Hong Soule and her husband Charles bought their two-story house in Cinco Ranch Equestrian Village for its views of George Bush Park.

Soule, a native of Shanghai, gazed at that vast green space and saw fresh air, playgrounds, soccer fields and a dog park. She didn't realize this bucolic setting was part of a reservoir - a lake bottom just waiting to fill. It took Hurricane Harvey to make that clear.

During the storm, Soule and her three children were stranded by rising floodwaters in their neighborhood, where people were taken to safety in military trucks.

Soule was among 31,000 property owners in Harris and Fort Bend counties who learned during Harvey's mass evacuati