James Addison, 69, lives in the El Vista addition of Port Arthur.

He got five feet of water inside of his home on Waco Street. He had to remove his sheetrock and insulation. He took out his built-in appliances. The bathrooms need to be redone. The furniture has been taken out.

Fish from the river are now swimming in his pool.

He lost his corvette, pickup truck and SUV in the flood.

Yet, through all of this suffering Addison remains remarkably upbeat.

“We had a lot of assistance,” he said. “We’ll recover from this. I’m retired and on a fixed income with Social Security. We’ll fix everything.

“We’re staying with my sister now. We plan to move upstairs this weekend. We never lost power. My wife’s bird in the birdcage was just high enough above the water. We just need the essentials.”

Addison made those remarks during a visit last week from Inspector James Brown and Pamela Langford with Developmental Services with the city of Port Arthur Code Enforcement Department. They were out in the city to see what residents’ needs were. They added that city employees have been working tirelessly before, during and after Hurricane Harvey.

Like his neighbors, Addison was stacking his belongings in a neat pile by the street. He and his wife are now on program assistance.

He also met representatives with www.rakenow.org at a washateria who came to his home to clean.

“Everything you think you need, you don’t really need,” Addison said.

Several blocks away on Drummond Street in El Vista it was a different story.

Brown visited a house that was built in 2010 to higher elevation requirements that didn’t flood as badly.

Michael Campbell moved into the house in 2014 and said the water reached his truck parked in the driveway before he moved it into the garage.

Campbell’s house got two and a half feet of water in the garage versus Addison’s home with five feet that was built at a lower level.

Brown said they experienced some resistance at first when houses were required to be built at a higher elevation. Now they see the difference.