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American Morning
Flood Victims Speak From Ruined House
Aired July 08, 2002 - 09:06 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The rain has let up, but much of south central Texas remains underwater this morning. Texas Gov. Rick Perry is asking President Bush to declare 17 more counties as federal disaster areas. The devastating floods are the result of 30 inches of rain last week. Eight people have died. The damage is staggering.
Charles and Enid Markham join us this morning from New Braunfels, Texas, where their home suffered heavy flood damage.
Good morning. Thank you very much for joining us at such a traumatic time in your familys life.
Enid, what happened to your home?
ENID MARKHAM, FLOOD VICTIM: Our homes just devastated. I mean, look at it. We hadn't quite moved in yet. It was just -- we had just remodeled it, had rebuilt it, actually, from the last flood. We just bought it in February. And we were almost finished. It was a nice dream.
ZAHN: Enid, I'm looking at these pictures, and its hard to even imagine that the force of the water could do what it did here.
How much water, Charles, do you think actually ended up in the home? Can you tell, just by looking at that wall behind you?
CHARLES MARKHAM, FLOOD VICTIM: Yes. I would think about 6 foot. It appears to -- up to about this level, which would be about 6 foot. And it was in here for...
E. MARKHAM: A couple of days.
C. MARKHAM: Two days.
ZAHN: And because you hadn't moved in, you -- did you have any furniture in place at all?
E. MARKHAM: We did have furniture in here. And we were actually out of town and got a phone call from a neighbor as we were en route, and he said they're evacuating everybody down here. So we turned around, and came back, and got in about 8:30. But all the neighbors, by the time we got home, all of our friends and neighbors, had come in and taken all the furniture out, all our clothes, everything. It was amazing. It was amazing what they did for us. ZAHN: Well, you were lucky to have those generous helping hands.
Charles, if you would, walk us through the rest of the house to give us a better sense of just how powerful the flow of water was.
C. MARKHAM: This -- we're walking into our kitchen. We just got it totally redone: new cabinets, everything. This was an island cabinet that's laying here. Of course, this was our pantry. Our wet sink was over here in the corner.
ZAHN: Oh, it's just awful. And not being able to see. What -- it's horrible. Not being able to see exactly where your house lies in the neighborhood, how close are you to a river or anything? Did this just run up from the river or from where?
C. MARKHAM: We're about -- were one lot away from the river, which would be about 150 feet, and -- maybe 200, 200 feet from the Guadalupe River.
ZAHN: This isn't the first time -- this isn't the first time your family has confronted the terrible bouts with Mother Nature. The two of you went through Hurricane Celia, right? In Corpus Christi?
C. MARKHAM: Yes, we did, in Corpus.
E. MARKHAM: Well, I didn't. He did.
C. MARKHAM: Anyway, I did.
ZAHN: And -- and did you -- did you lose stuff in that hurricane?
C. MARKHAM: Yes, but not this to this degree. When -- a hurricane is a little bit different, it seems like, than a flood. A flood is just so devastating, and the moisture and the water. Look how much sand we have in this corner.
ZAHN: Gosh. Look at that tree.
C. MARKHAM: Here's a tree.
ZAHN: Well, until you see these pictures, it is really difficult to understand just, you know, what a torrent of water came in here. A second ago, when you were walking from room to room, we saw an exterior of your home, and it looks like the perimeter walls are intact. Or am I making it sound better than it actually is?
C. MARKHAM: Well, yes, you are. We have some brick down -- youll see it here in a minute, when we go into the other part of the house, or outside the house. I don't know that we can get through, because weve got all this debris in here. We'll try to see if we can -- well, we can't.
ZAHN: Charles, do you plan to -- sorry. Sorry if I cut you off there. Do you plan to rebuild? C. MARKHAM: Yes. I'm sure we will. It depends on our insurance, of course. We have flood insurance, and we have homeowners too. But I understand that the homeowners does not cover flood. Weve never had the experience with a flood, so we just don't know how the insurance is going to help. But its -- we are, of course, depending on our flood insurance. And I'm sure everything will be OK. FEMA has been in contact with us. It seems to be everything is in order. So Im not too worried about it.
ZAHN: Well, we wish you tremendous luck. Thank you for sharing.
C. MARKHAM: We can step out here and, you know --
ZAHN: Dont -- don't get hurt as you try to step over that tree in that sand. We wish you the best of luck ...
C. MARKHAM: OK.
ZAHN: ... as you try to rebuild. And...
C. MARKHAM: Right.
ZAHN: And I'm glad you were able to send the message that your neighbors were quite helpful. And the damage could have been a lot worse if they hadn't gone in there and retrieved some of your personal items. But we know that...
E. MARKHAM: They were ...
ZAHN: Weve spent a lot of time with you ...
E. MARKHAM: They were wonderful.
ZAHN: Well, good luck to both of you, Enid and Charles Markham.
E. MARKHAM: Thank you very much.
C. MARKHAM: Thank you, Paula.
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