A day after North Texas’ record-breaking flood, officials, residents survey the damage

A day after a record-breaking rainstorm, North Texas residents recounted what the flood left in its wake: boxes of keepsakes destroyed, piles of books soiled, businesses closed for cleanup and never-to-forget tales of fleeing their homes in waist-deep water.

Up to 15 inches of rain fell on some parts of the Dallas area Monday, swamping roads, submerging cars and prompting Gov. Greg Abbott to sign a disaster declaration Tuesday for 23 counties, including Dallas and Tarrant.

The declaration was at least the seventh in Texas this year in response to severe weather, and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson noted the deluge in Dallas was just the latest in a string of extreme-weather events the city has had to recover from.

“We’ve dealt with a series of unprecedented — so-called unprecedented — disasters in the city,” Johnson said. “Whatever you want to call it, whatever time frame you want to put on it, we got hit pretty hard and we got hit in a historic way.”

At least one person died in the storm: Jolene Jarrell, 60, was killed in Mesquite. She was driving for Uber and was headed home after dropping off a passenger when her car was swept off the road, authorities said.

As for where the water still stands, areas around the Trinity River remained under a flood warning until Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. About 2 p.m. Tuesday, the river measured at 38 feet — above the 30-foot indicator of minor flooding, according to weather service data. Levels of 40 feet cause major flooding, and levees would be breached at 62 feet.

Power outages related to the storm had been nearly erased by Tuesday afternoon, when Oncor reported just two customers still had outages related to the flooding, down from over 30,000 on Monday.

Photos: Residents and businesses survey damage after record-breaking flood

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Looking for help

Most cities were still in the evaluation stage Tuesday, including Balch Springs, where Fire Marshal Sean Davis said although the floodwater had receded, he did not have an estimate of how many homes or families were affected.

Kathy Hitt, a disaster services worker with the American Red Cross, said the Balch Springs Red Cross station had helped only about 20 people Tuesday morning, “not nearly as many” as she expects need help.

Michael and Latanya Benefield woke about 1 a.m. Monday to a pool of water about a foot deep in their first-floor Balch Springs apartment. They watched as it rose for hours, soaking into the boxes they had packed for their upcoming move in September. Several of the boxes held keepsakes of Latanya Benefield’s mother, who died two years ago.

On Tuesday, the couple hauled away a ruined mattress and other belongings, items they say State Farm won’t cover because their rental insurance doesn’t include flood coverage.

Kathy Robnett, the property manager of the Spring Oaks apartment complex in Balch Springs, where the Benefields live, said she has 23 units “that are homeless at this point,” adding a majority of them were three-bedroom units that housed families.

Puddles remained as workers continued to vacuum water out of the apartments Tuesday. With the power turned off, alarms echoed nonstop down the hallway from each unit.

Susan and Gary McDaniel have lived in their house near Hickory Creek on Forest Glenn Lane in Balch Springs for 44 years. They said the area, heavily wooded with several tributaries, floods often.

”But it was getting kind of scary,” Susan McDaniel said, “I’ve never seen [the water] stay that long.”

Eventually the couple called the Fire Department to help them leave. She and Gary donned lifejackets and the department guided the couple, while holding their dog Lucy, through the waist-deep water.

Gary McDaniel said the boards he put up inside at the bottoms of the back patio doors were swept away, while Susan noted their carpet had so much water under it that it was floating: “If you walked on it, it bubbled up.”

In Old East Dallas, few homes along the stretch of Alcalde Street between Victor and Elm were spared from floodwater, which rose to more than 4 feet in some areas, forcing residents to evacuate.

“It was like a little Katrina, right here,” said Benito Chavez, 61, who spent much of Tuesday removing soaked belongings from his family’s home.

The area has a history of flooding, according to several longtime residents. But it’s never been to this extent, and many suspect the severity of the flood was due to more than natural causes.

They point to a construction site for the Mill Creek Drainage Relief Tunnel around the corner, one of six sites for the project. Residents maintain that drainage had been covered up during construction and that the site’s management had neglected to remove the coverings before the flood.

“We do have Dallas Water Utilities investigating that now to see if that was a factor,” City Council member Jesse Moreno said.

‘Had to get out of there’

At restaurants and bars in Deep Ellum, downtown and East Dallas, some of the areas hit hardest, owners described inches of rain, dirt and leaves wreaking havoc on their businesses.

Ryan McMurray sat at a cafe across the street from his metal shop, McMurray Metals Co., Tuesday sipping a tall glass of water. He said he “had to get out of there” for a while, as cleanup was underway.

According to McMurray, the shop — which distributes brass, copper and bronze to machine shops, decorators, refinishers and other clients — experienced flooding up to 16 inches after Monday’s storms. The shop’s basement, which is primarily used for storage, was submerged, and the office took 3 inches of water, damaging all of its electronics.

”We’re gonna have to replace a lot of inventory because we’re copper and brass, and when that stuff gets wet, it’s done,” he said, adding that the shop is “semi-open” and taking orders as it can for products that aren’t damaged.

Just a block over at the nonprofit shop Deep Vellum Books, manager Riley Rennhack tried to salvage what was left of his book inventory. A lot of merchandise was ruined, including shirts, which, she said while laughing, will now be available “pre-washed.”

What’s hurting the local business the most is two days without any sales, Rennhack said, adding the store will reopen Wednesday.

”You want to make a ton of sales every day,” she said, “so every day matters.”

Not over yet

Chances for more rain in the Dallas area linger throughout the week, diminishing as the days go on.

Here’s the forecast for the rest of the week in Dallas:

Wednesday: 87/72, slight chance of rain before 10 a.m., then chances of showers and thunderstorms until 1 p.m.

Thursday: 89/73, mostly sunny, with slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m.

Friday: 92/74, chance of showers after 1 p.m.

Saturday: 92/74, partly sunny, very warm and humid.

Sunday: 92/76, partly cloudy, very warm and humid, with a 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms.