Hurricane Survivors Part 2: Hurricane Harvey

DISCLAIMER: This is a lengthy post. My family rode out Hurricane Harvey and his aftermath, and this is my telling of the story.

On August 25, 2017 Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the small town of Rockport, TX near Corpus Christi. My husband and I are not nightly news watchers, however from about August 18th – September 2nd our eyes were glued to the local news and the weather channel.

Living on the Gulf Coast, we are no strangers to Hurricanes.

Read about our very personal, past hurricane experiences here.

However, as far as natural disasters go, while they leave utter devastation and loss of property and personal belongings, hurricanes are also very predictable. Our local weather guy has a pretty good idea where a hurricane will make landfall and where it will go after landfall giving residents at least a couple of days to prepare and / or evacuate.

Bringing it back to August 25. I have family in Victoria and Corpus Christi, TX. These areas have not seen a hurricane land in a very long time. A lot of residents chose to hunker down and “ride out the storm”, and I was terrified for their lives. The cities of Rockport and Corpus Christi issued an official statement to their residents that anyone that stayed in town needed to write their name and SSN on their arm in permanent marker, so the city could easily identify bodies after the storm. Still, these residents had not personally witnessed hurricane devastation, and were probably thinking to themselves, “How bad can it really be?” Turns out, pretty bad for Rockport. The city of Rockport has been declared a 100% total loss. All schools in the city have been closed indefinitely...meaning they will not be reopening. The city has become a ghost town in a matter of hours.

So, we're watching the live footage on TV, and all models show this massive storm is heading our way. The news also says it will weaken (a little) and we won't receive the wind damage, only the rain. Should be comforting right? We knew better.

Approximately two days later, August 27th, the storm reached Houston, TX. Let me try to put into perspective just how slow moving this storm was. Texas is known for it's thunderstorms. A regular, everyday Summer storm takes approximately 2-3 hours to travel from Corpus Christi to Houston, and an average of 1.5-2 hours to travel from Houston to Beaumont. It took 2 DAYS for Harvey's eye to reach Houston from Corpus Christi. And it wasn't sunshine from the 25th to the 27th, it was raining the entire time, and rained for 5 straight days. Citizens of Houston were advised that the city would flood, and to shelter in place. Which meant when the water starts to rise, do not leave your home, instead move to a higher story, or your roof. They also advised to not move into attics, because floodwaters can trap a person in an attic. This happened during Hurricane Ike in Bridge City, TX. I remember listening to live radio of people calling in from their attics, hoping to be rescued, and crying my eyes out.

The images of rising water in Houston were astonishing, terrifying, and unbelievable all at the same time. Watching it was like watching a preview of what was coming right toward us. But still, no one ever wants to believe that the terrible things you see on the news can happen to you.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017. By this time, we had not seen the sun in Nederland, TX for 6 days. It had been raining constantly for 4 days. The heaviest bands of rain seemed to come through every evening in the overnight hours. We had sand bagged our front door, and set up a small sump pump to help pump water away from our home. We camped out in our living room, so my husband could watch the door, and turn on the pump when the water started to rise. By Wednesday evening, my husband had only had a couple hours of sleep each night for the last 2 days, and was completely exhausted. Wednesday, August 30th, Harvey's eye was forecasted to pass over our area during the overnight hours, bringing the heaviest rain we had yet seen. My husband told me that evening, “I guess I'm going to lay down with my hand right behind the front door. So, if I fall asleep and water starts to come in the house, it will touch my hand and wake me up.” That is the level of vigilance we were living with.

We woke Thursday morning, August 31st, amazingly and thankfully to a dry home. Then we turned on the news, and saw our neighbors were not so lucky. It continued to rain Thursday, though not has hard thankfully, and floodwaters continued to rise all around us. Our home stayed dry throughout the rain. However, it seemed like our property must be located on an island. Literally in a one-block radius, homes all around us were taking on water. The streets were under several feet of water, and completely unpassable leaving us stranded. Two blocks from our home, a major thoroughfare had become a boat launch to begin water rescues. My sister's home, and 3 of my husband's cousin's homes took on water, and their families had to be rescued by boat to safety.

This is about 1 block from my home.

Friday, September 1st, the rain finally let up, but the skies remained overcast. The air rescues began on Friday. We have a small, community airport in Nederland that the military soon took over to serve as a base for helicopter air rescues. Our home was right underneath the flight path they were flying from Port Arthur to the airport. For the next 4 days the skies were filled with Black Hawks, Chinooks, Coast Guard choppers, and more. Some were flying so low to the ground you could see the faces of the men hanging out of the door, and feel the wind from the propellers. The city of Nederland is situated right in between the cities of Port Arthur and Beaumont, TX. If you were watching national news, you may have seen Port Arthur and Beaumont mentioned. The city of Port Arthur has declared that 100% of structures sustained damage due to Hurricane Harvey. Port Arthur had set up a shelter in their civic center on Wedneday, Aug. 30th. Wednesday night, these people woke up to standing water in the shelter in their cots, and they had to be rescued by boat. The Coast Guard was providing boat rescues all around the area. But, the majority of rescues were being done by everyday citizens in bass boats, air boats, big trucks, jeeps, etc. Regular, everyday people were coming into the area from surrounding states (Louisiana, Alabama, & Florida to name a few) to help with water rescues.

The Port Arthur Civic Center

Dramatic Helicopter Rescue in Port Arthur

Saturday, September 2nd, the sun finally peaked through the clouds. We had been without sunlight for 8 days. Not even a sliver. It was surreal to say the least. The day of the solar eclipse, August 21st, my husband asked me if I was afraid of vampires coming out. We laughed and giggled at this notion for a couple of days. This experience of 8 days of darkness had me seriously contemplating the existence of vampires.

Air and water rescues continued for 7 days from Wednesday August 30th through Wednesday September 6th. Four counties in my hometown area were devastatingly effected by Hurricane Harvey. Even though it was literally happening right before my eyes, the amount of rain and floodwaters have been difficult to fully comprehend. It has felt like I was living in a lucid nightmare, but I wasn't waking up. I have found it hard to find words to describe what was going on during this storm. It was and is just incomprehensible. My hometown has NEVER flooded like this before. This is and was a historic, unprecedented storm event. I have felt a multitude of emotions of the past couple of weeks, and I have been crying multiple times a day almost every single day.

Recovery and rebuilding efforts are just getting underway, and it will be months, and probably years before our area is “back to normal”. For now, we are all slowly transitioning into a new normal, because life must go on. Kids must go back to school, parents must go back to work, even though an average of 50% of these people are going home in the evening to a hotel, or a family member's house, because their homes have been destroyed.

If you are touched in some way by the stories and images of Hurricane Harvey, please find a way to contribute. I will be making multiple posts related to the Harvey recovery effort, and please check in with @harveyrelieffund and @xtrodinarypilot for more ways you can help. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!