Homes in Leon County dealing with aftermath of flooding, Red Cross provides assistance

LEON COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) – Leon County has been majorly impacted by the storms over the last few weeks and residents are now dealing with the effects.

A home on Commerce Street in Buffalo had water come up over the roof during flooding.

Along with wall and floor damage inside the home, one can see the driveway is also completely eroded. A tree also fell into the family’s driveway, blocking the entrance of their home.

Leon County Emergency Manager Bob Hickman says 6 to 10 inches of water flooded the home.

“Water came over behind the house and entered the house,” said Hickman. “It’s not really inhabitable so they’re having to make other arrangements.”

Hickman said repairing the home could take 6 weeks or longer.

This isn’t the only home in Leon County affected by the storms, Hickman said there are 25 residents in the same situation.

“We’ve had quite a few homes that have been impacted by falling tree limbs and some flooding in homes also,” said Hickman.

Because of the extent of the damage Hickman contacted the American Red Cross to help.

Two volunteers came out to the home on Commerce Street Tuesday afternoon to assess the damage.

“Teams of volunteers go out into the field to make sure those pins are dropped so we know what the excessive damage might be, or what the classification might be. We want to be able to articulate what that [the damage] is in order to help the families after the storm,” said Danella Hughes, the Regional Disaster Officer with The American Red Cross Central and South Texas Region.

After assessing the home, volunteers put damage details into a tool to figure out what each family’s needs are. Once needs are determined, the Red Cross can then offer its support in several ways.

“We just want to make sure anything that happened post-disaster, we want to match that up with a resource so we can take care of our families. We’ve got what we call individual disaster care which is disaster mental health volunteers, disaster health services, and disaster spiritual care. So any of those buckets that are necessary, they’re able to help the families,” said Hughes.

The American Red Cross says that 78 of their volunteers have assessed over 800 homes that experienced flood damage across 16 counties in the state of Texas.