Karma Lockhart stands in the flooded first floor of her home, where she says seven feet of water destroyed everything they had just renovated after another flood occurred in January. 

As the water rose steadily in their home of five years in Conroe, Texas, Karma and Jim Lockhart couldn’t help but feel like they were having déjà vu. They had recently renovated their kitchen, along with much of the rest of their first floor, after getting a foot of water in their home after a flood in January 2024. 

Four months later, they now found themselves trapped on the second floor of their home as an estimated seven feet of water destroyed everything that they had worked so hard to put back together. 

“When it started, we waited in and it came up and up and up,” said Jim, who was home when the flooding first struck. “And then the next day, we called the fire department. We said, ‘let’s get out of here.’” 

The fire department arrived to rescue them in a raft. With seven feet of water inside the house, they could easily reach the second-story window where Jim and Karma had been taking refuge. 

Less than a week after the flood in their home, as a Red Cross emergency response vehicle trundled down their street to distribute flood cleanup supplies, Karma and Jim were still digging through the muck and destroyed belongings. Piles of discarded furniture filled every room of the ground level, residue of the muddy waters very present on the still-wet floors. On the wall, a clear water line was visible halfway between the floor and ceiling. 

“We just finished remodeling everything,” said Karma. “We just finished, everything was brand new, and this happened a second time. We lost everything. Again.” 

Since the flood, the Lockharts have been staying in a hotel when the stench of decaying organic material is too overpowering, or when the heat is unbearable. Above their heads was a small air conditioner, sticking out of a window in their second-story bedroom, struggling desperately to compensate for the now-destroyed whole home unit that they had before the flood. 

The Lockharts have workers helping to clean up the flood damage in their home, but they aren’t sure if they are planning to stay in a neighborhood that they loved. For five years, the waters of the West Fork San Jacinto River had been confined by its banks. But as extreme weather worsens amidst a burgeoning climate crisis, they fear that the river dams may again be opened during increasingly common periods of intense rainfall. 

“I love this neighborhood,” contemplated Jim. “But now? We’ve got some thinking to do.” 

Karma jumped in, adding “We cannot afford for this to happen. The insurance will soon reject us because they cannot pay this all the time. And a flood house is difficult to sell.” 

“We’re probably just trying to gut it out, get everything ready to put it back, and sell it like it is,” ruminated Jim, a sobering tone of reality tinging his voice. “Let them fix it. Because I think it’s just money down the drain if we fix it again.” 

The work of the American Red Cross is powered by the generosity of volunteers and donors. Put on a red vest and help neighbors in need by going to www.redcross.org/volunteer or visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to support Red Cross Disaster Relief. 

Story By: Frederic Klein