For one fortunate reason or another, since I moved to Houston 17 years ago, I have always been physically away during most of the major storms and hurricanes. When we left Houston on the 24th of August for a wedding in New York, we were aware Tropical Storm Harvey was on its way to Texas. What we didn’t know was how quickly it elevated into a category 4 hurricane and the extent of its devastation. As we closely followed the developments on the news and social media, it seemed more and more surreal. Exactly a week later, we were finally able to get on a plane to head home, and all the emotions that we didn’t realize we were suppressing started to bubble up.
We were one of the lucky ones. Our home, despite being right next to a major reservoir, remained dry. We had amazing neighbors who braved the elements to check in on our house and kitty after the flooded streets prevented the cat sitter from reaching our house. The only casualty was my car, which was parked at the off-airport parking. But considering so many have lost everything, we were counting our blessings. All that mattered was our friends and family were safe and sound. Our story is about counting all the ways that we have been lucky through it all.
The Journey Home
Of course there were worse places to be stranded in than New York City, and we were lucky to have wonderful friends who hosted us even though none of us knew how long we had to stay. But as much as we tried to enjoy the city as planned, the worry for everyone and everything back home always kept a tight grip on our hearts.
By Tuesday and Wednesday the following week, Harvey finally moved on and it seemed Houston was ready to bounce back to its feet. But the aftermath of the hurricane came in waves. Our home had lost power for more than a day and the neighbors checking into our cat had to leave town too. We learned the airport parking lot had been flooded but no one knew the extent. At this point, we just wanted to get home.
After waking up on Thursday morning to find our already rescheduled flight on Friday was again cancelled, we took a chance and rushed to the airport to try to fly home on standby.
As an obsessive planner, I had never flown standby before. We were told that we had to check the luggage for the standby flight even though we might not personally make it. It was a tough decision to make as we packed all our necessities into one luggage between the two of us without a carry on. We stuffed some basic toiletries and a change of clothes into a plastic grocery bag and watched our suitcase disappear along the conveyor belt.
What was most upsetting for me wasn’t the fact that we had to follow standard procedures, it was that the “Travel Assistant” was less than helpful or even friendly. She told us that there was nothing she could do for us without any suggestions or emotion. For someone who was supposed to be providing assistance to people who potentially just lost everything in the hurricane and were just trying to get home, we expected at least a warm smile… We didn’t lose everything, of course, but our stress was already high. What if it was actually someone whose house had been flooded and all they had left were the items in that suitcase?
But again, we were lucky and we made it onto the flight.
The plane had to fly around the remnants of Harvey. As we approached Bush Intercontinental Airport from the north, we saw swollen rivers, flooded fields, and expanded lakes. But it was difficult to see the true impact of the flooding from the air.
The airport itself was much quieter than usual. We walked by the arrival and departure screens and saw almost all the other flights that day were cancelled.
We were lucky to have a friend who drove an hour to come pick us up from the airport after we confirmed my car was indeed flooded. You can see the water line on the back of the driver’s seat. In the Texas summer heat, it’s easy to spot all the flooded cars in the parking lot by the condensation on the windows.
The roads to our house had already drained and dried. There were hardly any signs of the 50+ inches of rain just a couple days before. The houses in our neighborhood and the surrounding areas seemed to all have been spared by the flooding. We finally made it home and were so happy to be hugging our fluffy cat again.
The Worst of Times Brings Out the Best In People
Our Harvey story was one of blessing and gratefulness, and pretty much ended before it started. But we knew so many others were still struggling in the midst of it all. On Saturday we went to a flooded neighborhood with the volunteer group, the Demo Junkies organized by the awesome Tina Tran RN and friends, to help tear out dry wall and floors in flooded homes. As we drove into the neighborhood, the giant piles of ruined furniture and house materials lined the streets. It wasn’t until then that the flood became a reality for us. I’m not going to show any photos of it since there are more than enough photos on social media and I don’t feel right to show people’s entire lives piled on the side of the streets…
We saw first hand just how exhausted and stressed but still amazingly cheerful and optimistic these families were. I was floored by how many volunteers came out to help fellow Houstonians and how hard everyone worked. We joined them at 11am and they had already finished one apartment! The last house we went to took about four hours of hammering, cutting and prying from a crew of 10. I could barely straighten my back after just less than a day of this, but some in the crew had been working many days nonstop! They were just one group out of so many kindhearted people helping each other all over this city. How lucky are we to know these people!
