Woodbranch neighbors frustrated over city's response to flooding

WOODBRANCH, Texas (KTRK) -- Residents along a neighborhood street in the City of Woodbranch are experiencing a major flooding issue, but the city told them that they're unable to help.

Woodbranch is a small Montgomery County city near Humble, but it's those living on Eastwood Drive who told ABC13 they had nowhere else to turn for help.

"There's six or seven feet of stuff in there, and over the years, it's just made it to the point that everything is so bad with flooding," Garrett Skutza said.

Skutza's property backs right up to that overgrown and clogged ditch. He says it's not just the road that floods but his entire backyard as well, adding that so far, his home has been spared by inches.

Skutza said that in his seven years of living on Eastwood Drive, he has watched as the flooding has worsened.

"It's to the point you have to park your vehicles or walk through it, or you can't leave, one of the two," Skutza said.

Eventually, Skutza's wife grew tired of waiting and called the city of Woodbranch to have the ditch cleaned out, but he said the city told them it wasn't in the budget.

Towards the end of 2024, the city sent out crews to clean the storm drains, but Skutza said the maintenance personnel told him the storm drains were fine, and the problem was with the ditch.

Woodbranch Mayor Mike Tyson confirmed to ABC13 that the budget doesn't exist for his fix. Tyson said over the phone that because homes aren't getting water in them, it hasn't topped their priority list.

"The house across the street and the one next to it, they always got water in their house," Cheri Crowe said.

Crowe's house stays dry in heavy rain, but she and Skutza both told ABC13 that multiple homes in the area have flooded multiple times over the years. One neighbor who didn't want to go on camera told Eyewitness News that he'd redone the floors several times and said his home floods about once a year from rain.

Skutza doesn't want to wait for tragedy to happen before he gets help.

"Well, we need help so we don't flood," Skutza said.

Mayor Tyson said in a small city, the budget is tight, but that a new federal grant could help. County Commissioners recently secured more than $60 million to do flood mitigation, including cleaning vegetation and blockages from Peach Creek, which directly impacts flooding in Skutza's neighborhood.

However, the Montgomery County Office of Emergency Management said it could be up to three years before the work is complete. Skutza feels he doesn't have three years to wait.

"Are the kids going to be able to get off the bus? Is the home going to flood? Every time we come home, we don't know what is going to happen. And the coming hurricane season, it's gotten worse, so what's it going to bring?" Skutza said.

Mayor Tyson said a new city budget will be set in October 2025, and they'll consider Eastwood Drive and other areas for flood mitigation.

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