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CNN Live Today
Texas Floods Hit Homes
Aired July 08, 2002 - 12:13 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to flood-ravaged Texas. The flood waters in east and south central Texas are beginning to recede unveiling devastating damage below, but the threat still is not over for many people living near swollen river banks.
CNNs Ed Lavandera is in New Braunfels, and Ed knows this well. He lived in that area for awhile.
Hi -- Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not this close to anything this dangerous thankfully, but where were standing right now was under water over the weekend, up close to those windows up there. And to give you a sense of what this area has been through, you can see some video images taken from this weekend where several homes were taken off of the foundation and just seen floating down the river. And now this morning has arrived at the residents who live here.
About 300 homes affected in all in the New Braunfels area, and folks here are starting to get an idea of what theyre dealing with.
This is the home of Fred Maxwell, and when he gave us a tour of this place yesterday, there was about 1 1/2 feet, 2 feet of mud caked all over this place. He walked in here and he said, Well, we cant find our refrigerator. Were still looking for it.
Freds here, and hes got a team of people helping him out.
Fred, whats it like having to deal with all this?
FRED MAXWELL, HOMEOWNER: Well, were coming right along with it. The volunteers are absolutely amazing.
LAVANDERA: Freds got a group of high school ROTC students here from the New Braunfels area helping you out.
MAXWELL: Thats correct. Theyre from Canyon Lake, and we got girls here from Austin. We got people from all over the country here volunteering.
LAVANDERA: This is the second time youve had to deal with the flood. How do you put up with all this?
MAXWELL: It aint easy. Every time, the last flood, we said well never go through this again. Here we are going through it again, and I guess if it does it again, well go through it again.
LAVANDERA: Kyra, let me tell you weve had a chance to speak with the Maxwells several times over the last couple of days, and theyre like this all the time. Theyve got a big smile on their face.
Look here at the living room. You actually take a couple of steps down, and this had, like, 3 feet of mud in it yesterday. You couldnt even walk in here. There was a grandfather clock buried in the mud, and the water just completely filled up this room, ripping up part of the wall.
If you look toward the back of the house -- excuse me, the river -- the Guadalupe River runs back here, and it usually runs about 5 to 8 feet deep, and all of this was underwater yesterday, and the current was so strong that thats why several of these homes youve seen that got ripped off the foundation barreling down the river -- and thats why youve seen so much damage here.
These houses have been pounded by debris over the course of the last couple of days. Theres another house just downstream that has been completely torn apart. And that will probably have to be demolished as well. But here, as part of the clean-up that you see that a lot of these people are having to deal with this morning, 300 homes in New Braunfels, 48,000 people in the central Texas region that have been affected by the flood waters.
So the FEMA teams and the damage assessment teams are now starting to move into the area to assess the damage and trying to figure out how all of these people are going to start getting the help that they need to rebuild. But this is the first step and the Maxwell familys lucky. Theyve got a lot of friends and volunteers that are helping out in this process. Weve seen several homes like this around the area, so theres a lot of work ahead to be done.
And theyre also keeping a close eye on the weather forecast here. We understand that there are storms to the east of the central Texas area and in the Gulf of Mexico that theyre paying close attention to, and the hope is that the rain will stay away long enough for these flood waters to continue receding.
Its looking good so far, but theres still a lot of water that still needs to move out of this area before everyone is safe here. Got to watch out for these barrels of mud when youre walking around here.
Kyra, back to you.
PHILLIPS: I think Im going to see you helping out in a minute, Ed. I think Mr. Maxwell put it perfectly: It aint easy, is it?
LAVANDERA: Yes, if you can send me a new pair of pants, it would be great. I would appreciate that.
PHILLIPS: You got it. Ill bill it to CNN. See you later in the hour. Thank you so much. LAVANDERA: All right, goodbye.
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