CAMERON, Texas — Flooding at the Williams Trace Apartments in Cameron is quite common whenever it rains in the area.
Tuesday, May 16 was the worst most residents on the first floor units have seen as flood waters reached the inside of the homes. This caused major damage to their belongings, carpet, walls, plumbing, and more.
Williams Trace is a part of section eight housing for low income and disabled families. Residents reached out to FEMA and the American Red Cross to get some sort of help.
"We lost a lot so hopefully they'll help us and maybe we can get something done before the next one," Tenant David Jordan explained.
Many questions have been raised about how this has been able to happen for so long.
Cameron city manager Ricky Tow told 6 News because the complex is privately owned, the city is not able to help these residents, as much as they want to.
On the other hand, the owner of Williams Trace Apartments Steven Poe explained that water is directly coming from the city drainage system, so the city should be responsible for cleaning it up.
"Other than just we need to improve our drainage, that's the only suggestion that they have made us," Poe explained. "We're talking about dark brown, stinky, smelly water. When we ask them for cleanup to come clean with a street sweeper, they told us that they don't do that because it's on private property."
When it comes to where the complex was built, Poe says he has documentation detailing how the complex is not on a flood plane. He says while it is lower ground, it is sufficient enough to build on.
William Trace is owned by the Lester & Beatrice Williams Foundation. Poe gained ownership of the complex in 2021 and has been attempting to fix the flood issues ever since.
"I'm really frustrated with what happened because I know these people are not in the position to replace a lot of the stuff that's been lost," Poe said. "We're doing what we can to help them out."
Poe says engineer crews will be at the property throughout the next few weeks to help come up with a solution to fix the drainage problems. He also explained that people with severe flooding damage have been moved to temporary units in the complex.
It will be a cost Poe will pay out of pocket, but says it will be worth it to make sure tenants are in livable conditions.