West Houston residents return to homes after flood

HOUSTON – At the Woods on Memorial Townhomes in West Houston, residents were tearing out and cleaning up after floodwaters flowed into their homes last Sunday night, when water was deliberately released from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to walk into our home without a boat.” said Kim Parker, a former oil tanker captain for Texaco.

At Parker’s home, there is total destruction on the first floor.

Furniture, belongings, family heirlooms, everything has been wiped out by more than 4 feet of water.

“The family treasures, it’s not even worth trying to save it, we just thrown them away as you can see,” said Kim’s wife, Rosie Parker.

Out of 106 townhomes, 81 were flooded out and have water damage.

“I was here until Tuesday all by myself in the upstairs until someone in a boat rescued me and I come out with just my purse,” Kea Foerster said.

Foerster, 63, may have been hit the hardest.

She lives alone, has no family here and did not have homeowner’s insurance or flood insurance.

“At midnight they released the water from the reservoir, but the problem is I had no idea the water was coming, I was not informed … we had no TV, no power,” Foerster said.

What angers Foerster is that she had no warning that officials were going to release water from the Addicks and Barker dams, she said.

She wants to know why officials did not send out some kind of area-wide warning via cellphone alerts or had county employees deliver the message to people living in her area before the water was released.

As of Sunday night, Foerster was getting some help from her church, The Houston-Korean Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

Download the Click2Houston news app in your app store to stay up-to-date with the latest news while you're on the go.

Sign up for KPRC 2 newsletters to get breaking news, sports, entertainment, contests and more delivered straight to your email inbox.


About the Author:

Emmy-winning investigative reporter, insanely competitive tennis player, skier, weightlifter, crazy rock & roll drummer (John Bonham is my hero). Husband to Veronica and loving cat father to Bella and Meemo.