Day 4: Escape from Hurricane Harvey

Monday, August 28, 2017                                                                                                                    It is now day 4 that my husband, myself, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law, have been in Dallas.  Unfortunately, we aren’t here for a vacation.  This is the city I lived most of my life in so it is definitely home, and I always dream of moving back here, but this time we came here due to a stranger thing named Harvey.  Harvey came in quite differently than his brother Ike from nine years ago.  He wants to stay awhile and not be overlooked. Harvey is surely attempting to not be looked at as just the younger brother that came and went.  His older brother Ike didn’t come to play games either and changed how people thought Hurricanes were supposed to behave, just as their older twin sisters Katrina and Rita did in 2005.  Harvey is out to prove a point.  He is the “long night”.

Thursday afternoon my husband texted me, while I was at work, to let me know that we would be leaving as soon as I returned home from work.  His sister and mom would be meeting us at our home and we would be headed for Dallas.  My district waited until that evening to inform the staff, faculty, and parents that there would be no school for the following day….  The news told the city of Galveston that they were under mandatory evacuation, but other cities around the Houston/Galveston area were on voluntary evacuation.  They stated that if you left Friday morning that would be fine, but you didn’t really have to leave Thursday Night.  My husband had experienced the chaos that was Harvey’s big sister Rita, so he wasn’t taking any chances.  We both, along with the rest of America, had seen what the water did when her twin sister Katrina visited New Orleans.  I didn’t fight this decision or ask a thousand questions about it.  I was anxious to see how this Hurricane would pan out.  Would it really be worse than Ike and bring all that the meteorologists were saying and showing?  We packed up a few necessities and drove to Dallas.  While here my husband and I have been going around with wide eyes seeing how much my city has expanded, but our hearts aren’t really here.  We can’t help but try to keep up with all that is going on back home.  We continue to call, text, and Facebook all that we know and love. Hearing about how friends had to flee to their attics because of homes being flooded with 4+ feet of water and having to cut holes in their roofs to be rescued out is heartbreaking.  Some were even rescued out of their cars while attempting to drive to higher ground.  Usually when Houston floods, Dickinson and other cities south don’t have this type of impact or anything close to what is happening now even though we are closer to the Gulf of Mexico. This time, the Dickinson Bayou grew and burst forth even before the rains came.  The rains did come later in the night.  There was no time to leave Friday morning!

Dickinson is under water.  This is the city my husband grew up in.  My love for this small city that lies 23 miles south of Houston (depending on what part of Houston you want to go to the distance is much shorter) and 24 miles north of Galveston, only grew when I became a teacher here.  My husband and I have hundreds of students here along with close friends and family here.  Watching The Weather Channel and their continuous reporting on the city of Dickinson, we can’t help but get emotional, as we see what should be a parking lot now be used as a place where boats, canoes, kayaks, and sea-doos sail people to safety.  Seeing all of those people that are just now leaving, makes you wonder if they truly thought they could “Hunker Down” as it is called, or did they just not have a place to go.  Attempting to evacuate any place requires finances.  There are so many people who are afraid to leave their homes, even after the warnings that water and electricity will be shut off in the city.   They are wanting to be near family, but they aren’t listening to all of their family.  They aren’t thinking about how others in their family want them to find safety.  They aren’t thinking about how they need to obey the police, the national guard, and the news’ warnings about Harvey awakening from his slumber only to bring more devastation.  Not only is more water a problem tornadoes are a threat too.

So many people want to leave, but they can’t. A daughter wanting to leave and save herself and her children, but her older mother not wanting to leave or not physically being able to just get up and go.  A son in the same situation choosing to stay because their older mother refuses to go.  What do these adult children do?  It’s not fair!  When can we say to parents, “Well I’m looking out for me and mine?”  Or does this approach sound too selfish? Yet isn’t the parent being selfish in not wanting to be helped or to listen to their child?

So many people are trying to figure out why this is happening.  I don’t know why and as of right now I don’t care.  I just know it is happening.   I don’t care if this is a storm created by the Elite to once again attempt to wipe out those that are considered less than due to their financial situation, race, or age; or if this is a natural storm that is happening due to it being Hurricane Season.  These people have lost everything.  All they pretty much have are the wet clothes they are currently wearing and hopefully some shoes.  Infants and pets are confused and everyone is in desperate places.  People’s homes and livelihoods have been destroyed.  God please help us!

Here is my prayer and I ask you readers to pray it too: God, please hear our prayer.  No matter if this is a man-made storm or one created by nature, please hear the cries of your people.  I know that all things work together for your good, and we don’t always understand why things happen when they do, but please make the rain and Harvey go away.

There are 50 more inches of rain to come…Prayers going out to the people of Rockport, Corpus Christi, Houston, Dickinson, League City, Webster, Pasadena, Pearland, Friendswood, Manvel, Alvin, LaMarque, Sugarland, Fort Bend, Galveston, Katy, Spring, Aransas Pass, Bay City, and every city and family affected by Hurricane Harvey.

All pictures curtesy of Yahoo Images and The Weather Channel