A couple today told how they had been attempting to sell their Houston home before it was engulfed by the devastating floodwaters.
Dave Andrews, 62, and his wife Brenda, 60, who are originally from Oldmeldrum, saw their property inundated and lost almost all their possessions.
Vast swathes of Houston have been under water for days, including Kingwood where the North-east couple live.
So far more than 30 people have died and thousands have been displaced as a result of the floods, which left a catastrophic trail of destruction.
Dave and Brenda, who have lived in Houston for 15 years, were rescued on Monday afternoon after the water level in their home reached 4ft.
The couple had planned to retire and move away to join their son Ross in Costa Rica once their home was sold, but now fear the foundations may be damaged.
“It had been on the market for a couple of weeks as we had planned to retire and move to Costa Rica,” Dave said.
“That has clearly been put on hold for the time being as we need to assess the damage and see how bad it is.
“I have heard the water reached around 8ft at its peak in Kingwood so I fear the water might have got into the foundations and has moved the house.
“We have lost almost everything in the floods. We managed to take two pairs of shorts and three T-shirts, so that is all we have.
“Thankfully we managed to take our three dogs with us so they are safe, but the cat is missing and the 25-year-old tortoise was left on the top bunk. We don’t have a clue if they are okay or not.”
The water began to rise in the north-east neighbourhood on Sunday evening after constant rain throughout the weekend.
Kingwood was badly hit by the floods because of its close proximity to two rivers that burst their banks on Sunday evening.
“When we went to bed on Sunday there was just a little trickle coming into the house, but when we got up on Monday morning the water was 4ft deep,” Dave said.
“It wasn’t until the afternoon that we got rescued by boat.
“The boat had to come into the garage because if we had gone out the front door we would have been swept away.
“It was all quite scary stuff, but thankfully we are fine; it is just that everything is destroyed.”
By Monday afternoon he knew they had to evacuate as soon as possible.
Following the rescue by a group of volunteers, the couple went to their other son Blair’s apartment in the city where they have remained since.
Dave, who celebrated his birthday on the day of his rescue, said: “We were actually going to stay and wait it out but throughout Monday morning it started to get worse so when the Cajun Navy came to rescue us we went.
“The Cajun Navy were absolutely brilliant, they have been all over the city helping people hit by the floods.
“If it wasn’t for them then – to be honest – I don’t know where we would be at the moment.”
Dave, a semi-retired analyser, admitted he does not know what the future holds for the couple as they have lost almost everything.
He said: “We will see how bad it is when we get the chance. I am not very hopeful as the whole place was a total mess when we left and things got a lot worse afterwards.
“I have home insurance but not flood insurance so we are going to be speaking to the government about what we can do.
“They have estimated the cost to the government from the floods at around $150 billion.”