MIDLAND, Texas — Drying out and assessing the damage. That is what people living in a flooded neighborhood in west Midland County are doing.
The flooding is part of yet another historic weather event to hit our region this year. But the damage it is leaving behind is not necessarily all on mother nature.
County leaders tell us rainwater would typically collect in the flood plain behind Cinergy along highway 191, now that water has nowhere else to go and is draining into people's homes.
“It’s been not fun at all, but I count my blessings because it’s not as bad as a lot of people around my area," Misti Linneman, a homeowner near Highway 80 and Faudree, said. "I’ve gotten flooded but it’s gone down in my house and I’m just thankful for that.”
Nearly five inches of rain in Midland since Saturday has made for a rough 48 hours for some homeowners.
“I’ve been here 40 some odd years and I’ve never seen anything like this," homeowner Ruben Martinez said. "It gives you a bad feeling about what can happen when mother nature takes over, you can’t control it. The rain, the wind, you can’t control it.”
Homeowners near highway 80 are trying to control what they can, and cutting their losses where they must.
“I’ve called Carpet Tech and they are going to come out in a little bit and pull up my carpet because it stinks in there and you know that mold grows so quickly," Linneman said.
County road and bridge crews were removing large debris from the water, including barrels of oil.
“They just removed one of the barrels and it was full of oil," Martinez said. "You can see the black residue that was left from the oil, and the environmental people removed it and they are going to test and see what all it had in it.”
While everyone is focused on the cleanup, the next priority for these homeowners will be prevention.
“I mean it’s sad we have to go through this, it’s ridiculous," Linneman said. "I think once all of this cools down, all of us neighbors are going to get together and see if there’s anything we can do.
NewsWest 9 talked with about a dozen homeowners who tell us they plan on suing the county for not equipping the neighborhood with a good enough drainage system.
We reached out to the county attorney, Russell Malm, about possible future lawsuits. He tells us the county is trying to gather as much information about what happened as they can. From there, leaders will assess what needs to be done moving forward.