LAKE MEXIA, Texas – Rising water is a way of life along this rural lake, which sits about 90 minutes south of Dallas, but residents say it has been years since they have seen it this high.
"I can fish off my back deck if I wanted!," laughed resident Tammie Parrish.
Her home, which sits on pilings eight feet off the ground, looks more like an island now as it surrounded by water.
"We've been here about 40 years and the last time we saw it this bad was 1978," she added.
Two days of torrential rain have sent water into 40 homes already. At least 150 residents left on their own, according to Matt Groveton, Limestone County Emergency Management Coordinator.
Officially, Groveton added, the current flood rivals one from 1991. It hasn't yet reached the record level from 1978, he said.
Despite many of her neighbors leaving, Parrish decided to stay, though she admits the flooding makes her a little nervous.
"Yeah, I'm scared to death of water!," she said. "I live on a lake but I'm scared to death of water. I don't swim."
By dusk on Wednesday, water roared off the spillway and downstream into the Navasota River.
Folks here face a good news and bad news situation. Good news is all the water rushing down the spillway means the lake receded about 10 inches on Wednesday. Bad news is more rain is forecast to fall through Saturday.
"Any rain at all – at this point – will be critical. We're way past the saturation threshold," added Groveton.
Parrish, like many of her neighbors, hope that forecast falls apart.
