Texas Flood Victims Searching for Answers

Dylan Baddour reports from the city of Houston:

Six months after the Addicks Reservoir hit its highest point on record during the Tax Day flood, swelling up out of its theoretical bank and into the Bear Creek subdivision on its northwestern edge, residents there bemoaned the lingering effects. Beside financial ruin, some said, they still were living out of boxes and replacing appliances. And they were living in terror of the next big rain.

In September, Lauren Caruba devoted feature-length coverage to the looming threat represented by the dam holding back the water in the Addicks Reservoir. According to Baddour, "tension mounted," as U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-Tex) recently convened an expert panel to discuss the threat of flooding in the area.

"The audience wanted to know why the Addicks reservoir had infiltrated their living rooms, and what could be done to prevent it from happening again," according to Baddour. They were met with explanations about the how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' management mandates require they protect Houston above all other priorities.

In addition to the priority given to Houston by the Army Corps' stormwater management priorities, residents in the Bear Creek subdivision report being unable to acquire FEMA grants to raise their homes.

A FEMA spokesman said that limited grant money was managed by state and local authorities. "They set priorities for which areas they want to target," he said. This time, it seems they targeted Houston.

One possible source of relief could be coming from the federal government, where the Senate has approved $500 million in relief for 2016 floods in Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Maryland. If the House passes that legislation and the president signs, some of that money could go to home repairs in the Houston area.