NewsWest 9
SEAGRAVES - The city of Seagraves is dealing with the aftermath of a terrible flood that damaged more than a dozen homes.
Brace Huse, the Mayor of Seagraves, said, "I just want you to know that this is a very unusual event, a lot of folks have been telling me that they've never seen anything like this before in their lifetime and that's pretty evident because it hasn't happened in about 70 years."
Officials say that many homes were filled with between one to five feet of water. Of the fifteen or so homes destroyed, many of them are to a point of being unlivable.
Teresa Navarro, a resident of Seagraves, who's family compound was hit hard by the flood, said, "The trailer's destroyed completely, but yeah it's emotional, it's emotional for a lot of us, not just for us but for the people who know us."
Rodrigo Burrola's home was filled with about a foot of water that damaged a lot of his newly built home. He said, "This was something that nobody in this town ever imagined would happen, so nobody has flood insurance."
Without flood insurance, many residents are left with no monetary resources. But the American Red Cross and many other relief organizations have come together to help those who have had severe damage to their homes and have suffered total losses. They are also helping by way of medical attention, food, clothes and shelter.
"From what I've seen over the past couple of days, I've been out in the mud and the muck with these guys trying to save all of their homes or prevent any further damage and I have seen them out in waist deep water helping save these homes," said Huse.
Residents of Seagraves have this advice for others that find themselves in a natural disaster situation.
"When you have water or flash flood warning, listen, evacuate, save whatever you can save," said Navarro.
Burrola said, "Just expect the unexpected sometimes and everybody has to come together as a community and see what can be done so that when something of this magnitude does happen, we know what to do in this kind of situation."
