School begins tomorrow, September 11. We already had our first day of school on August 21 (The day of the Lunar Eclipse), but that week was cut short by Hurricane Harvey. Thursday, August 24, was the last day of school for that week. My family escaped to Dallas that night, but many people in our community and families of the students that I teach decided to stay and “hunker down”. We left Thursday night. We didn’t know if the hurricane would be truly devastating as they were mentioning on The Weather Channel, not the local news, but we didn’t want to be around if things were catastrophic. Thank God for using my Husband and pressing in him the urge to leave, because things did get bad….
In the area where I teach, it is near a subdivision titled Hidden Lakes. Every time there is a hard rainfall, these “hidden” lakes come out and with this hurricane many people are now thinking about moving. There is another neighborhood that many of my students live in, that was flooded as well. This section of housing already had people living there that didn’t have much, so these students probably won’t return to this particular school anytime soon. They may have gone to live with people or are in shelters that are in a completely different area with higher elevation. Tomorrow I may be walking into a class, with a completely different group of students. Many of which will probably not return.
I thank God that even though there is a lake not too far from my backyard, that water didn’t get into my home. On our back porch, there is a water line that shows how far the water reached. Praise God! My mother-in-law’s home was flooded, but thankfully she has Flood Insurance and assistance from FEMA which is going to help take care of a lot of things she lost and repair damage to the house. She and my sister-in-law have been staying with us, until things are situated. Unfortunately, hotels in the area are packed, and from what I understand, FEMA is only allowing people to stay in the hotels for about a week. I don’t understand how helpful that is, but I also don’t know the complete story to that.
My brother-in-law and his wife were trying to evacuate from Hurricane Irma. They live around Ft. Lauderdale. Due to lack of gas and the amount of people leaving at the same time, they ended up being stuck in Orlando. They do have a hotel and hopefully what they say about the lack of traffic movement is true. He hasn’t been the guy we know that is always ready and on the move concerning hurricanes, since he has moved down there. He’s been very lackadaisical about Irma…. Last night/Early this morning Irma came ashore….
I feel so bad for all of the people that have lost their things. Yes, it’s just things, but people cared about those things. They meant something to them. Many of those things cannot be replaced. Pictures, family heirlooms, favorite shirts, computers, homes…these are things that cannot be recovered. They can be replaced, but not recovered. These people will only have the memory of having these things…. I hurt for those that lost loved ones. May God be with you. I hope that all the money that is being donated to various charities for all of the devastation these hurricanes have brought, will truly be given to the people that are needing help to reconstruct their lives. People’s livelihoods have been washed away, literally. I hope that peace and stability is restored to these people as quickly as possible.
Kat's Eye View 
From the Heart
LikeLike