Texas floods: Burnet residents struggle with rebuilding requirements

Texas floods: Burnet residents having trouble rebuilding

Nearly three months after the devastating July floods, neighbors on one street in Burnet are still fighting to get their home rebuilt. Some were told they have to pay for pricey floodplain studies, others are wondering why the city isn't helping with repairs

BURNET, Texas - Nearly three months have passed since the devastating July floods and as neighbors on Oak Street in Burnet try to rebuild, they describe a lengthy and complicated process. 

What they're saying:

Neighbors Carla Poling, Jennfier Nicholson, and Jay McHam describe water rising and filling their homes on July 5. 

"I'm yelling, I'm looking up at the sky and praying and crying and saying, 'Lord, please, slow down the rain.' Please, you know, debris, limbs, bugs, everything, just falling all over," Poling said. 

"Me and my dogs climbed up in the ceiling, kicked out the siding of my house in case I needed to go out on the roof or get a water evacuation, called 911, Burnet Fire came and pulled me out," Nicholson said. 

"The water hit us so hard, it broke our house loose with us in it, and it spun us around and floated us down the end of the street. Crashed into the neighbor's two houses and wound up in the tree and wedged in there and that's what saved us from going down in there besides our prayers," McHam said. 

McHam's house completely washed away. His family lost everything besides their clothes, and they have to start from scratch. 

The neighbors are grateful to be alive, but the process of rebuilding has been daunting. 

"It's been very difficult, just all the bureaucracy," McHam said. 

Before anyone can rebuild, they have to get a permit from the City of Burnet. In McHam's case, he has to get a floodplain study done, which costs $40,000.

"That doesn't count the special foundation I would have to have to put a house back over there. All of these things are making it not cost-effective for me to put my house back," he said. 

"[The assessments are] all more than 50 percent, so it's got us all in a jam," McHam added. "We're all having to appeal the process, which is very time-consuming, very costly trying to get it all put together."

McHam says the city offered to buy his property at what it was assessed at. 

"It's not even enough to help me," he said. 

For others trying to do repairs, the city says they hired a consultant to do damage assessments and speed up permitting. The ones that have not been approved are mostly ones that need the floodplain study or some type of engineering done. 

Nicholson finally got her permit after some waiting, so work is being done on her house. 

Poling's house has been approved. The city says volunteers from the ARK of Highland Lakes have been helping with repairs, but Poling says the work is far from done. 

"They said they were going to work on my house. They came in and put sheetrock in one day. Then they said they were going to come back the next week," she said. "I just don't know what the holdup is, you know?"

ARK of Highland Lakes told FOX 7 Austin they have a long line of properties to get to, and they're working to get volunteers dispatched. 

Meanwhile, all the neighbors have to stay elsewhere for now. While they have received money from FEMA, they feel they're not getting the help they need from the city. 

"Pretty disheartening that your hometown, you feel like you're not wanted and been neglected," McHam said. 

"Here we are all just waiting. I just want to go home. I miss home. I miss normal, whatever my normal is, I miss it," Poling said. 

Dig deeper:

The City of Burnet says they understand how "frustrating this process is," but they can't waive the requirement. 

Those rules come from FEMA and apply to structures that have damage costing more than 50 percent of the value of the home. 

The city says the rules are to protect life and property, and if they ignored those rules, they would risk losing federal disaster assistance in the future. The city is considering a voluntary property purchase program to help victims sell their property and rebuild elsewhere. 

Burnet City Manager David Vaughn says the city is in the process of setting up a meeting with FEMA, Texas Water Development Board, and consulting engineers to make sure the code is being properly applied. 

He says, "our goal is to do everything we can to help people work through this difficult time, while ensuring that we properly protect both life and property in the process.  We will also be sending out letters encouraging the twelve properties owners who are still considered substantially damaged to execute their right to protest the damage assessments.  The city hired an outside consultant to help expedite the process in hopes of allowing those than can rebuild to do so as quickly as possible.  If a property owner can provide contractor estimates to demonstrate that the structures are less than 50% damaged, then we certainly want to encourage them to do so in hopes of allowing people to return their lives to normal as soon as possible."