Revisiting Hurricane Harvey

Eight years ago, on this day, Hurricane Harvey, considered the worst hurricane in Houston's history, made landfall here.

Darling Hubby had gone to our house in the country which was our "storm escape" plan to avoid being near the Gulf Coast when a storm cane in.

I'd driven our daughter to physical therapy that day. We'd planned to join him later, but by the time we left the hospital, it had started raining.

Daughter insisted on being returned to her home so I did that and prayed she and her husband would be safe there. By the time I reached my home, I was resigned to riding out the storm there.

Wind and rain had started, and that began 48 hours of the most horrific rainfall I'd ever witnessed. It simply never stopped. Hours and hours of rain for 2 days.

By the second day, our chimney had become saturated with rain and the brick inside the house became soaked too. I placed towels around the bottom to protect the wood floors. That was worrisome, but it was nothing compared to what thousands of people were experiencing.

To my surprise, we never lost power or water or cell service, but people in other parts of town were being rescued by boats from their roofs.

It was scary. I'd been through countless hurricanes as a child growing up in Louisiana and through typhoons as an adult living in Japan. Hurricane Harvey beat all those experiences.

Although Harvey was a Category 4 hurricane, its impact was off the charts due to the catastrophic and widespread flooding, the high winds, and the record-breaking rainfall.

The problem was that the storm stalled over Southeast Texas after making landfall. It's considered to be the wettest hurricane on record in the U.S.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Emergency responders and ordinary citizens who pitched in were amazing. The people here are one of the reasons why we love living here.