grocery store was open so we said "Let's go stock up; we'll pay for it". Since her street was still passable she agreed. So we slowly headed towards the store. But she decided to veer off because she "wanted to see how bad everything looked". But we kept our mouths shut out of politeness.

She reaches an area where she knows folks, it looks pretty bad, and she wants to take some pictures. But her cell doesn't have a camera so she asks to use my wife's. Instead she starts taking video of the scene ... for several minutes. The recording stops as it runs out of memory space. So she starts bitching and fiddling with it; my wife goes "What are you doing?" She replies, "It won't save the video because it ran out of room, so I'm deleting some of these unnecessary photos". My wife panics, yells "Don't do that!" and snatches the phone out of her hand. We just look at each other, knowing right then and there that we have to get away from her ASAP.

Called the daughter, whose house has remained an island they can't leave, but is dry inside. She says that if we can get to the neighborhood, she and her boyfriend will escort us back to the house. So we get the wife's friend to return home, we gather our few things, and she makes it to the interstate exit where our daughter is waiting. We waded through knee high water for about 3/4 mile to get to her house, where the boyfriend's dog, and my wife and daughter's dog (kinda like joint custody) were ecstatic to see us. We showered, washed clothes, and then ate in darkness since her power has been mostly out since Friday. When it does come on we all rush to charge cell phones and get onto the internet to get road updates.

My daughter loves us but she doesn't want us to stay indefinitely. Part of it is a vibe she's getting from the wife who doesn't want us to overstay our welcome. Officials say it will be another 7 - 14 days before we can get back to our home. Even then, it will be borderline livable because of mold issues. She wants us to find temporary housing so that we don't return to our daughter's house and bring mold back with us. I understand her point, but temporary housing will be damn near impossible to find, not to mention clean gas to get us to our house and back for the next few weeks from wherever we stay. We've already seen on the news storied about people gassing up from stations that weren't underwater, but whose tanks got water contamination anyway.

As it stands, we'll lose all first floor furniture, carpeting and have damaged drywall and cabinetry. And it wasn't the extra 1 - 2 feet of rain that fell this week that hurt, it was their need to release water from 2 nearby reservoirs that made things worse. Both of them are on the west side of town within a few miles of our house. Each has a damn built over 70 years ago and both have gotten a grade of "F" from the Army Corps of Engineers. That's why they were releasing water - if those dams gave way, it wouldn't be a few thousand homes getting hit worse, it would have been tens of thousands more.

Then we'll have to deal with the insurance adjusters for the house and her car, followed by dealing with contractors - we'll be on their lists for when they can get to us. At least we won't lose everything because of what we moved upstairs; the news reports show some neighborhoods where the homes are just too submerged to be salvageable.

Almost all of my can collection is on the second floor, with most of the rest on shelves in my home office den. I don’t know how high the water got, but the bottom shelves, if affected, are steel cans from the 70s. Those can be replaced anytime; no hurry. I did have a bunch of boxes for shipping out trades on the floor; they’re all ruined. I also had a box of 70s sixteen ounce cans given to me that I hadn’t gotten around to opening yet. If the water in the house rose high enough, all of them got submerged.

#2

Man O Man, hang in there the best you can. Although it won't do you any good I'll be thinking about your agony and situation. Try to hang in there, the water will recede and the sun will shine again.

#3

Brian -

I am sorry to hear that. That totally sucks! However, I'm glad to hear you and your wife (and other family members) are safe.

- Mike

#4

Family first, people first...we can't replace you.......we can replace your cans. I am happy you are safe.

#5

Horrible experiene. Things obviously difficult now but possesions can be replaced, loved ones can't. Try to stay positive and focused on future, things will work out.

#6

Hang in there my friend

#7

I can't even imagine what your going through

#8

So sorry to hear about all of this, but very glad that you are alive and safe my friend. Do keep us posted on how things work out for you. And you've GOT to post here when you're ready to try to replace some of your cans. You've got a friend in CT who will be more than happy to contribute a few boxes to the cause!

#9

You've been in my thoughts and prayers since this whole nightmare started, knowing where your home is and what I have heard on the news. I know quite a few people who have gone through similar nightmares after Katrina. It is truly an unending hell that people who don't live in hurricane-prone areas will never understand. I'm praying for you- praying that you get a good adjuster who will give you fair value to repair your home. Praying that you had flood insurance to cover water damage (homeowner's here explicitly excludes that). Praying that you can get help from one of the numerous church groups that will be in the area to help people clean out and rebuild. I'll tell you something more from personal experience. ONLY deal with licensed and reputable local contractors! Don't deal with storm chasers! They will charge you a lot of money and disappear after doing a half-@ssed job. I got slammed by some of these jerks, because I didn't know better, and I wanted to get the work done and over with. Check Angie's List and other sources of good and reputable contractors. I hope your roof held up- DO get that checked. Roof leaks can be really sneaky and hard to spot if you didn't lose a lot of shingles.

I know about how fast mold develops after these storms- I helped my dad clean out his business that had sat for three weeks in New Orleans summer heat after Katrina after taking just 18 inches but the mold was out of control. It was on everything. I have a regularly recurring cough to this day, usually after I eat, that is from cleaning that place out without proper face mask protection. You can't find the masks anywhere, so you go in and clean out what you can before it gets worse. That was one of the most horrible experiences of my life. The sooner you get in there, and get some fans and dehumidifiers up and running, the better. Open up windows, anything that can help air the house out and dry it out.

Most important thing, I'm glad to hear that you and your wife are safe. Things will work out in the end. It will take a while, but it will happen.

#10

I was in your shoes last Oct. Very dim light at the end of that tunnel but it will slowly get bigger. You have a tough row to hoe bud. Keep on keeping on!
PS the "friend" who though nothing of deleting photos from your wife's phone is possibly the most annoying thing I've heard in a long time. ###?

#11

Terrible tragedy down in Texas. My heart goes out to you, your family and your friends. Glad you are safe and hopefully the house & cans are salvageable. Good luck!!!

#12

It's going on 8 days since we had to evacuate before the water entered our home. Many neighborhoods in the city and other suburbs have clear streets; we do not. The police have blocked the entrance to our neighborhood approximately 1/4 mile both north and south - way better than the almost 1 mile in either direction late last week. As they keep releasing water out of the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, the water will keep receding in our area.

Wife spoke to a neighbor who got in yesterday (she had on hip waders and walked through waist high water). She went into her house, then looked into the windows of several neighbor's houses so she could give them a report. She said that the water appeared to top out at 18" high based upon the stained walls in our house, which means a lot of possessions in bookshelves and cabinets might not have gotten wet. Considering the E.Coli, gas, oil and other pollutants in the water, that's very good news indeed! The cops say that if the water keeps receding at its current pace we show be able to get to the house by this weekend.

Of course, if Hurricane Irma doesn't turn right at Florida, who knows what will happen ...

#13

Fingers crossed on all accounts. Hang in there!

#14

18 inches is bad enough! That is how much water got into my dad's business during Katrina. Problem was that we couldn't get back right away to open the place up and air it out. That is what you need right now more than anything so that you don't have mold festering and growing on everything. You need to get into the house, by any (preferably legal) means necessary, to begin to assess damage and to start airing out the house. That can make all the difference in the world how much mold you're dealing with. Trust me, that was the worst part of cleaning things out! Hope I"m not being upsetting, but that is my experience with cleaning things out.

Please do keep us updated on your progress. You remain in my daily thoughts and prayers.

Hoping that you have homeowners that actually covers water and mold damage- unlike coverage here, and that you get a good adjuster who will help you with the money to get things back to normal.

Oh, one more thing. Be really picky about your contractor. Best to deal with locals if you can. Lots of crooks will come in to swindle desperate flooded people out of their money to fix their homes. I hope you were the smart one who was lining up his contractor as soon as he knew he would need one. Good contractors will be harder to come by and a LOT more expensive for a while. I have buddies in several contracting fields, if I hear that they are heading to Texas to help out, I will let you know. Good honest people who do good work.

we had to evacuate Monday evening

we had to evacuate Monday evening

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