Business owner says office flooded 3 times since landfill was created: ‘I just feel frustrated’

A business owner says he dreads every time it rains because of what could happen to his office in east Harris County.

A business owner says he dreads every time it rains because of what could happen to his office in east Harris County.

A business owner says he dreads every time it rains because of what could happen to his office in east Harris County.

A business owner says he dreads every time it rains because of what could happen to his office in east Harris County.

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A business owner says he dreads every time it rains because of what could happen to his office in east Harris County.

He says his office has flooded three times this year alone, and he blames a landfill across the street.

The business owner told ABC13 that he’s already spent thousands of dollars on repairs to his office on the corner of the Beaumont Highway and John Ralston.

County leaders over this area told ABC13 they’re aware of business owner Pete Ybarra’s concerns and problems. They have someone from their engineering department looking into it.

They told ABC13 Ybarra has done a 311 ticket and has reached out to TXDOT about the problem as well.

ABC13 reached out to the managers of the landfill, and they haven’t gotten back to us for our request for comment.

“I just feel frustrated,” Texico Transport owner Pete Ybarra said.

Pete Ybarra has worked out of his Texico Transport building for the last 15 years in east Harris County.

But now, he’s dealing with a concerning problem.

“What happens is the building starts to get flooded. We end up with water with water in it, filling the floor with silt with cream-colored mud and sand material,” Ybarra said.

He says ever since a landfill was installed across the road, his business has flooded on heavy rain days — three times this year already.

“I went to the back. It started following the water in the rain and I found that it was coming from this landfill right across the street from us,” Ybarra said.

He says that the flooding has left damage and a mountain of questions about what exactly they’re exposing their employees to.

“I just wish somebody would step up and say whatever system we have in place isn’t working and we found a solution and mitigate the problem,” Ybarra said.

The county says they have an engineer looking at the issue, but haven’t confirmed if the problem stems from the landfill. County reps told ABC13 that, based on their findings, the team has followed up on the issue and county engineering will be taking on this issue from a private development enforcement angle. They are doing more investigation on this.

“Pete Ybarra submitted a 311 request to us on 6/16. Our team followed up and referred the issue to Harris County Engineering since it’s not a Precinct 2 road,” staffers for Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s office said. “Harris County Engineering Department is now handling from “private development” meaning looking into the permit standpoint and pollution control TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality). The road isn’t maintained by no public agency meaning it doesn’t fall under a maintenance jurisdiction.”

ABC13 has reached out to the landfill management and has received no response.

TXDOT confirms they met with Ybarra on Tuesday afternoon.

“The landfill in question is located on private property and is not under TxDOT maintenance,” TXDOT spokesperson Bambi Hall said. “We are aware of Mr. Ybarra’s concerns, and as you observed today, our team was dispatched to assess the situation. If it is determined that drainage along our right-of-way can be adjusted to provide some relief, we will take appropriate action within our scope.”

“I just hope we get a resolution, and we can move forward and be good neighbors,” Ybarra said.

Ybarra says he’s nervous to make repairs again until the problem is fixed for good.

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