When you live in Texas, especially near the Texas Gulf Coast. you know what you are getting yourself into.  Tornados; yup, we got those.  Thunderstorms; oh yeah. Flash floods; absolutely. Hurricanes; not uncommon. Earthquakes; nope. Landslides; not really. Sink holes; occasionally.

This hurricane, this mess that is Harvey, he was a real (please forgive the language) bastard to Texas.

I am not much of a news person. I hate hearing about all the negative and dire situations that are happening in our world. However, I will say that I have spent most of the last week glued to the news, local, not national. We have seen people from Louisiana, Kentucky, Florida, California, Colorado, Alabama, Arkansas and even New York (among other places) come to render aid to the greater Houston area.

Houston is huge. Seriously, it’s got like 6 million people who live here over something like 1700 square miles. That’s bigger than Rhode Island with twice the population of Manhattan (here’s an interesting link). Actually, Those numbers are just for Harris County. It would be impossible to evacuate 6 million people. Seriously, Google “Hurricane Rita Evacuation Photos” and see the photos of the roads. It was not pretty. And a 100 people died in that mess.

This storm, this monster, hit the quaint and beautiful town of Rockport on the Texas Gulf Coast. Harvey didn’t leave much behind him (click the link if you want to see the destruction). He destroyed SO much in this laid-back town. I have friends that are displaced from their homes in Rockport that just don’t know what to do or where to go.

Now, we knew that we were going to be on the “dirty” side of the storm, and honestly, I don’t think anyone knew that we were going to get inundated with 50+ inches of water.  Over 2000 square miles.  Most of it in less than 48 hours.  There are graphics out there with totals, graphs, visuals, whatever you want to see, just google it (here’s one).

What I want to talk about right now is the love, compassion and outreach that Houston received. Today is Day 7; it’s Friday.  Is it important to note the day of the week? Yes. And this is why – it all bled together. The weather was grey, and when your news station is broadcasting 24 hours a day, it gets hard to keep up with it. In the last 7 days, I have seen countless acts of heroism, selflessness, generosity, faith and love. Fair warning, This post is going to be a little long.

I have friends who lost just about everything they own.  I have friends who had anywhere from 2 to 6 feet of water in their homes. I have friends who found pets in water, on cars and wandering in streets.  And I have friends who spend the storm dry, with power and plenty of food (I am included in that).

If you don’t know, my family is very active in Boy Scouts.  I have 3 sons, 2 of them are Eagle Scouts and my youngest in on that path.  My hubby is the Scoutmaster of our Troop.  Sunday night, my hubby, my youngest son and my cousin took our inflatable raft about a mile down the road to a subdivision that was flooding.  They rescued 6 families that night.  They met up with some of the sheriff’s and they worked the deep parts of the neighborhood and our band of 3 worked the shallower parts.  They did this until it was dark and they couldn’t see anymore.

In the days followed, our Scout Troop mobilized.  Both the Scouts and their parents began working in different ways to help our community.  A temporary shelter was made at two of the local high schools.  We volunteered there with helping with donations, shuttling people from the boat drop off point to the school, and many other things.  That was Monday.  Tuesday, some were at the shelters, some began helping to move people and things around.  Wednesday, when the rain was beginning to slow and the water was starting to recede, our Scouts began to help with demolition and removal in homes of people we know, churches and even helped to make sure that donations were getting to the right place.  Thursday and today (Friday), our Scouts are needed at a lot of places.  We have a huge list of places that help is needed at and we are going and working to help our neighbors start a new.
Taking a step back from all of the activity and looking in, I can say that I have never been more happy to be a Texan.  I, personally, have sheltered in place for several hurricanes, many a tropical storm, and tropical depressions.  I’ve been here through excessive drought (my grass was crunchy) and then flash floods (my backyard was a lake).  This was the worst I have ever seen it.  The most damage I have ever seen so close to home.  The devastaion is unreal.  But at the end of the day, all the families were safe and intact.  They didn’t lose their lives, only their things. Those can be replaced.

I am grateful for all the citizens who got out their paddle-boards, kayaks, canoes, inflatable boats, jet skis, fishing boats and regular boats to help everyone.  It was truly a site to behold seeing so many boats motoring along the freeways, the feeder roads and residential roads to get people to safety.  I have never seen so many floating “vehicles” in my life working toward a unified goal.  It was amazing.   I am also grateful for all the schools, churches, businesses and private residences that opened their doors to help those persons and animals who have been displaced by the storm.   Houston (and the surrounding areas) is huge, but in this instance, we all came together like a small community.  This is what should be remembered.  No one cared about your color, your political beliefs, your religion, your social standing.  In this instance we were all the same – people needing help.  I choose to see the humbling nature of this storm as a testament to the good that there is in people.  And while I won’t ignore the nasty people who are there to take advantage of those in need (i.e. the looters, the scammers and the con-men/women), I will always reflect back to this time as one of hope.

Hope for humanity.  Hope for the future.

I know there is a lot of hate out there and it’s being directed towards Texas, mostly to Houston, because everyone who doesn’t live here or even live in Texas then that we are all (language warning) dumb-asses who are hicks and rednecks and we don’t know how to do anything correctly.  I will say this to you:  Stop.  Look around were you live.  Do you think that your city could accommodate 50+ inches of rain in 3 days (click this link to see what it would look like on other states)? I don’t think any city could accommodate that with out flooding.  This natural disaster has nothing to do with our President, our political beliefs, who we have statues of or the fact that we live in a concrete jungle.   This was just a nasty bugger of a storm that would not dissipate quickly and decided to wreak havoc wherever it went.

It’s been a week since Harvey hit Rockport.  It’s been a week since so many lives were changed.  It’s been a rough week in so many ways.

But, my faith in the good in people is restored.  There have been so many acts of heroism in this past week that have gone without being shown on the news.  It’s not been unnoticed though.  Houstonians have noticed.  There are too many good stories to tell.  There are too many good stories to tell.  Just let that sink in for a little while.  In a time when people prefer to hear the bad side of the news, I’m going to reflect on the good side of it with all of these acts of compassion.  This is the world that I choose to live in, high water or not.  It’s a much better world to be a part of.