Kingwood neighbors band together to prevent looting

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Now that the threat of flooding has passed for many people in the Kingwood area, they're concerned with looters potentially targeting their area.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and Houston City Council member Dave Martin toured the area Monday and addressed these concerns.

"Be very, very careful of people knocking on doors. Be careful with these robocalls. Be careful with people dressing up. Just be very very careful," Turner said.

Martin said not to confuse people digging through trash with looters.

"They're really not looting. They're looting the garbage and I haven't heard of one episode in Kingwood that people are going Into houses looting houses," Martin said.

Many people, like Mark Micheletti, were forced out of their home due to flooding, making them feel more vulnerable to being looted.

"I even took my TVs out from upstairs and everything else just because we were afraid of that," Micheletti said. "There doesn't appear to have been any actual reports of looting that's happened, but there were rumors of looting."

While the rumors of looters are an additional source of stress, Micheletti said neighbors are helping each other.

"Some volunteers in this neighborhood who had not flooded are manning the streets with their own curfew at 11 o'clock at night," Micheletti said.

Some of those volunteers return to work Tuesday, so residents are asking for more law enforcement personnel.