Page 2 THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1974
[Your Man at Batt)
I By WILL ANDERSON J
Two residents of Monaco I apartments said the Oct.
10 story of the flooding of the area played down the real
effects of the flood (Listen up, Oct. 15). They asked for a
deeper probe into the complex.
The girls who complained said they were awakened
by another resident Sept. 13 at about 6 a. m. We
couldn’t open our door because there was about eight
inches of water out front,” one girl said. “We began to
unplug things and get our books and stuff moved out of
the water. ”
She said the water got so deep in some apartments
that it flowed over the edge of the bathtubs.
Rick Cromer, a freshman electrical engineering
major, said he had his car parked in the lot behind the
lower apartments.
“My car was about here, ” he said, indicating a spot a
short distance from the now calm Wolf Pen Creek. “I
tried to move it but I was up to my waist when I sat
behind the wheel.’
The residents said they were given no warnings of
possible flooding when the heavy rains began nor when
they leased their apartments.
Carpets, curtains, and other personal possessions
were ruined. Several cars required work on engines,
bearings, brakes and interiors. None of the residents I
interviewed said they had flood insurance.
Residents were told not to remove their own carpets
by Fred Ebbecke, manager. He said he had up to three
crews of three men each removing them.
“How was I going to salvage any carpet if they tore it
to pieces taking it out,” he asked? His crews were work
ing as quickly as they could to remove the carpets, he
said.
Cromer said he came back from classes Tuesday
after the flood and was angered to find the carpet still
there. “The thing smelled, ” he said, “so I started ripping
it out all over.
“I know of three other apartments that removed
their own carpeting.
One girl who had originally complained said the
carpets were left on the grass outside the apartments for
several days.
Some carpet was used again in vacant apartments
said Ebbecke. A shipment of new carpet hadn’t arrived as
of last week and many apartments are still without car
pet.
A few had fungus growths on their walls.
The swimming pool was a basin for much of the
sediment and refuge of the flood. “It was a solid mud
hole,” said Terry Hanger, a junior secondary education
major. She said it was clean by early October.
One of the luckier residents was John Villarreal, a
graduate chemistry student who has lived in Monaco for
more than two years.
“I’ve narrowly escaped twice,” he said. “They had a
flood about a year and a half ago and both times the water
came right up to my door.”
Villarreal said he thought the mosquitos had increased
since the flood. “They spray occasionally,” he said, “but
it’s not enough.”
One girl with larger pest problems was Karen Cren
shaw. She was bitten on the foot by a snake two weeks
after the flood. She doesn’t know what kind of snake it
was. Her foot is well now and she says she avoids going
out barefoot after dark.
Ebbecke said he did not think there was an increase
in pests.
“How could I give a warning?” he asked. “I had no
warning of the flood. I just arrived in August.
“Do people think I came down and made it rain? Do
they think I wanted this to happen?
“We’re doing the best we can with what we have.
Nothing can be done about the flooding now; it was an act
of God.”
Ebbecke’s statement is no doubt true but it does not
answer a number of questions:
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the area. I think they knew very well there were flood
possibilities when they bought it.”
What is being done to lessen the chance of flood?
Ford said foliage removal would probably begin in
the creek sometime this week. Detaining ponds on the
University golf course, upstream from Monaco, was also
suggested. The effects of both projects would be mini
mal, he said.
What prevents other apartments from being built
on flood plains now?
“We now have a set of guidelines developers must
follow,” said city planner Bill Kahler. The Flood Hazard
Amendment to Ordinance 850 requires a study of water
courses by professional engineers before construction.
What can residents of Monaco do to help them
selves?
The city has provided a federal flood insurance sub
sidy program this year, Kahler said. Coverage may be
bought from local insurance firms and the government
will pay all costs above a certain limit so more citizens can
afford it.
Other suggestions that might help:
•All prospective tenants of Monaco should be told
they are moving onto a flood plain before they sign their
lease. They have a right to know.
•Residents of lower floor apartments nearest the
creek should receive reductions in rent because of their
higher risk position.
•Though flooding should be a rare occurrence, a
warning system should be arranged by the management.
Ebbecke said a suit was to be filed against the city, so
the story is far from over. Further questions include the
outcome of the suit and the reasons why the IRE bought a
complex it knew was prone to flooding.
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Why were the apartments built on a flood plain?
“At the time it was constructed I don’t think we
knew it was a flood plain, ” said George R. Ford, College
Station assistant director of public works. “We were
armed with a flood plain study by the Corps of Engineers
but it only profiles areas with over 2,000 acres of
watershed. ”
He said this leg of Wolf Pen Creek did not qualify
and that the study stopped east of University Drive. The
Zidell Corp. of Dallas built the complex.
Zidell Corp. sold out a couple of years ago to the
Investors’ Real Estate of Coral Gables, Fla., he said.
“The IRE hired a local engineering firm to investigate
Listen up
12th Man
not at
game?
Editor:
I attended the TCU game last
Saturday.
It’s great to have a winner for a
change but where was the famous
“12th Man”? Was he there? I didn’t
hear him. I thought he always came
to the games. I didn’t even see him
run onto the field after the game.
Maybe he didn’t have a ticket. I
surely figured he would come to see
the first winning team at this place
in a long time. Maybe he doesn’t
care if his team is a champion or not.
Maybe now that he really has a team
of champions, he just doesn’t give a
damn.
Well it was certainly obvious to
me and a lot of other people who
come back here every weekend that
the 12th Man wasn’t in Kyle Field
on Saturday.
I hope he’s not gone for long. I
challenge him to come back and
make up for his poor performance
on Saturday.
Beat the HELL out of Baylor.
Kenneth Stevens ’72
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Che Battalion
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editor
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Editor . . Greg Moses
Assistant Editor Will Anderson
Managing Editor LaTonya Perrin
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Henderson, Daralyn Greene, Scott Reynolds, Sandra Chan
dler
Photographers Douglas Winship,
David Kimmel, Jack Holm, Glen Johnson, Chris Svatek, Gary
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