Residents in Midtown shocked to find vehicles flooded in parking garage

HOUSTON – Dozens of residents in a midtown apartment complex woke up to find their parking garage had flooded.

Tenants at the Calais apartments on Louisiana Street are given assigned parking spots, and the unlucky ones with first-floor parking spots, woke up to find their cars nearly completely submerged in water and sludge.  The rising waters were due to an overnight storm that slammed the Houston area.

For many of the smaller vehicles, the water rose to the hoods.

Many of the vehicles were submerged in the water, which rose to the hoods.

"Thank God I went to work today, because if I had not went to work today, my car would have been gone today," Drew, an apartment resident, said. "It seems like this is the only building, the other two seem fine. But this one, the water hasn't even gone down. All of these cars are just gone."

Drew said a neighbor sent him a picture of the flooded garage, illustrating how lucky he was.

It was indeed a rough way to start the weekend.

"It was one in the morning and really thundering and raining, and I noticed the streets were really flooded. My girlfriend said she was coming home and having trouble driving so I checked and saw the flood and wanted to check my car since it's underground level," said David Ponce. "So I looked to the ground floor and it was all flooded and things floating everywhere."

At least 50 vehicles were mostly underwater and when residents living in the four floors above the garage awoke to go to work, they faced big trouble because they could not get out.

"When I came out the door I was surprised," said Logan Theriot. "I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know this would happen. The whole apartment complex flooding, it's so unbelievable."

Some residents say this morning's flood was not the first time.

"Before I moved in which was about months ago, I read about the blogs on the Calais apartment complex and it said this garage floods, so they're aware of the problem," said Steven Campbell.

Management at the apartment complex said they would speak to the tenants individually, and encouraged them to contact their vehicle insurance provider.

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