Some Evacuated RV Residents Being Allowed Back In Park
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CARROLLTON (CBSDFW.COM) - Some residents of a North Texas RV park, who were forced to evacuate because of flooding along Lake Lewisville, are being allowed back in their motorhomes and trailers.
A limited number of Sandy Lake RV Resort residents, who were evacuated over the weekend, were allowed back into their homes or close to them for the first time on Monday.
The owners of some 20 RVs sitting on higher ground were allowed to actually get inside their homes. For others, living on a lower section of the property, the view was from afar. A band of yellow police tape was as close as they were allowed to get to their RVs.
Residents have been told it will likely be several more days before the majority of people are allowed in their homes.
The Sandy Lake RV Resort has 247 trailers and close to 600 temporary and permanent residents.
Water spilling from the Trinity River flooded the area so fast this past weekend that many people found themselves trapped. A number of people had to be rescued by boat. And while the floodwaters flowed in quickly, they are receding ever so slowly.
Over the weekend, members of the Carrollton Police Department were able to boat a few residents back in to get essential items -- such as their medicine.
To understand how high the water was this past weekend you just have to talk to Cheryl Doyle. She hadn't been back to the RV park since Saturday, and when she returned on Monday said she was astonished at how far the water had gone down.
Doyle could only see the corner of her mobile home on Monday, but said that was an encouraging sight. "When the rain kept coming and coming I'm thinking, 'there is no way that my house can be okay.' But I can see that it only went up about six inches from where it is now. I think I'm fairly lucky that there's that much damage."
Runoff from Lake Lewisville is also causing problems in other cities. Officials with the city of Farmers Branch sent a notice alerting residents that their garbage pickup may be delayed. Flooding from the lake has cut off access to both the DFW and Camelot Landfills. City leaders say residential trash will have to be hauled to a landfill in Ferris and will likely cause pickup delays.
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