Old chestnut but seems to apply. Man sitting on top of his house and the waters keep rising. Boat comes to rescue him and the man says, “The Lord will save me!” Waters keep arising. Second boat comes and again the man says, “The Lord will save me!”
Third boat, same story. Finally the house starts collapsing and as he is swept away the man cries out to the Lord, “Lord, I trusted in you. Why didn’t you save me,” and the Lord replied, “I sent three boats!!!”
My wife’s cousin lives in Houston and is just a stone throw away from some major flooding. He has been volunteering with rescue efforts the past couple of days. He also took the time to board up his uncles fishing house in Seadrift (between Houston and Corpus Christi) before Harvey hit. Here is his account of the efforts yesterday ...
Houston rescue day two. I jumped on a complete strangers boat and we took off, it was fiberglass. We did clip a concrete business park sign as one point with minimal damage to the hull. Other boats are bouncing off cars, mailboxes etc. There was a assisted living center on Cypresswood and Champions that needed evacuating, I think it was the Conservancy. About 150 elderly people in various forms of shape, healthy walking and wheelchair bound. The facility had about a foot or two of water in it and the residents were all on the higher floors.
Not sure how many volunteers we had but there was a parade of boats there to assist them and in a strange form of chaotic organization we got it done. Everything from searching dark hallways with flashlights and finding confused residents, to carrying wheelchairs with occupants down the stairs as well as loading them on boats and organizing the boat traffic.
I met a lot of people who were from out of town and came to help with boats of all sizes. It was even more humbling to see so many people come together to assist out of kindness and nothing more. As we pulled the boat out there were at least 20 more boats waiting in line to launch.
For the locals, we launched at Stuebner Airline and went south to Cypress wood and turned right. It is flooded to the tops of the roadsigns. In one of the videos you can see an apartment complex and St Ignatious Church, both flooded. One thing I thought I would never say in a boat is turn right at the stoplight.
Lots of people need lots of help, I am not sure what folks from out of town can do to help, the shelters have been asking for the usuals, from clothing to food. I don’t suggest anyone try and come to Houston, the roads are already clogged and impassible in some spots.
Luckily my family is still dry and safe. We will see what tommorrow brings, thank you to everyone that has checked in with me and my family.
There are some pictures and videos at the link, but I don’t know if it will work for any of you. Feel free to try it...
https://www.facebook.com/curtis.dybala/posts/1705412956158676