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| Satellite View of a Hurricane Eye |
A year ago today Hurricane Harvey came calling on Texas.
We were lucky in that our home is at one of the highest elevations in Houston.
This past week the local media has replayed the biggest natural disaster in recent years and its effect on the Houston area.
In case you don't know how big the Houston area is, here are a few facts.
The Houston metropolitan area is the 4th largest city in the U.S. with 6.6 million residents.
If Houston metro were a country, it would be the world’s 23rd largest economy, larger than Poland or Sweden.
My Harvey Story
On Friday, August 25, I left my house and arrived at my daughter's house 45 minutes later. Drove her to a hospital on Katy Freeway for her scheduled physical therapy which took another 45 minutes.
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| Usual view of my lake in August, shows island in middle |
A little more than a hour later, we left the hospital. The sky was still sunny, but scattered rain was falling. An hour later, we were back at her house. I got her settled in then drove back to my home which took another hour. By the time I reached home, the wind had whipped up, and it was raining in earnest.
My husband had gone to our house in the country the day before. I was supposed to join him, but I was tired and decided to wait until Saturday morning to leave. That turned out to be a good decision.
If I hadn't been here, I wouldn't have been able to limit the damage from rain that got through the damaged chimney cap. I had buckets inside the hearth and every towel I owned packed around the chimney where it came through the roof into the house and down in the living room.
I'm a Lead on our community's NextDoor site so I could pass information along to my neighbors. I was most concerned about my daughter's ability to be evacuated if her area flooded. There was literally an ocean between us by Saturday so I couldn't get to her.
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| Rain slowed. Water creeping up. |
The Constables in my precinct and in hers were online to answer concerns. They made lists of people who might need special assistance. People all over Houston were using Facebook to send messages to family and to call for rescues. People everywhere answered the call. Ordinary people became heroes.
Timeline
August 25, 2017, Friday
Harvey came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds at Port Aransas and Port O'Connor near Corpus Christi and knocked out power, leaving 250,000 people without electricity. All of the Texas Gulf Coast area was receiving rain and wind.
August 26, Saturday
Harvey moved to Houston and hung out for 4 days. The rain
never stopped from Friday evening to Tuesday. Amazingly, we never lost power. The lake that's the centerpiece of our community got high, but the overflow drain worked as it should. When the rain slowed, I ventured out to take pictures of the lake and check the drains in the street which were like rushing rivers.
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| Island in middle of our lake, water rising |
In the Houston area, 2 reservoirs overflowed. The freeways were rivers. Water was up to the bottom of overpasses.
Between 25 and 30 percent of Harris County where Houston is located was flooded.
That's a
land area as large as New York City and Chicago combined and was
home to 4.5 million people.
The 911 system was overloaded with calls for help. There weren't enough rescue boats available. People as far away as Oklahoma and Louisiana drove to Harris County with boats to help rescue people.
Somehow, the local television stations continued broadcasting. Reporters were out showing the human toll. Thousands of people wading through waist high water to reach boats that couldn't get to them.
The situation grew even more dire. People were moving as high in their homes as they could in order to stay out of the water rushing in. Many reached the attic, even in two story homes. Rooftop rescues were ongoing.
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| Bridge & Island almost covered. |
Broadcasters started giving instructions on what to do if you were forced into the attic. "Take an axe with you so you can break through the attic ceiling and get out on the roof so rescuers can see you. Otherwise, you might drown inside the attic."
I went to the garage and found the axe in the storage room and brought it inside. Fortunately, I never had to discover if I'd have the strength to break through the 2x4's and wood decking beneath the layer of shingles.
The scenes on television grew even more bleak. Farm and ranches surround the Houston area. The toll to farm animals, wildlife, and pets was horrendous too.
August 29
Harvey made landfall for a third time when it moved east of Houston and hit the coastal cities of Port Arthur and Beaumont, Texas on the border of Louisiana.
It dumped another 26 inches of rain in 24 hours, flooding Port Arthur and its 55,000 population. Water flooded a third of the city's buildings, including the one where people had taken shelter. Beaumont was without drinking water.
Houston metro was like an island with freeways and highways leading into the area under water. Then water had to be released from the reservoir in order to keep the dams from breaking. More flooded homes and business. More misery.
August 31
Even though Harvey had moved out of the area, its effects were still being felt. In Crosby, a small town on the other side of Lake Houston, an Arkema chemical plant ignited because no power meant no refrigeration that kept chemicals inert. The chemicals ignited.
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| Tip of the iceberg of damage. We were lucky |
September 1
Harvey reached Nashville, Tennessee, and dumped 10 inches of rain there before finally falling apart.
Our Damage
We were
so lucky. Our damage was from falling rain, but it still cost us over $2,000.00 when all was said and done. That was less than our homeowners insurance deductible so it all came out of our pocket. Still,
we lucked out.
Mere blocks away, in every direction, entire subdivisions were under water. As late as Monday, water rescues were still going on.
Water rescue doesn't begin to describe the kind of bravery and guts it takes for people to do that. There are snakes, floating fire ant beds, sewage, toxic chemicals, garbage, nails, sharp edges, etc. in the flood waters. Manhole covers float up. If you step over to an empty space, you go down. It's scarier than any horror movie you've ever seen.
The Toll in Misery and Money
$125 billion in damage according to the National Hurricane Center--more than any other natural disaster in U.S. history except Hurricane Katrina.
13 million people from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky affected.
88 people died
1/3 of Houston area under water
39,000 people in shelters
204,000 homes flood-damaged with 3/4 of those
not in the 100-year flood plain. Those homeowners did not have flood insurance.
738,000 people registered for assistance with the FEMA
10,000 people rescued by Federal officials
3,000 rescued by Houston Police Dive Team
no numbers of how many were rescued by private citizens with their personal boats
37,000 people in shelters in Texas and 2,000 in Louisiana
75 of 275 schools in Houston’s school district, 7th largest in the nation, closed due to flood damage.
1 million vehicles totaled including 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles owned by individuals
800 wastewater treatment facilities flooded and 13 Superfund sites flooded, spreading sewage and toxic chemicals into the flooded areas
25 % of oil and gas production shut down
15 trillion gallons of rainfall classified the storm as a 1-in-1,000-year flood event. Nothing of that size has happened within modern recorded history. Flooding covered southeast Texas the size of the state of New Jersey.
1 and 1/2 feet of water covered 70 percent of the 1,800-square-mile county. The weight of the water depressed the Earth's crust. Houston sank 2 centimeters as a result. It was said when the waters recede, the crust would rebound.
As I write this, voters are being urged to say yes to a multi-billion dollar proposition to address flooding. This is all well and good, but the wrong people are being asked to pay for this. Homeowners shouldn't have to pay more in taxes.
The cost of these flood abatement measures should be passed on to developers who mined a loophole in regulations and avoided paying for flood abatement measures like retention ponds.
In fact, if those loopholes remain open, I think every developer who applies for exception should have the application open to public review for at least a year before it can be approved.
Of course that won't happen so it's left to Harris County residents to fund it themselves.
The Need is Ongoing
People are still homeless or living in damaged homes from this. Those most at risk--the disabled, ill, and lower income families--still need help.
If you have money to donate, give to
SBP, aka St. Bernard Project.
They're rated high by
Charity Navigator , the organization you should always check when thinking about donating to a charity or recovery/relief group.
To donate to Houston Recovery through SBP, click here.
Takeaway Truth
I've lived in hurricane and typhoon areas most of my life. Hurricane Harvey was one I'll always remember.
