NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Several inches of rain in a short period of time Monday caused a Balch Springs creek to overflow, flooding several homes in a neighborhood near 635 and Seagoville Road.

Residents said the water rose very quickly.

It was the same scene at house after house on Hickory Creek Road. Allen Thompson walked into his heavy equipment rental business around 8 am. Thirty minutes later, he said he looked down and had three inches of water in his shop.

Within about an hour, he and his neighbors said the water had risen to around a foot.

Thompson said he'll have to close his business for about a week to assess and clean up the damage, which fortunately, he said, was limited to paperwork.

But several others said they lost everything touching the ground.

There were also some frightening moments, with several neighbors having to be rescued by the fire department.

Thompson said Hickory Creek has flooded before, but this is the first time in 13 years it has ever reached his shop.

"I was shocked. Yes, I was," he said. "When I was sitting there in the door, water was right up to the second ring on that barrel. That's a lot of water."

The Red Cross has an emergency shelter open at the Balch Springs Recreation Department. They have food, water, and supplies and said they will remain open as long as they are needed.

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Homeowners in Balch Springs spent the day airing out their belongings, removing drywall and cleaning up the mess left behind by flash floods on Monday.

"Horrible, it was bad. It just rained for just 12 hours straight and got 12 to 13 inches. My house couldn’t handle it," said Rick Waltz who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years.

Not only did he have some flooding, but parts of his roof caved in after it took a beating from the heavy rain.

"Especially when you woke up at 2 o’clock in the morning with the ceiling falling on you, first time that happened and then when the water looks like close coming in, that’s when you panic more," said Waltz.

The neighborhood backs up to Guy Berry Park which is where Hickory Creek runs.

About three miles from there is where a woman lost her life in Mesquite after flood waters swept her vehicle away Monday morning.

The historic amount of rain in North Texas led Gov. Greg Abbott to sign a disaster declaration for not only Dallas and Tarrant counties, but 21 other counties in the region that saw heavy rainfall.

“I started feeling a little drop or drip on my ankle, so I was like, ‘ugh, OK, so something is going on in here,'" said Elizabeth Parker who lives a couple of doors down from Waltz.

She had a leak in her ceiling, then looked outside to see the water steadily rising. They moved their cars, but then the water was about waist deep.

"Everything got flooded inside my house," she said.“ I decided to evacuate and go to my mother’s house.

Parker spent the day with her family cleaning up the debris and dirt. While many things were ruined, a picture frame of her husband was OK, which was especially important since her husband passed away about three months ago.

Despite the hardship of the major life events, she says she remains strong and positive.

Down the street Waltz said he's relying on faith as he knows fixing his home is going to be a massive chore and expensive.

“I don’t have insurance because I was going through a hard time and had to cancel it," said Waltz. “I trust God and it will work out.”

Dallas County hoping to get approved for SBA low-interest loans to help those impacted by flooding

Last month's flooding damage in Dallas County wasn't enough to qualify for federal grant money to help victims rebuild, but those who need the help may still be able to get cheap loans to rebuild.

BALCH SPRINGS, Texas - Last month's flooding damage in Dallas County wasn't enough to qualify for federal grant money to help victims rebuild.

But those who need the help may still be able to get cheap loans to rebuild.

On Friday, Dallas County leaders went door-to-door in Southeast Dallas County to see who may be able to qualify for these loans.

Some people in the area said they're struggling to figure out how to fix the damage.

Dallas County is now waiting to see if the damage qualifies Balch Springs residents for Small Business Administration low-interest loans.

But many homeowners said they can’t keep waiting, and have been working on rebuilding their lives for weeks.

"Bills don’t wait. Debt and bills are stacking up," Vanessa Villas said.

Trash is also piling up on Villas’ street for the past three weeks.

From sun up to sun down, she and her husband have taken on the task to fix their flood damaged home themselves.

The Balch Springs couple does not have insurance.

Friday, they finished painting the kids’ rooms.

"We still have to put the floors, the trims," Villas said.

RELATED: Flooding forces Balch Springs residents to evacuate their homes

Back on August 22, a historic flood forced homeowners in some Balch Springs neighborhoods to evacuate.

Some residents were trapped and had to be rescued from high water.

Once the water receded, the Villas started to rebuild and haven’t stopped since, but they are now swimming in debt.

"It feels like everyone’s lives went on, and our lives froze. We have been stuck here," Villas said.

Emergency management representatives from the city, county, and state toured Balch Springs Friday.

"Throughout the entire state of Texas, we had only 70 homes destroyed or major damage. Majority were in Dallas County," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.

Jenkins also was a part of Friday’s storm assessment, now hoping Balch Springs flood victims can qualify for low-interest disaster loans through the SBA program.

Despite the name, the SBA also provides low-interest disaster loans to homeowners.

Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 23 counties to try and qualify for FEMA assistance, but Judge Jenkins said the FEMA threshold for uninsured losses was not met.

"We all after listening to the state, and FEMA agreed SBA is the route to go," Jenkins said. "I am disappointed we can’t get individual assistance for the people who were affected and only getting these low-interest loans for them."

If approved, Jenkins believes people will be on the ground processing the low-interest loans within the next week.

But some aren’t waiting around.

Oscar Rodriguez has been putting in some work, still waiting for a final estimate from his insurance.

His home of 21 years is now totally gutted.

"Everything in the house is no good," he said.

Across the street, the Villas want to hit the halfway mark this weekend to hopefully have some sense of normalcy.

"We had to cut our sheet rock down. This side of the house hasn’t been touched," Villas said. "We had to get started. We have three kids we need to bring back home."

If Dallas County gets approves for these SBA low-interest loans, anyone who has flood damage from surrounding counties, like Tarrant, Ellis, or Collin counties, they can qualify as well.

Balch Springs house fires sparked by crews mowing grass

Balch Springs Fire Marshal Sean Davis said the flames caused an estimated $6 million in property damage. A total of 26 homes were affected by either fire, smoke or water. Nine were destroyed.

BALCH SPRINGS, Texas - Fire investigators are assessing the damage from Monday’s devastating grass fire that burned more than two dozen homes in Balch Springs.

The fire started around 3 p.m. while most people were away at work. While that helped with evacuations and prevented injuries, it didn’t do much to limit the property damage.

RELATED: Balch Springs grass fire spreads to 26 nearby homes

Balch Springs Fire Marshal Sean Davis said the flames caused an estimated $6 million in property damage. A total of 26 homes were affected by either fire, smoke or water. Nine were destroyed.

On Tuesday, fire crews continued going through the neighborhood, assessing which homes are safe to return to and which can have power restored.

The fire was caused by a crew cutting grass in a nearby field. A spark from the equipment ignited the dead, dry grass.

Davis said the wind and dry conditions were the most challenging factors in trying to get it all under control. Winds were about 20 to 25 miles per hour at the time.

"Because of the intensity of the wind I noticed when I was even assisting with efforts initially to put the fire out. As I would get fire out and I would move forward, I would look behind me and fire was re-igniting right behind me," he said. "I even looked up at one time where our brush truck was driving and spraying out fire. As it got away from it, the fire was re-igniting around the truck."

Andre and DeShannon Camp lost their home Monday. They were both away when the fire began.

"I was away on business travel, and then I got a call that it was a grass fire behind our home," DeShannon recalled.

"It's very challenging right now. Everything we own in life is gone," Andre said.

Behind their home was the undeveloped, dry grass that was being cut when the fire sparked.

Andre’s sister called him seeing his house on TV news.

"By the time I actually got into the neighborhood, it was smoke and everything everywhere," he said.

A dozen area fire departments responded to the fire. Andre and DeShannon’s house was one of the nine deemed a total loss.

"We have not seen anything to this magnitude for the city of Balch Springs," Davis said. "I do not know anyone surrounding us that seen anything of the significant of a loss at one time. This is certainly one for the history books for our area."

9 homes destroyed, 17 others damaged in most costly fire in Balch Springs history

Balch Springs fire officials give update on July 25 grass fire that spread into neighborhood

Settled families lost everything as well as those beginning families.

Homeowner Mitch Ryan was able to save some things. He unlocked the house remotely and a neighbor got his dogs out.

"We were under the impression that we lost everything we had just because of the way that everything looked," he said.

Ryan was able to save his wedding heirloom and his wife’s expensive medications.

"It's almost $13,000 per order, and we thought we had lost all that," he said. "We just got in there a little bit, and there it was left untouched."

Ryan and all his family are safe.

"I always say every day above ground is a great day," he said. "I have a motto that I live by called, ‘Never give up.’ I tell everybody that all the time, and I have all my friends telling me that right now."

The Balch Springs Fire Department plans to meet with all the homeowners at its rec center. The Red Cross will also be there to help those families.

Those who want to donate to the fire victims are encouraged to drop off donations at the Opal J. Smith Food Pantry.

The struggle is just beginning for many families in Balch Springs who woke up to find their homes flooded. A state of disaster has been declared in Dallas County after torrential rainfall flooded homes, stranded dozens of motorists on streets and highways that looked more like canals and delayed air traffic at local airports.

The water has gone down, but the struggle is just beginning for many families in Balch Springs who woke up to find their homes flooded by torrential rain earlier this week.

Water was knee high at times at the Spring Oaks apartment complex in Balch Springs at the height of flooding on Monday. More than 13 inches of rain was reported in some portions of North Texas.

Water poured into Noemi Flores’s apartment before sun rise. But that didn’t wake her up. It was her neighbors banging on her door.

She got up, and noticed her foot was wet. At first, Flores thought she had tipped over a cup. Then, she realized there was too much water for it to be from a spill.

“I can walk in it, and all I hear is the splashing,” she said. “And I'm like, Okay, no, no, no, no, no. This is not just anything. What is going on?”

Flores lives in a first-floor apartment in Balch Springs. She moved into the Spring Oaks apartment complex four years ago.

Now, Flores and her sixteen-year-old daughter have to move out so the apartment can be repaired. She doesn’t know where they’ll go.

Many families in Balch Springs are unsure of what’s next. Clifton King drove a U-Haul into the neighborhood where flood waters dumped trash on the soggy ground and the unmistakable smell of sewage permeated the air. He was there to help his ex-wife move out of the Spring Oaks apartment with their three young children.

“They've cut the electricity out,” King said. “We can't see nothing in there. It's dark. So, we got to kind of feel around and pack up what we can and leave the rest.”

Many families were just getting by financially before the flood. The per capita income for Balch Springs is about 19 thousand a year according to the U.S. Census.

Damon Miles has lived at Spring Oaks for three years. He relies on disability payments for his income. He said it’s hard for people in a low-income area to find temporary shelter after a storm.

“How can you afford to move somewhere or go to a hotel to stay for two weeks?” Miles said.

Flores also receives disability payments. She said being on a fixed income means she can’t afford to pay for a hotel room or hire movers to come help her leave.

Flores’ brown laminate floors aren’t murky storm water isn’t covering Flores’ brown laminate floors anymore — vacuums sucked it all up.

But you could still hear them whirring in her apartment, and water had seeped into the walls. The stench of mold is palpable. That’s why Flores can’t stay. The mold is triggering her asthma.

This isn’t the first time Flores had water in her apartment. She said a pipe burst in her apartment during the winter storm. She has renter’s insurance, so she was able to file a claim and get the help she needed back then.

But Flores doesn’t have flood insurance. It's something she said she never thought about flooding be a problem in the Dallas-Fort Worth area until now. The renter’s insurance company told her that her policy doesn’t cover flood damage, so Flores wouldn’t get her claim approved like she did after the winter storm.

“It's very frustrating because I'm like, okay, what's the difference between them?” Flores said. “It's just water. One was cold and the other one is hot.”

Like a lot of her neighbors, Flores doesn’t know what’s she’ll do while her apartment is repaired. All she knows is she wants to stay positive to set an example for her daughter.

“I keep thinking, okay, God, I know you're going to show me the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “I just got to be patient.”

Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is a Report For America corps member for KERA News.

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