Rebuilding North Austin residents 'fed up' with city's inaction; councilman promises change

KVUE
Author: Kelsey Sanchez
Published: 10:46 PM CDT May 18, 2023

AUSTIN, Texas — Sai and Dustin Grant are reminded of the emotional and financial burden every time they step into their house along Mearns Meadow Boulevard in North Austin after flood waters invaded their home during storms on April 20. 

They no longer have a kitchen, flooring, and are forced to sleep on an air mattress. 

"Every little thing is hard and we are living this way because we don't know how long any of this process is going to take," said Sai Grant.

Dozens of homes were impacted and mirror the situation that the Grants are in. Fast forward nearly a month later, and some residents argue that they have not seen enough help from city leaders.

"We've received three dumpsters on the street, a little Red Cross bucket, and again, not everyone's even gotten that. And most frustratingly of  all, we got a letter that said we might potentially qualify for a low-interest loan," said Grant. "Imagine if someone hit your car and says, 'Here, I'll let you borrow $100, but you have to pay me back $103 for the damages I cost.'"

The loan she is referencing is from the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM), which according to the flyer given to KVUE by Grant, is a request form in order to qualify for eligibility for a disaster loan program.

On Thursday, during a scheduled council meeting, the Grants, along with two other residents from the neighborhood, expressed their concerns directly to council members over the lack of progress made.

"I'm here to give you (City Council) insight into the financial burden that has been parted on us as the victims of this entirely preventable and man-made disaster," resident Ryan Albright said during his speech. 

Hours later, Council member José “Chito” Vela of District 4 attended a neighborhood meeting hosted by the North Austin Civic Association (NACA).

There, he gave an update about the city's response and answered questions from residents.

According to Vela, at this point, he has only had conversations with the city and Watershed about next steps. 

Several issues brought up was the financial burden and whether residents should seek an attorney. 

Vela said the city doesn't 'traditionally' support victims of floods and natural disasters due to legal reasons, and pointed to city programs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Red Cross. 

But, he said he wants to change that narrative. 

"We need to change our attitude in the city," Vela said after the meeting. "We've got to make sure to help people when they encounter these types of really difficult situations."

When it comes to litigation, Vela said if someone feels they have been wronged, then a person should consult an attorney.

Since the storm, residents have put fault on the city as they believe it was preventable. 

Vela didn't answer whether blame should be 100% on them, but said he wants to check where the city went wrong. 

"I need to know more about exactly kind of what happened, what we did, what we didn't do. It's our responsibility to maintain and clean the creeks. That didn't happen in this case," said Vela.

Vela said he plans to look into where the city can step in without a legal boundary.

Many neighbors have blamed clogged storm drains for being the cause of the flood, and have mentioned making numerous requests to 311 to get the debris cleared. 

Chris Meyer who is the Division Manager for The Watershed Protection Department said they had crews in the neighborhood ahead of the storms. 

"Even though we had the crossings clear and channels were opened at the road, debris washes down during large rain events that can it can cause blockages, as we saw on April the 20th. So we know what the what the issue is. And so we're continuing to work on on getting that resolved," said Meyer. 

Since then, Meyer noted the department has been working around the clock and has been performing maintenance in the area, but explained "it's not a perfect system."

"If anything, this recent event highlighted more of the effect of the winter storm and our need to sort of tweak our response after these storm events," Meyer said. 

KVUE asked Meyer whether the flooding was preventable and he had this to say:

"We can always improve. We can always improve our process. Whether something is preventable is -- that's a difficult question."