• Leslie Wilber •
• Originally published January 10, 2009 at 12:06 a.m., updated January 10, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.

A yearlong legal dispute about a flooded home is over, but both sides still feel awash in emotion.

Two families survived deep floods inside the house at 234 Weitz Road in Inez, and both called it a nightmare.

On Dec. 16, the current owners, Tina and Brian Porter, abandoned their lawsuit in which they claimed previous owner Lisa Liss misled them. Federal District Court Judge John D. Rainey dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the Porters could take no further legal action against Liss.

Tina Porter said the legal action against Liss was costly and fruitless, although she still hopes to recoup some of her money from Countrywide Home Loans.

When Liss learned in September 2007 that she would be named in the suit, she was shocked, she said. She said she went out of her way to ensure the house's new owners knew it had flooded badly. The Porters said they were told about the floods far into the process of buying the house and, as first-time home buyers, they did not fully understand the risks.

Victoria County commissioners on Monday decided to apply for a loan to buy that house and two other properties to avoid future flood damage. The house is in a special flood hazard area, said Jeb Lacey, the city and county's emergency services coordinator.

The flood insurance rate maps from the area have not been changed since 1987, Cindy Wirz, external affairs specialist for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, wrote in an e-mail.

Liss, who now lives in California, bought the house in March 1994. She knew it was in a floodplain, she said, so she bought insurance. In October 1994, waters from the Garcitas Creek flooded several feet into the house.

"It happened pretty fast," Liss said. A teacher, Liss was home from school that day. She saw the creek was overflowing when she left to fetch her twin sons, after hearing on the radio the school was closing. When they returned, the waters were rising. The family scrambled to put their possessions up onto counters.

Then, the water hit Liss's knees. She put her 3-year-old daughter on her shoulders, the girl grasped her mother's purse and they swam through shoulder-deep water to escape.

Liss later decided to sell the home. In February 2006, Tina and Brian Porter purchased it.

Liss told her real estate agent about the severe flood, she said.

"I didn't want anybody else to experience what I had experienced," Liss said. The title documenting the exchange between Lisa Liss and Tina Porter notes the house flooded by at least four feet. Liss' insurance records show she paid for flood insurance on the house through September 2006.

Porter got a letter from Countrywide Home Loans saying she was no longer required to carry flood insurance on the house, though it was recommended, she said. Porter and her husband aren't from Inez, she said, and they didn't understand how prone the area is to flooding.

So they let the insurance lapse.

A July 2007 flood rendered the home uninhabitable. Porter describes a scenario remarkably similar to the 1994 flood: The waters rose fast as the family tried to store their things high up. Soon, they were forced to swim from the home, Porter said.

The Porters are waiting to find out what the county's final offer on the property will be. According to a grant application form, the family could get $145,625 of combined funds from the county and FEMA.

If the county purchases the three homes, they would be destroyed, according to the grant application.

Porter paid her mortgage to Countrywide for a year after the flood, she said. The family got a mortgage for a Victoria home from the Small Business Administration and combined the two loans, she said. They have since paid off the Inez property.

Both sides said legal wrangling cost them thousands of dollars.

"The only people making money were the lawyers," Porter said.

Liss also invested in a plane ticket to Austin to attend the December court dates. She said she had already checked the bags when her lawyer called to say the Porters would not pursue the case, she said.

"This was the worst thing I ever experienced," she said, clarifying that she meant the flood, not the lawsuit. "The suit was pretty awful, too."

• TO AVOID FLOOD DAMAGE:

  Call the county flood plane office at 361-485-3362 to find out if your home is at risk for flooding.

  If there's a even a small chance your home could flood, purchase flood insurance.

  Keep an emergency ...

• SHOW ALL »

TO AVOID FLOOD DAMAGE:

Call the county flood plane office at 361-485-3362 to find out if your home is at risk for flooding.

If there's a even a small chance your home could flood, purchase flood insurance.

Keep an emergency kit handy in case you must evacuate.

Visit floodsmart.gov or redcross.org for more information about flood insurance or planning for floods.

Source: City and county emergency services coordinator Jeb Lacey.

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