BALCH SPRINGS, Texas — Weeks after the skies opened and dumped 15 inches of rain on his home, Joel Garcia was tearing out drywall on a hot afternoon, a debris pile growing at the curb.
“You should have come before all this and seen how nice my house was,” said Garcia, 34, who owns a remodeling business.
The mud line was 2 feet off the ground, nearly even with a rotting stack of stuffed animals, carpet and clothing on the driveway. A pair of creeks meet nearby and Garcia knew his family lived in a floodplain.
