Erroneous elevation leads to raged residents

The Port Arthur News

October 17, 2008 11:38 pm

— By Amy Moore
The News staff writer
BEAUMONT — A nail in a pole in LaBelle is causing some residents a flurry of frustration that turned into a screaming match Friday.
A meeting held in the Jury Impaneling Room at the Jefferson County Courthouse on Friday afternoon was supposed to answer the questions of residents in the LaBelle Country Road Estates neighborhood who were flooded by Hurricane Ike’s storm surge.
Instead of answering questions, the meeting became a heated confrontation between county officials and angry citizens.
Jose Pastrana, county engineer, explained to the crowded room that eight months ago in May the county learned that the benchmark set in the Country Road Estates neighborhood in a utility pole was wrong by nearly 3 feet — leading residents to believe their houses were above the proper flood elevation when in fact they are not.
After learning the information, county officials did not notify homeowners, but worked to try to determine a solution. In the meantime, Hurricane Ike made landfall and brought a storm surge that left thousands of homes flooded and ruined along the Texas coast — including hundreds in LaBelle.
“It was a matter of public record, by your fraudulent actions, you put homeowners in jeopardy,” Dewey Bell, a LaBelle resident of four years said loudly. “We have nothing left to lose. I can’t be calm in this matter.”
In between the shouts from homeowners, Pastrana tried to explain that the mistake was not made by county, state or government officials. Instead, the benchmark elevation was marked incorrectly by a surveyor years ago and surveyors since have based their work off of the erroneous elevation.
For Mattie Lofton, this means her two-story brick home that she thought was at an elevation of 10 feet, 5 inches is actually only at an elevation of 7 feet, 9 inches.
“We knew something was going on because there were surveyors in our neighborhoods,” Lofton said. “They said there were some questions about the elevation.”
The 65-year-old retired woman who’s lived in LaBelle for 15 years with her 70-year-old husband, said the problem comes not only with her flood damage, but with the fact that her survey certification expired Sept. 25, 2008 — just over a week after Hurricane Ike made landfall Sept. 13.
Because the 10-year limit of certification has expired, Lofton is ineligible for any recourse against the surveyor.
Further complicating the issue for LaBelle residents such as Lofton, is that FEMA has said that homes with damage worth more than 50 percent of the retail value, must be raised before they can be rebuilt.
Lofton said the thought of having to raise her two-story brick home is ridiculous.
“How are you supposed to do something like that?” she asked.
Precinct 3 County Commissioner Mark Domingue said he understands that “it would cost a fortune to raise those homes.”
“It’s worse than (being in) limbo,” he said to one homeowner. “A (building) permit cannot be issued to homes with more than 50 percent damage.”
FEMA inspectors have been working in the neighborhood to determine which homes are affected by the incorrect elevation and which one should be inspected to see if they meet the 50 percent damage guidelines, Pastrana said.
Even if homeowners have the insurance to repair their homes, with the actual lower elevation, their insurance rates will go up.
County judge Ron Walker said he understands that this is a “very urgent and critical time” in the lives of those affected by Hurricane Ike.
Walker and Domingue urged residents to visit the Disaster Recovery Center in Beaumont that will re-open Monday at the former Postal Encoding Center at 750 Pearl St.
The error was found in the elevation by a surveyor using GPS technology in the Country Road Estates area. County officials said it would be difficult to determine which surveyor made the initial incorrect elevation benchmark, but that it was done by a private surveyor hired by a homeowner.

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