Homes flooded during Harvey underwater once again

“I know baby, you made it,” Vicky Heath said to her cat “Dot” who was crying loudly in a carrying crate. “They saved our animals. We can’t save our houses, but we saved our animals.”

Sadly, Heath has become accustomed to the routine. Her home on Edwards in Texas City has flooded 20 times in 40 years. Hers was just one of more than a dozen homes that took in water last night. Many of them also flooded during Harvey.

Brandy Spell’s home didn’t take on water, this time, but it came close. She’s new here.

“October 1st we moved here, so it was right after Harvey we moved down.” Would she have moved in if she had known? “Probably,” she said.

We’ll see how she feels when it happens again, and people here know it will. There is a lot of speculation why, but one reason is obvious. This neighborhood sits in a bowl and outside of Texas City’s flood protection system. Those who can afford to elevate their homes have.

There no simple explanation about why the Administration Building of the College of the Mainland flooded, but it’s not their first go around either.

“Hurricane Harvey we flooded, so we are just recovering from Hurricane Harvey,” said President Dr. Warren Nichols.

They have a bond issue pending, so they plan to tear down this building and put up a new one.

Back in the flooded neighborhood, they aren’t so lucky. There’s no bond money coming and not enough FEMA buyout money either. They feel like they are trapped and waiting for the inevitable.

“If I had the money, you’d better believe I’d  be out of here. But we can’t sell them. You’d have to tell the the truth and I don’t want nobody else to go through this,” said Heath.