Here is a brief timeline of what happened to us during the hurricane:
Wednesday, August 23: I'm a stay-at-home mom who watches little news, so today was the first day I had even heard of "hurricane Harvey". The hurricane was gaining excitement quickly. I say "excitement" because many people around here were doing your typical freak out things like buying all the bottled water and bread off the shelf. No worries for us since we had planned to leave town for the weekend.
Thursday, August 24: I went to Emerson and Henry's preschool for a meet the teacher that morning. Again, lots of talk and excitement around the news. I was even a little sad we were going to be out of town to miss the "event". After all, we had never experienced a hurricane even though we had lived close to the Texas coast for six years. The teachers even had a delayed school start plan if anything were to happen. All us moms laughed as we knew NOTHING would stop us from getting our kids to school after a long summer break. Ha!
We left town right after the meeting to see my family for a final time before the baby came. I remember running by our house and pulling our garbage cans inside our backyard fence so our trash wouldn't flow down the street in case the water got a little high. In hindsight, what was I thinking???? This was the only flood prep we did. Again, we were clueless to the possibilities of true damage that could be caused.
As we drove out of town we saw tons of road sign warnings urging everyone to stay away from the Texas coast. I just smiled.
Friday, August 25: The day I was a little nervous, but not panicked about our home safety. Harvey made landfall on the Texas coast as a category 4 hurricane. News channels said this was the strongest hurricane to hit the United States in more than a decade. It devastated areas like Rock Port, Corpus Christie and other coastal towns along the gulf coast.
Saturday, August 26: The hurricane hit our home town of Katy hard. Flooding has begun and the town experienced several tornado warnings. I started staying in touch with our neighbors for updates. Meanwhile, we are trying to enjoy our family time in Oklahoma, but really it was very stressful on us being so far away and helpless. We just kept saying "what if" or " if only". What if we'd just taken the time to unplug things, or move things upstairs. If only I'd moved those photo albums! My mind was racing with what might be safe and what was going to be lost.
Sunday, August 27: We woke up to the horrible news and full realization of how much damage Harvey had created. Several were dead, thousands of homes lost, and no end to flooding was in sight. Unlike most hurricanes, Harvey was just sitting on top of Houston and not moving on through. This is the day we had planned to go back home, so it was hard to mentally wrap our minds around not being able to go home and even if we could, what would we go home to?
Monday, August 28: We hear from our neighbors that the water has entered all of our homes. By this point, most all my neighbors that I had been in communication with were being boat rescued. We lose all contact around what is happening to our home.
(not our home, but our neighbors)
Tuesday, August 29: The silence and unknown is unbearable, so we drive to Austin to stay with friends and be as close to home as possible. We needed to regroup. Unfortunately we learn it could be several weeks before we are even able to enter our home. It has finally sunk in that we are homeless and will be displaced for many months...and yet so many more unknowns to come. Today was hard.
Thursday, August 31: We load up on supplies while in Austin and head back to Katy to stay with friends. Today was the first day we see the flooding in our area, but still couldn't get to our home to assess our personal damage.
What happens next is a turning point...our first signs of hope.
Saturday, September 2: Our home is still not accessible by car and the roads surrounding our neighborhood are being blocked by National Guard, but Jesse and another friend were able to walk in by foot, some places were chest deep in water. The water had receded from our home and was now just in the yard. We confirm we had about 16 inches of water in our home. This was actually the first piece of good news we received!
(leftover muck on the floor)
In the next coming days we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the people in our church, friends, family, co-workers and community. We start gutting our home and eliminating the threat of mold.
September 8: I see our home for the first time since the water had receded from our neighborhood. It was hard, but good for me to emotionally process.
The week of September 24: Rebuilding our home has begun! We had family, friends and our church family there supporting us and helping us start the rebuild process.
Present time: Everyday brings new challenges, and exciting changes and hope. I feel as though the most stressful time is behind us. Through all of this, we have seen Gods people at work and have seen the blessings flow down upon us. I reminded that God allows tragedy to happen, but he also suffers and mourns with us through the journey. We are using this experience to become stronger in our faith and learn how to help others.
