Homeowner wants help to stop home from flooding

PASADENA, Texas (FOX 26) – The floodwaters are gone already from her Pasadena home, but they’ll be back. Rebecca Hammonds is sure of that.

“The flooding is getting worse and they know it. I’ve been flooded over twenty times. I’ve asked about getting the house elevated, a FEMA grant. I’m not getting any response.”

And when she does, it might not be the response she wants. There are a couple of reasons she’s in a tough spot.

She had flood insurance for years and has filed many successful claims, but then her premiums went up. She stopped paying when it got too expensive. In order to get an elevation grant, FEMA requires you to have flood insurance.

“I’m stressed. I’m tired. I’m tired of it. I’m ready to walk away from this house,” Hammonds says. “I don’t know any other way. I can’t sell it so what else can I do.”

She’s pretty confident there will be no buyout. She is not in a flood plain, and oddly enough hers is one of the few houses in the neighborhood that regularly flood.  Others are slightly elevated. So for now she has tile floors, furniture on cinder blocks and the fridge on a riser.

They’ve also put the chair rails at four feet to make it easier to replace the sheet rock, because she  knows they will be replacing it again and maybe soon.

“I feel trapped,” she says. “Anxious. Every time it starts to rain I get anxious.”