Oh my gosh... I could not believe the flooding pictures on TV this morning. Raven, I hope, you are not affected!

Moni

I think that would be a good idea.

Yikes. In an area that regularly gets a lot of rain with high intensity as Houston does, and with the apparent drainage problems some places there have, you shouldn't have to worry about your own safety every time clouds pass overhead. Nearly a second time within one year isn't reasonable to have to deal with.

I hope you can consider moving to a neighborhood on higher ground. Though, selling your house could be a problem with its flood history. Best wishes for resolving the problems you face.

Yes involve the media. Many local stations have someone that covers things like this.

Raven, what happens with all that water near your house if you get even more rain? Dang you've been thru a lot..I'm sending good thoughts your way.

Everyone has sent in a work order request together today. They did send a crew to the main drain that goes to the creek. It was totally blocked so all of the water from the rain in our subdivision could not get to the creek which is why we were all flooding. They were there about 10 minutes. Ridiculous. And it's possible more rain will be here the next few days.

Houston is going to be forced to address this problem. They opened the dam and let us flood in April to protect the Super Bowl areas. Well here we are again closer to the big game and again Houston is under water! Who is going to want to risk having events here? Who is going to want to risk coming here at all for the events? It's not possible to continue to grow and cover the ground with concrete without having a plan and place for the water to go. We are barely above sea level as it is. Big money needs to be put in to bayou and creek expansion and additional methods of directing the water run off.

The problem is with continued growth and building now areas that didn't flood are now flooding. It becomes impossible to find an area that is not prone to flooding.

I had really hoped to remain here for the duration especially after the effort we put into the house. But after he retires we may seriously have to rethink that. We own the property in Oklahoma near the mountains with no worries about flooding but definitely tornado worry. We have a very good underground tornado shelter there but for me getting in and out will be a problem.

I just hate this!

In a city of your size, it might be difficult to draw attention to your situation; however, I am a consistent "letter to the editor" writer. People read those, believe me. You might also consider sending a 'press release' to local radio and TV stations. They generally enjoy getting involved with their local community.

Send it under the name of your particular community with several names included. Also, make sure that two contacts are listed for further information.

If you get interviewed, ask whether you should smile or frown when the camera is on.

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just push a button and the house would rise up.

I've been thinking of you, Raven. It completely missed us the first day, and then we got some of it yesterday afternoon, and we are getting some today. Just a nuisance for us, since we don't flood....even tho we are on a bayou. I hope they will address the flooding problems in Houston. I heard a lady on the radio who lives in Meyerland saying three times in a year and a half is just too much to have to deal with.

I lived in a house with a leaky roof one time, and even now when I have a new roof that should be good for longer than my life time (standing seam metal roof), I still get uneasy when we have a lot of rain. I can imagine what you go through.

Thinking of you Raven...and wishing you the best.

Raven, I was reading this post to my hubby and he said, "Maybe if the insurance companies who had to pay out all of that money to fix people's houses would sue the city for not correcting the drainage problem, that might work.

I guess we stirred them up at the county with all of us submitting work orders for ditch maintenance at once. We got a call from there at 8 am. He said OK so you are at this address, yes we are, so are you the red house up on cinder blocks? WHAT? NO! There's no house on cinder blocks in the entire subdivision and no red houses that I know of. It's a small subdivision. But they are big houses. My house is 4000 sqft white stone definitely not movable! I have no idea what his problem was. Then proceeded to tell us they had fixed the blockage yesterday by the creek so we would be OK. I said no wrong are definitely not OK. We have standing water right now. We have been requesting a ditch clean out since 2009 and we want it done. He obviously never even saw my house but he can say we are OK. My husband told them they needed to get out here and do something about it. His reply was well we will see what we think.

I guarantee you that means he will not be getting off his rear end sitting in his office and come out here. If he can even read the address and come to the right place. Ridiculous.

My street only has 8 houses on my side of the street it is a short street!

How many individuals can you rally to go IN PERSON to City Hall to demand help?

Call the press. Give them *visuals*. Raven, use that wheelchair! Bring enlarged copies of the photos of your flood damage last time and of the current peril. Bring pictures of the clogged ditches and drains. Document the problem and the city's inaction in a short, easily grasped visual. Be specific about what you want done. Set deadlines. You need a wide variety of damaged and threatened homes, not just the larger properties on your street. (Do I recall you saying last year that some people just abandoned their homes? Did someone kill himself out of frustration and depression? Rake it all up again.)

The media is lazy. They have hours to fill. Give them a good story and they will use it. The media knows very well that nobody *likes* City Hall.

DH and I headed a citizens group to oppose a 'done deal' for a projected development in our suburb. It didn't take long to get a lot of people 'riled up', once they grasped the situation and were shown a way to express themselves in opposition. (Your immediate and distant neighbors are already *personally* touched and 'riled'.) We formed a committee, collected donations, and started a fund to hire legal and land-management experts. It was not a short battle, but we won.

We are trying to get several together and try to get together with the county and get the entire street done and move on to the other streets that have water problems. It needs to be done a whole street at the time. With so many trees here the maintenance of the drainage is essential because the leaves cause big blockages. I always have my yard workers bag any leaves and debris and haul it off. Unfortunately many yard people just blow them from one yard to another or the streets.

Thinking about you Raven.

O.M.G. Not again!