Hurricane Harvey can’t stop us from being The Great State of Texas!
(Truly I am not born and bred in Texas, I was born in another country and bred in another northern state. They do say it doesn’t matter when you got to Texas, just as long as you got to Texas).
So Hurricane Harvey came and went, and he can’t break our spirit. It’s been just over one week. In my mind I had thought our move from Dallas to living in Houston would be less stressful as there is not “tornado season” in Houston. Little did I know a month after our move, we’d be experiencing this major Hurricane Harvey. There were many days and evenings of continuous flooding and tornado alerts, and time spent worrying and watching the creek across the street rise into the neighbor’s backyard. I never looked at the 100 and 500 year flood plain so often, and went to bed wondering if in the morning my feet would step into water, or if we’d get a knock on the door in the night to evacuate. I did have a suitcase out with a few times ready to go just in case.
A year of rain in five days. Gratefully Hurricane Harvey took a easterly turn earlier than originally expected saving the Houston area from another 2 days of rain.
Thankfully we did not suffer any flooding. There is a part of me that feels bad I am able to still be in my home with a/c, internet, and still have our things, and my children’s things. It has been a lesson I am trying to get my children to understand – that we need to help, we need to be okay to give up some of our toys to children who now have no toys.
We did visit a neighborhood nearby to bring moving boxes to homeowners who had flooded during the storm. They were so overwhelmed walking around their home, it was heartbreaking. These homeowners one day soon will no longer be removing part of their home life to be discarded to the curb, but to start packing the things they love and still possess. As a high school student, our NJ home was surrounded by floodwaters due to several dams upstream breaking. I remember opening our basement windows to let the water pour in so as not to damage the foundation of the home. We just lost some things, not everything.
So many wonderful volunteers in our community have done amazing things for those who have suffered immensely and continue to suffer. We’ve made water, food, clothing donations, and just today donated a dresser to a single man with an 18 month old son who lost everything. Volunteers have been cleaning out houses of furniture, cabinets, family treasures, and cutting out sheetrock to prevent mold. We donated toys to a group that were making backpacks of toys, crayons, and paper for children in the shelters. There are groups making food to bring to the homeowners, the first responders, and those working the hard task of cleaning out a home. A big THANK YOU to you all!
It is a bit eerie are, as military helicopters and military planes flying over head now en route to Orange and Beaumont Texas, to bring supplies and water.
I am in awe of the spirit of the people in the GREAT STATE of TEXAS!!
