"Flood". John A Voll. Houston, TX

The past 12 to 14 months have been pretty eventful for Margie and me here in Katy, TX. Last fall, we were flooded by water from about 50” of rain associated with Hurricane Harvey. In many ways we are blessed: we had and still have flood insurance so while 13” of water in our home did considerable damage to both structure and contents, much was covered by insurance. I have never been through a natural disaster of this magnitude and I am guessing most of my Amoco friends have not either. I also know that many Amoco friends were impacted by Hurricane Harvey and other similar events. Margie keeps telling me I should write a book about what happened to us, but I’m not inclined to do that. I will share some of our experiences though. In the end, we survived and our home actually is somewhat improved from where we were before the flood. It was a traumatic experience, but maybe not nearly as devastating to us as some of our friends and neighbors in the greater Houston area.

 We flooded on or about Tuesday 29 August 2017. I don’t know exactly when flood water first entered because we evacuated on Sunday 27 August. Margie had been in Chicago most of the previous week visiting her parents and sister. She was scheduled to fly back in to Hobby on Saturday 26 August. On that Friday, we considered that she should reschedule and fly back earlier, anticipating the rain forecast would cause significant air traffic disruption into both Hobby and George Bush airports. I was of the opinion that it would be better to fly as scheduled but Margie’s proposal to fly in on Friday evening prevailed and turned out to be the better option.  She landed at about 10:30 PM on Friday evening the last flight to make it in to Hobby until sometime after Hobby reopened on 30 August. Margie shares that the Southwest pilot updated all passengers immediately after take-off with a message about safety and the planned course of action if they could not land in Houston. Margie said it was very comforting to hear the captain’s words and to know they were considering alternatives to provide everyone a safe flight. My drive to Hobby along Beltway 8/Sam Houston Toll Road was surreal. I saw only a few other vehicles on the road during my 55 minute drive and slowed to under 30 MPH a few times due to heavy rain. I was pleasantly surprised that there was not much standing water in the road way. After picking up Margie, the trip home was just as surreal with similar conditions, but we made it home safely and Margie and I were both happy that she was not stuck in Chicago during the subsequent course of events.

We spent Saturday 26 August with eyes on the weather and the weather reports on TV  that were interrupted occasionally due to rain and clouds that prevented out satellite dish from picking up a signal. We discussed our options should our house get flooded but were optimistic that it would not. There was standing water in our street. We live in the Saddlebrook Crossing neighborhood of Cinco ranch, southeast of the intersection of Fry and Mason Roads. We didn’t venture out in a car on Saturday due to the overall conditions and because the three entrance/egress streets for our subdivision were under high enough water to preclude anything but a pickup truck type clearance to pass. We walked over to the bayou and observed high water still contained within the banks of the bayou. Several neighbors were out and about and while we discussed the incessant rain, there were no conversations about house flooding or evacuation. Saturday afternoon we confirmed that our hurricane supplies would be adequate should we be stranded for up to a week.  Bottled water, non-perishable food, a portable room A/C unit, flashlights, radios, batteries and other supplies were also safe and available in an upstairs closet. Our Honda generator was locked up in the garage. Nightfall found us still cautiously optimistic but fairly stressed by the continued rain and reports of significant flooding through the Houston area. In addition, rain forecasts showed Harvey lingering for days and prediction indication record rainfall. Sleep was not easy to come by.

We woke to the sound or rain on Sunday morning and more reports of flooding and rescue missions. The water in our street was at the curb Sunday morning and by mid-morning was over the curb and almost to the sidewalk. We still didn’t think we would flood as our foundation is a few feet higher than the street. We watched families being rescued from the attics of their one story homes and contemplated how we would get rescued if our first floor flooded. I still didn’t think we would flood but I was beginning to explore more options in the event we did. Margie was not as optimistic. We moved some one of a kind painting and other valuables up to our second floor but left all of the large furniture and other items remain. At about 10:30 or so in the morning, our friends Dan and Cathy Lebsack (former Amoco/BP) called to offer to come and pick us up. Dan had a slightly lifted Ford F250 pick-up and felt comfortable getting through the high water between their home in the west Katy neighborhood of Firethorne. We declined their offer as we still believed we would not flood and we had plenty of supplies in the event we were stranded in our neighborhood for a few days. At about 11:00 Dan called to say he had driven over and was unable to get past high water at the entrance to our subdivision. We thanked him and said we would be OK. At this point the water was over the curb and almost to the house side edge of the sidewalk. Then the rain subsided for about an hour or two and we watched the water receded to the street edge of the sidewalk and were feeling a little better. Weather forecasts however, suggested the rain would start again and continue for several more days and contribute even more to a record level of rainfall. Dan and Cathy were persistent and called us shortly after noon or maybe it was 1:00, to let us know the water at our entrance had pulled back enough for them to pass. This announced their rescue mission and we greeted them in the driveway shortly thereafter. By then we had moved everything upstairs that was going up and packed clothes and sundries to last two or three days. I still thought our odds of flooding were minimal, but we were happy to not be stranded in our home. All loaded in the truck, I asked Dan if he thought our CRV had enough ground clearance to get out of the subdivisions and his answer was an empathic “no”. So we drove out of Saddlebrook onto Mason Road and headed north towards Fry. The water on Mason was almost as high as the entrance to our subdivision and we drove on the wrong side of the road because the water level was slightly lower. On the short stretch of Mason Road south of Fry, near Creech Elementary, we watched a CRV bobbing in the wake of Dan’s F-250. It was obviously  good decision to not attempt the drive with our CRV, although as you will read below, it became a moot point.

The drive to Firethorne went without incident although we observed high water and closed streets along the way. By then the rain had resumed. Arriving safely at Dan and Cathy’s home we settled in to a guest bedroom with attached bath and joked about our luxury emergency accommodations. We did feel lucky since we watched TV reports of many people sleeping and cots and bare floor in gyms and other storm shelters. We spent Sunday afternoon watching the rain and the weather reports and the Texans playing the Saints in New Orleans. In retrospect, Texans Head Coach Bill O’Brien regretted his words when he said his team was focused on the game and not on conditions back home. Those words came back to haunt him a bit.

We were not in danger of being flooded in Firethorne however, by late Sunday or maybe Monday morning we were stranded as the Firethorne entrance and egress streets were inundated by high water. Most of the other streets were OK and while the local bayou was extremely high, it was contained in retention areas. From the time we arrived at Dan and Cathy’s until the following Saturday, we did not know what was happening at our home. We were glued to the TV and quickly became more conversant about the relation between elevations above sea level for neighborhoods and the Barker and Addick’s reservoirs. Weather reports also began to focus on the water levels in the reservoirs and potential impact of neighbors and homes both downstream and upstream of them. The rain continued. Dan and Cathy’s backyard was full of puddles and their street had standing water but we felt safe and secure. We began to joke about living with them in our “guest suite” through Thanksgiving. While we joked about that, it soon became apparent that and few days’ worth of clothing would not be enough, at least we were able to do laundry. We were stranded in Firethorne for a few days because of high water. By Wednesday we blew past the Thanksgiving jokes and discussed what it would be like to be a part of the Lebsack Christmas. Of course the humor masked our concern about our home, of which we had no status update, and concern for the multitude of Texans and Houstonians now suffering the effects of rain and flood. On Thursday we were able to drive out of Firethorne and observe firsthand the impact of the continued rain and high water. In an attempt to get to Saddlebrook, we were blocked by flood conditions and the intersection of Peek and Fry and also at Westheimer and Fry and at Mason and Westheimer. At this point we vacillated between accepting that our home and flooded and hoping that somehow it had not. I think if was Friday that I called a local ServePro franchise and got on a waiting list for post flood mitigation. In the meantime, Fort Bend County declared our neighborhood one of the many mandatory evacuation areas. Water was reported to be four feet high in the streets. We heard reports of neighbors being evacuated on boats and rafter and some who waded through the flood water to safety. The news reported on the high toxicity of the water along with floating nests of fire and snakes and other critters. There  was also a lot of news coverage regarding decisions to open the Barker and Addick’s floodgates which then took water downstream and flooded homes there, and keeping the flood gates closed, which eventually flooded ours and other neighborhoods upstream of the reservoirs. We were happy to have been rescued by Dan and Cathy but we were also anxious to know firsthand the condition of our home.

The Texas National Guard announced on Friday that they were offering to take residents into their homes in Saddlebrook to get medical supplies or stranded pets. The National Guard was stationed on Mason road just South of Westheimer. We went there on Friday afternoon and signed up to take advantage of their high water trucks that would transport and escort people in and out. There we multiple canopy tents and lots of community volunteers assisting the National Guard in coordinating this effort. Each household was allowed to send one person.  At about 5:00 PM we were informed that the last truckload had just left and there would be no trips until the next day.

After spending Friday evening trying to relax, we arrived at National Guard staging area at 9:00 AM Saturday and once again signed up for me to get on a truck. With folding chairs and plenty of bottled water, we were prepared for the wait. I had waders, boots, plastic gloves, and a cloth ventilator face mask for protection against toxic water and moldy air. Through the kindness of friends and neighbors we also had coffee and sandwiches provided – truly a community support effort. At about noon, I was able to get onto the National Guard truck along with about six other neighbor from Saddlebrook. We were told that we should not make the trip if we had any open cuts. At each house, an armed national guard soldier got off the truck with the homeowner and walked to the front door. We were each given three minutes inside and at the two minute mark the guard folks shouted out a timing warning to the occupant inside. After the first house I admit I was anxious and nervous about what I would find in my house. When it came my turn to get out of the truck, I stepped cautiously down the ladder at the rear of the truck into dark and murky flood  water that rose to mid chest level in the middle of the street. I walked over to the sidewalk with careful steps because I could not see where my feet were landing. As I walked a few feet up the front walk of our home, the water was receded and I was walking in mud and debris. As I approached the front door I could see that it was already badly warped and I wondered if I would need to break it down or go through a window. Luckily, with help from my national guard escort, the door opened after a strong push from the two of us. I walked in alone to see my house free of flood water but covered with dirt and mud and sewage. Using the stain marks on walls and furniture I was able to measure where water had risen about 13 inches throughout the house. The air was musty and moldy and with 90 degree temperatures outside, the inside was hot and humid and fetid. One of my first thoughts was that I needed to get back as soon as possible to begin mucking and gutting. Gathering the few medical supplies I was allowed to collect (maybe a few extra clothing items for Margie) I waded back to the truck and we completed the last of the visits and headed back to the staging area. On the way there and back we encountered several people in small boats heading in and out of the neighborhood, in direct violation of the mandatory evacuation order, but with no push back at all from local authorities. I met several people on the truck that I did not know from the neighborhood. We traded stories and I found out that we were one of the few homeowners with flood insurance. One family had closed on their home less than a month prior. Everybody was hit hard and I think know we developed some camaraderie and mutual support as we took this bizarre trip into our subdivision. We met again later as we were all moving back into our homes – months away.

After reporting in to Margie what I found at the house, we went to haver dinner and  spend the night with our daughter Samantha at her apartment in mid-town. Since it was apparent that the only way to get to our house absent a National Guard truck was to use a boat, we decided that on Sunday we would all go to our son John’s place in Austin. Our neighborhood was still subject to mandatory evacuation and I did not have access to a boat. In the meantime, ServePro had agreed to come out and provide an estimate for mucking and gutting, drying and mold control as soon as they could drive safely to our house. It was sometime around this time that we registered with FEMA and received about $1,500 for emergency housing and incidentals, I think we didn’t actually get the money until after Labor Day, but it was relatively quick and certainly came in handy. We felt lucky that we did not spend an extended period of time in a hotel room, especially with our small and sometimes yappy dog Jasmine.

On Sunday afternoon we drove to Austin and were about to have dinner out when I received a phone call from our good friend from church, David. He asked when we were going in to muck and gut and I told him the only way in was by boat and I didn’t have one. “No problem” he said, I’ll get a boat. So I told him I would call back after discussing his offer with family. Dinner turned out to be an extended debate about venturing into the mandatory evacuation area and toxic waters in a small boat in order to start cleaning and drying out the house.  It wasn’t a fun conversation and in the end we had reluctant agreement to go in with David’s boat. We agreed to meet in Katy at Beck Junior High which was already a known staging area for small boats going into Saddlebrook. David had to drive four hours round trip to get the boat and we had to gather supplies and drive in from Austin.

Driving from Austin to Katy on Labor Day Monday we received a call from Dan. He told me that he was holding onto a 16,000 cubic inch per second fan at Home depot and should he buy it? I agreed and he bought that big ass fan and 10 20 inch box fans to support imminent drying and dehumidification efforts. Heading east on Fry Road towards Peek and eventually Beck Junior High, we encounter hundreds of vehicles parking and dropping off people and supplies. We were lucky to find a parking spot that the school since both sides of Fry were filled with parked vehicles. As we waited for David to arrive with the boat, I noticed that several Ford F-350s and other high clearance vehicles were offering rides into Saddlebrook. I hopped on one, along with a couple of friends who had arrived to help, and we were able to make it, just barely, through the high water on Fry and on Mason and into the subdivision. Most of the street has high water but I also noticed and area about 100 feet long that was almost dry. There was enough of an elevation change that I had never noticed, to create that dry area. Unfortunately, that meant that we would not be able to use David’s boat. I called him with the news and fortunately another friend of his was able to use the boat to help some other flood victims.

By about 1:00 PM, David, Dan and Cathy, Margie, our daughter Samantha and son John, Morgan, Ellie, Sterling, Derik, Tyler, Nathan and I made up our initial mucking and gutting crew. After an initial tour of our home we discovered that our two cars and one motorcycle were flooded and quickly “totaled” by our insurance company. We spend the day moving things upstairs that could be saved and taking everything else out to a rapidly growing debris pile on our front yard. We took pictures of absolutely everything that was thrown on the debris pile which really came in handy later. Dan spent the better part of two hours draining water from our Honda 2000 portable generator that sat in 18 inches of water in our flooded garage. As soon as he got it up and running we hooked up fans and dehumidifiers. On that first day we removed all of the carpeting and most of the drywall on the walls up to about 4 feet. We had no power to the neighborhood so we had no AC. But at least we got the air moving with the big ass fan and box fans and I think that helped quite a bit in our success.

We continued on Tuesday 5 September 2017, and by Wednesday were about 95% finished with the mucking and gutting. Power was restored late in the afternoon on Tuesday after we had quit for the day. We went back and started up the AC to begin dehumidification but were disappointed when the AC would not startup. After leaving a message with an AC repair guy, we started back to Firethorne. To my amazement, the AC guy returned our call after ten minutes and was able to tell us what we had missed when trying to restart the AC. We have reset the breaker for the AC but not the furnace. Turns out both need to be on in order to run the A/C. Makers sense, but we just didn’t think of it at the time. Other friends joined us during the days after labor day. My WorkOut buddy MJ and our good friends Rae Ann and Bill spent hours cleaning floors multiple times and helping in other ways. Samantha, Sterling, John, Dan and Cathy spent untold hours helping. Our guy who installed the new garage door even stopped to work with us for an hour! Amazing and up lifting – all of it.

As mucking and gutting and drying continued over the next few weeks, we were blessed by an outpouring of love and support from our family, friends, church and community. We will be ever grateful for that. It took a long time for the debris piles to be removed from yards throughout our neighborhood. It was pretty depressing driving through that every day and a great relief when ours was removed along with our neighbors.

I learned how to check studs for moisture and by the time we finished drying out the house we passed the mold and air quality test with flying colors. That cost about $600 and it’s pretty much a necessary expense in my opinion.

I learned a few things about flood insurance through Farmers. Our annual premium is about $500. It doesn’t work the way home owners insurance works. I expected someone from the flood insurance company would inspect our home and maybe recommend a contractor. Instead, they take a lot of measurements during their inspection and based on how much water and the square footage of the house, they estimate the cost to muck and gut and mitigate mold and then repair the structure.  Then they tell you how much you get. Finding a contractor is up to the home owner. We were very lucky in that we had been talking to a contractor before the flood about doing some remodeling for us. I contacted him when I was pretty certain that we had flooded and he agreed to take on the whole of the structural repairs. A lot of people in our area were not so lucky and I’ve heard may tales of woe about shoddy worked and crooked contractors.

The other big deal with flood insurance is about contents that get destroyed. The flood insurance company asked for a line item list with a lot of detail. We ended up with about 450 lines of items and each had a picture of the original item, the age, brand, estimated replacement value and a link to a similar item with a current price. We spent hours and hours on this and in the end I think it was worth it. Caused a lot of stress though. We made a full settlement with insurance in December 2017.

I did find out that I was also eligible for a claim on my home owners policy. Since I was able to document that my sewers had backed up into the house, my claim for sewer backup was approved. Mot a lot of money, but it helped. I found out about this through a friend who also made a successful claim. My agent didn’t think it would fly. When it did, he said he helped more than 100 of his policy holders with similar claims.

In the end we did not use ServePro. By the time they were able drive to our house we were fully mucked and gutted and well on our way to drying our house. I learned a lot from my conversation with them and discovered I was doing pretty much they recommend. I did learn that the optimal temperature for dehumidifying a house is about 70 to 75 degrees. Much warmer than my initial thought. I had the A/C cranked at 65 degrees thinking this would dry the place out faster, but I was wrong. A good learning.

Dan and Cathy were our landlords for sixty days until we moved back into our house. We lived on the second floor for about 6 months while renovation was completed on the first floor. It wasn’t ideal, but at least we were living at home. Our kitchen was a fold up table with a coffee make, microwave, toaster oven and crock pot.

We found out through folks at a tent set up by FEMA at Katy Mills Mall that the SBA provides disaster loans. Their terms were 30 years at 1.75%. We found this attractive and took out a small loan for contents. We also were approved on a loan to renovate our structure, but insurance proceeds came through before the loan was funded. It’s a pretty good program and I would use it again with the caveat that I learned a bit about the complexity of working with the SBA. Go in with your eyes wide open!

We paid out last check to our contractor in July 2018 so it took about 10 months from flood to full recovery. Our home is as good if not better than when we started. The bathroom is definitely better, but I don’t recommend this process for renovation.

So that’s our flood story. I know many of you have been through similar if not worse hurricanes and other disasters. I served on several hurricane response teams at Amoco and BP so I know some of the things that happen. It had never happened to me before and I learned quite a bit from the experience.