WALKER COUNTY, Texas -- More rain coming overnight is not welcome news for neighborhoods near the Trinity River.
The Trinity River Authority is releasing more water from Lake Livingston because it's not dropping fast enough to handle the incoming flow.
In Liberty County, the water is expected to crest more than three feet above flood stage by Sunday, and in Walker County, near the town of Trinity, neighbors are already underwater.
The journey into the Deep River Plantation subdivision begins with a walk through cold water to a waiting boat. A seasoned captain took KHOU out on his daily ride, cruising five feet over what should be Deep River Plantation's neighborhood roads.
The Trinity River crested Tuesday in Walker County in the third serious flood to hit Deep River Plantation this year.
"We've been coming up here and cleaning out stuff then after the next flood we'll clean up again, we'll clean up again, but we can't live out here," said neighbor Robert Kirk.
Neighbors say the water won't recede for weeks at a time with each flood.
It's been too deep for Tanya and Dwight Kersten to get into their home for a week now. They're staying in a shelter.
"I'd like to know what's changed to cause the water to come and stay," Tanya Kersten said.
County emergency managers say it's partly all the water coming downstream from Dallas. That and four inches of rain this weekend made authorities start releasing massive amounts of water from the Lake Livingston Dam, trying to get back to normal.
Normal is all the Kersten family wants, too.
"It is a very helpless feeling," Dwight Kersten said. "We would like to find somewhere to live, to get out of the shelter, to have a sense of normalcy."
"Words can't describe what it is to try to take care of your family when you're inundated with water, one time after another, after another," Tanya Kersten said.
Walker County has asked the Governor to declare a state of emergency, and many folks in Deep River hope that could lead to a federal buyout of their homes, finally giving them a way out from under.
"We just need help," Tanya Kersten said. "This has been too much."
