Dozens of Lake Mexia evacuees are back at home as lake levels continue to recede Tuesday. However, the flooding may not be over yet. The chance of more rainfall is hanging over residents like a dark cloud.
Roads have been turned to rapid rushing rivers and front yards are still partially under water after Sunday's storms.
“I was getting all my plastic furniture and putting it where I think it will float off. And they come with the big truck and say come with us, we're evacuating,” says Williams.
Cindy Williams is new to Lake Mexia and was one of the first people evacuated Monday.
“I just moved here from Arkansas last Monday,” say Williams. “I'm all in boxes and then the water starts rising and I wake up and go 'oh wow', what am I going to do now.”
The water has receded quickly in some places. Those underwater roadways and yards are now beginning to reemerge.
Limestone County Emergency Management Coordinator Matt Groveton says the evacuations have ended.
“Now it's the phase where individuals in flooded homes are going back to those homes to assess the damage and get on with their lives,” says Groveton.
"They say it happens every 20 years or so, and so I just kind of took my chances and here I am,” says Williams. “But it's going to be fine, because it didn't get in the house.”
Despite the possibility of more wet weather ahead, the rain hasn't dampened Williams' spirit or her sense of humor.
“I didn't know I was going to have a houseboat,” Williams says while laughing.
Most evacuees are back home, but if the cities to the north like Corsicana get significant rainfall, they may have to evacuate again.
“We have about 2000 people that live around this lake and of course that breaks down into households. It's our estimation that 40-percent of those households took some water,” says Groveton. “That doesn't mean that they were destroyed, what that means is the water touched their home.”
Groveton says he's thankful for the volunteer firefighters who went door-to-door to get people out before the flooding got worse and for the Red Cross for providing food and shelter for everyone in need.
