Dozens of people in Waco woke up to an unexpected sight after Friday night's storms led to some major flooding at a local hotel and nearby apartment complex.
Residents at the Heritage Square Apartments say waking up to their cars being flooded put a damper on their day.
Soggy cars and puddles is all that's left after the storms. Residents like Joseph Green spent the morning fishing out anything left inside their cars.
"Making sure I can get all the standing water out,” says Green. “My trunk bed was full of water that I just recently drained out.”
Flood waters toppled bikes and destroyed dozens of cars in the parking lot and the ground floor garage. The storm also took out elevators at the complex.
Heritage Square Apartment employee Haley Heikkinen says she was shocked to see how much damage the storm caused.
“It was pretty bad. The water height was waist high and some people's cars were almost submerged, almost all under water," says Heikkinen.
The parking lot of the nearby Courtyard Marriot hotel was also flooded. Guests there spent the morning drying as well.
Those affected say the city's construction of a new drainage pipe may have made the flooding worse.
“Any flooding that would happen due to the rain would bypass the project so it wouldn't interfere with their project or ruin anything,” says Heikkinen. “So all the flooding that was happening from the rain and then the river was coming up flooded into our apartment complex.”
Leaving residents stranded until the tow trucks arrive.
City of Waco spokesman Larry Holze says they try to plan construction during the summer because there's less rain, but with all the unexpected rain, there's not much construction crews or the city can do about it.
