Crisis Strong

Hurricane Harvey had his eyes set on Corpus Christi, ultimately making landfall head on in Rockport, TX on Friday, August 25 as a category 4 hurricane with 130 mph winds.   It moved quickly over the area leaving a wake of destruction in its fast track to the east.

The storm very quickly made its way to Houston and the surrounding areas.  Decimating the previous landscape with quickly rising flood waters.  People clamoring to get to higher ground.  This was so unexpected. This came out of nowhere.  Water rapidly rose, endangering lives, taking over homes and businesses, stealing everything from 10's of thousands of people.

I had moderately prepared for the possibly of this storm hitting us and being inconvenienced for a few days.  Who knew this storm would end up lasting 5-6 days dumping trillions of gallons of water on our beloved city and the communities around it.  I am a native Houstonian, born and raised.  My heart breaks for my hometown city.  I live 20 miles east of Houston in Baytown, population 80,000 or so now.  I love my community and the people in it.  We are strong, we are survivors.  Hurricanes and tropical storms come with living on the coast.  It's all part of the beauty ... and the choas.

My heart breaks for the numerous people who have lost everything, some even lost their lives trying to escape.  Death toll is currently at 12.  Just awful.  Family members and friends are flooded in or flooded out.  I'm worried about my house taking on water.  Tonight is going to be the real deal here as the tropical storm rolls up through here for a final and 3rd hit. 

It began with my family in Corpus, rolled through Houston and Baytown hitting us and taking a turn for Lake Charles where my parents are and heading down towards Baton Rouge where my sister is.  This is truly and sadly a family affair!  Most of my family has been or will be affected by this. 

We have made every preparation possible in our house to secure some of our belongings in case water came into our home.  Putting as much as we could up high and off the floor.  The water kept rising ... then falling...then rising...then falling and rising.  When it got to the point where it wouldn't fall, we decided it was time to leave.  We evacuated on Monday evening to my church, which is also the church I work at.   We decided it was better to be safe than sorry.  Afraid we would end up having to attempt an evacuation when it would be near impossible. There are limited places to go as well. Monday night went well, we were in a safe place.  It rained, but not too terribly bad. 

Tuesday morning we got up and around and found a donut shop open and bought some breakfast and checked our street.  Water was still standing, but it wasn't terrible.  Ditches were still very full with nowhere for water to drain off.  So tonight we are staying at the church again.

Tuesday morning turned to afternoon and then it happened.  Our church became an evacuation shelter without warning.  A truck full of people showed up and was bring dropped off by a rescue crew.  Everything was fast forward without a plan!  It was a bit much, a furious scurrying of people and no plan.  Details eventually fell into place, all hands on deck, volunteers showed up, donations were rolling in and the volunteers worked very hard to get things organized and set up.  It was great to see so many people join together to help each other in such a time of crisis.  I'm proud of 'people' today. The human condition - we are fragile & breakable human beings and are not immune to the sufferings this life sometimes throws at us.

 

I'm staying in a heartbroken state of prayer.  Begging God to clear this up and make a way for everyone.  The cleanup will be long and extensive.

We are #BaytownStrong & #HoustonStrong We will be good again.  I am so PROUD of my community!!

Tomorrow's blog ... Crisis Aftermath