A creek flooded about 20 homes in Haltom City. Residents never expected it

On Monday morning, Cecilia Perez stood in her Haltom City home near Little Fossil Creek and observed the abundance of water streaming down the creek because of the rainfall from the night before.

Never did Perez believe the creek water would get to her home on Fincher Road because she and her family had lived there for years and the creek had never flooded her house.

Ten minutes later, more rainfall on Monday caused the creek to overflow and water to pour into her home.

“It came so rapidly,” Perez said Tuesday, speaking in Spanish as she attempted to clean her house. “The water was in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom. It was everywhere.”

Perez and her two kids got out of their home when they saw the water.

Perez wasn’t alone. A Haltom City official estimated on Tuesday that 25 residents were rescued or evacuated Monday morning from flooding in their homes near Little Fossil Creek.

No serious injuries were reported from the Monday flooding in Haltom City or other parts of Tarrant County, but 17 to 20 homes near Little Fossil Creek took in water from the heavy rainfall in the city. Several other homes and a church throughout Haltom City also had flooded areas.

“There was 2 to 3 feet of water in those homes,” said Bryce Davis, Haltom City emergency management coordinator, in a Tuesday phone interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “We had residents in those areas say 8 to 10 inches of rain fell in neighborhoods.”

Davis said two boats were used by firefighters to help some of the residents leave their flooded homes.

On Tuesday, Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley signed a declaration of local disaster following the torrential rainfall and flooding on Monday. DFW Airport received 9.19 inches of rainfall in a 24-hour period, the second highest official 24-hour precipitation total recorded in North Texas.

Haltom City was one of the hardest-hit areas. Officials in Everman also reported that city’s firefighters and police conducted numerous rescues and safely helped evacuate about 25 people from flooded homes.

The Fort Worth Fire Department responded to 174 calls for high water investigations and rescues, many for people stranded in their cars on flooded streets.

With additional rain showers measured at the airport on Tuesday, Dallas-Fort Worth set a record for the wettest August since records began in 1899, with the vast majority of that rain falling on Monday, the National Weather Service reported. The old record was 10.33 inches in 1915.

“It’s still raining so we’ll see how high this record goes,” the weather service said in a tweet Tuesday afternoon.

The local disaster declaration will be in effect for seven days unless it is extended by the Tarrant County Commissioners Court and is intended to assist in disaster recovery.

Just south of the creek in Haltom City, Kenney Singleton had just a few more projects to complete on his property on Laverda Drive. Water from Little Fossil Creek will make him have to start over.

For 30 years, he has owned the home and rented it out without flooding problems from the nearby creek. Water entered the residence on Monday morning.

The home was empty on Monday, but he heard about the flooding conditions and he drove over to the home and watched as water took over the property.

“Maybe 30 years ago we had a little flooding problem,” Singleton said Tuesday as he worked in the house. “But nothing like this.”

Flooding also hit the Haltom City home where he lives.

“I had a game room and a bedroom that got flooded,” Singleton said. “The drainage couldn’t handle this much water.”

The creek water Monday morning entered from the back door as well as the front door to Sandra Cabrera’s home at Fincher Road and Laverda Drive.

“My husband and I had to go to my mother’s home just down the street because there was just too much water,” Cabrera said, speaking in Spanish. “There was just so much water.”

It didn’t take a creek to flood Christian Center of Fort Worth at 4301 NE 28th St. in Haltom City on Monday morning.

Heavy rainfall in the neighborhood caused eight classrooms and a pantry to get flooded from water in the church’s back yard and a nearby street. Church officials estimated that 7 to 9 inches of rain fell in the church area.

“It was a monsoon,” said Gaye Vanzant, a pastoral staff member at Christian Center of Fort Worth.

The church still managed to feed about 100 people Tuesday morning.

Back near Little Fossil Creek, a majority of residents were trying to clean their homes and move muddy debris, while thanking their friends and family members for helping them.

“I’m tired of all of this rain,” Singleton said Tuesday morning as he started the project of getting his property ready to rent out again. “But I’ll make it through this.”

If you have sustained damage due to the recent severe storms, visit https:damage.tdem.texas.gov.