HOUSTON – Families who live in the Meyerland neighborhood find themselves still unable to move back into their homes 12 months after the Memorial Day weekend flooding of 2015.
“We lost about 95 percent of the contents of our home,” Greg Roberts said.
He and several of his neighbors are waiting for grant money so they can raise their homes above flood elevation.
It will cost several hundred thousand dollars per house, residents say.
The city of Houston says it expects to start giving grant money before the end of the summer to residents who have already been awarded grants, Houston Mayor’s Office spokeswoman Janice Evans said Thursday.
Public Works is working with the Texas Water Development Board on the contractual documents that will make the funds available to the city, she said. Once finalized with the state, the contract will have to be approved by the City Council.
The grant money is expected to pay for more than 40 homes to be raised, some five feet. That will put them out of the current flood plain.
“I wish the process would move along faster,” Roberts said.
His family is paying the mortgage on their flooded home each month even though only studs exist in much of his house. His family is also paying to rent a home.
Many people have repaired and moved back into their homes since Memorial Day. Some were flooded again during the Tax Day flood in mid-April.
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