Kaufman County family still flooded out of home: ‘We want to get our lives back in order'

After nearly a week since torrential rains flooded much of Kaufman County, at least one family's home is still underwater.

"If it weren't for my faith in God," said George Hinkle. "I just don't know if I could deal with this. I really don't. If it wasn't for what God's already brought me through, I don't know if I could deal with this. I'm just trying to be an anchor for my family."

The homes along Sunset Drive near Kings Creek Reservoir in Kaufman have all but dried out after the weekend storms caused flash flooding, except for Hinkle's home.

"It's receded some now in six days, but we still need another two foot to have our home start the process for flood insurance," he said. "The water has to go down and to do that the reservoir has to be pumped. It's got a 16-inch pipe that drains this reservoir."

But there's a problem.

According to Kaufman County Emergency Management, the previous property owner built the home over 10 years ago, a "barndominium," in a flood easement allegedly without the county's knowledge or regulations to address the matter afterward.

Incredibly, the disabled Navy veteran moved his family to Texas from Alabama after his wife discovered the mother she thought was dead was very much alive.

Hinkle bought the home over a year ago.

"We were told when we purchased the property, it was a 1% we were in a 100-year flood plain," he said. "They should've never been able to sell us this property."

Hinkle says there are contradicting documents for the property, an assertion NBC 5 is not able to independently verify at this time.

Hinkle concedes the property has flooded, but never like it did early Saturday morning.

He woke to a flash flood emergency alert on his phone and quickly began to round up his family.

They rushed to move as much as they could to the second floor of their home.

A neighbor helped rescue their goats.

"We had over 100 fowl, chickens and guineas and quail," he said. "Most of them perished."

Hinkle's wife started to sell eggs to help make ends meet and had a goal to sell game birds.

NBC 5 contacted emergency management about the family's situation.

Coordinator Steve Howie said the agency is trying to help the family with food and housing needs, but there is nothing they can do about the flooded property.

The spillway, Howie said, is working as it should.

He added they could try to bring in a pump, but it would need to move 5,000 gallons a minute and even then, it would take days to arrive.

By then, the water should have receded, added Howie.

Earlier in the week, Howie said they estimated 30 homes suffered flood damage.

The American Red Cross and the Texas Baptist Men are in the community providing relief.

The Hinkles received a week's worth of hotel vouchers, but only until this morning.

The family is especially grateful to their church Calvary Baptist for lending them a car, which could end up where they sleep tonight, according to Hinkle.

"If you could just stress that we want to get our lives back in order," he said. "I just wish we could speed up the recovery process. If someone could just give us a pump and allow us to pump out some water so that we can get to this recovery just a few days earlier."