BROWNSVILLE – A Brownsville woman is in a whirl of confusion after she said her address changed without her knowledge or permission.

Celia Hedrick said she was unaware of the recent address changes in her subdivision, until her mail started showing up at a different address. She’s lived at her home since 1980. The change has her worried she’ll lose her property rights.

Improvements are taking place in Hedrick’s subdivision including new drainage and new roads. But some residents claimed the address changes have created new problems.

“With what authority or who did it – we don’t know. It’s really something to worry about, after all the years I have living at that address. All of a sudden there’s changes. Lost letters ending up with neighbors, we’re having to exchange letters,” she said. “We don’t know what’s going on.”

Hedrick said her address changed drastically with a new number and a new street name. She’s now worried the address that’s been assigned to her may create issues with her property deed.

“What’s going to happen to my property if it doesn’t exist according to either my new or old address? It’s my patrimony. It doesn’t exist. Not my lot, number 17 because that’s what my deed says from when we bought the property. My address doesn’t exist with one or the other. What’s going to happen? It’s my patrimony for when I’m old,” she said.

The subdivision is county territory. CHANNEL 5 NEWS spoke with county manager David Garcia about the changes, but he directed us to the city of Brownsville.

The city is in charge of addressing in Hedrick’s area even if the subdivision is outside city limits.

Brownsville City Engineer Carlos Lastra wouldn’t speak to us about a notice sent to some residents at Las Palmas. He then sent us to city spokeswoman Roxanna Rosas.

She too wouldn’t speak to us but did release the following statement.

"Addresses were reassigned to provide uniform numbering for public safety, enabling emergency personnel to locate residents faster. A more efficient response time can make a significant difference in survival and degree of recovery."

The city wouldn’t address the problems residents are dealing with.

“They switched all the roads. They changed them and figured problem solved. Now we’re all left with this,” Hedrick said.

We reached out to the county commissioner for the area, Commissioner Sofia Benavides. She is aware of the issue but declined to comment on camera.

We did find out, according to the city, legal descriptions of people’s properties on deeds will not be affected by the addresses. But it’s not putting Hedrick’s worries to rest.

Another issue that came up is that Hedrick’s address with her bank was also switched. She said it’s not something she did.

We reached out to her bank. They are looking into who switched Hedrick’s address without her consent.