Kaufman County residents recovering from damaging floods are receiving a helping hand from community organizations.
The Texas Baptist Men disaster team members are fanning out throughout the county in ‘mud out’ missions to strip flooded homes of damage.
“What we’re doing here today is giving a little bit of support to the families who were affected by this devastating rain and flooding,” said TBM Capt. John Mehalic. “We’ll actually be cutting out dry walls and some insulation to help everything dry. We’ll even disinfect it; just have everything ready to be repaired by the time we leave.”
All four houses located along Love Street in Kaufman suffered damage, including Deric Fields’ home.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
“I’m thankful because these people didn’t have to do this,” he said of the TBM.
Fields says he and his wife were out of town when the storms moved through the area.
They came home to find much of the house ruined once again.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“I couldn’t believe it because this is the fifth time this has happened, but this was the worst one,” he said.
Fields and neighbor Carlos Muro expressed frustration, saying they’ve reported problems with nearby drains to no avail.
Muro was home with his pregnant wife and three children when about 18 inches of rain started pouring inside.
First responders had to rescue the family through thigh-high water, according to Muro.
The weekend flooding event also claimed the lives of two drivers believed to have been swept off the roadway along FM 1390, including 23-year-old Angel McKnight, whose family says she called 911 before drowning.
Kaufman County Emergency Management, TBM, and the American Red Cross set up at the Kaufman Civic Center on Tuesday with two sessions offering affected homeowners assistance and resources to recover.
Steve Howie, the agency’s coordinator, says low staffing levels are making it more challenging to assess the full scope of damage in the county.
The estimated number of homes with damage stands at 30, which wouldn’t qualify the county for any federal assistance.
Howie urges residents to self-report damages on the state’s emergency management website.
For more information, click here.
