The pictures coming out of
Texas beginning last weekend, and over the past few days have been
heartbreaking. To see some small towns practically demolished, and the streets
of Houston with waist to chest deep water—and rising—is beyond shocking. Entire
neighborhoods will have to be leveled, I think. You can’t have homes submerged
for so long a period in so much contaminated water, and hope they’ll dry out and
be fine. You just can’t.
The disaster that was
Hurricane, and now Tropical Storm Harvey truly is unlike any storm we’ve ever
seen. Usually a hurricane comes, rages for a day or so, and then goes away. The
cost in human lives can be counted almost immediately. When I awoke this
morning, it was to news that the death toll had reached 18, doubling overnight.
The authorities fear that number will climb, once the water drains away.
Hurricane Katrina stole 1,836 lives. We can only pray that is a number never to
be matched or exceeded.
In addition to the deaths,
thousands of people have and are going through hell. Thousands have escaped with
their lives, but have lost everything they possess, save the clothes on their
backs. Some arrived at the shelters, shoeless. For the person experiencing it,
losing everything is more than a shock, it’s a violation—very similar to the
kind of violation one would feel after a physical attack. It’s happened to us
twice, through fire, so I know a little of what these people are
feeling.
The Houston police chief, Art
Acevedo said during the telephone interview that I listened to Monday morning,
that he feared the worst was yet to come, and his words have proven true. All of
the water brought by the rainfall and flooding in south east Texas will head to
the Gulf via Houston. There are over 6 million people in the metropolitan
Houston area, a number far too high to have tried to evacuate, given the
propensity for flash flooding on many of the roadways leading out of the area. A
family of 6 was lost, having perished attempting to evacuate their flooded
home.
The Army Corps of Engineers had
to release water from two Houston dams into the Buffalo Bayou on Monday morning.
This was done to prevent uncontrollable flooding of the Houston Metropolitan
area, and to keep the dams from failing. It was a measure taken much sooner than
originally planned, because the water in the reservoirs rose so quickly. Some
people were not yet flooded until the gates of the reservoirs were opened. And
even so, one of those dams, built in the 1930s, still breached it’s banks,
spilling water into areas that had previously escaped flooding.
A category 4 Hurricane with no
“steering currents” gathering last minute strength from the unusually warm
waters of the Gulf of Mexico, coming ashore and lingering, wreaking havoc and
with the potential for unprecedented rainfall—well, there was simply no real
play book to follow for this crisis. They are writing the book for this one as
they go along. Another blessing? There was no storm surge in the Houston
area.
This is going to be a very long
recovery for the people of south east Texas, and especially, it would seem, for
the people of Houston. The storm has moved on but the water will continue to
bring heartache until it eventually drains away. What the water hid will then be
revealed and the true recovery can begin. Only six days of Harvey, but the
rebuilding, the mending of lives, and of spirits, the reconstruction of
neighborhoods—that is going to take years.
The one bright light throughout
this disaster has been watching neighbors helping neighbors, and strangers
helping strangers. People came from far and wide, brought their own boats, and
just got to work. Much has been written about the great divide within the United
States these days; and yet I am certain no one offering help inquired if the
person in need of that help was a democrat or a republican. They didn’t care
what color their skin was, or if they might be an immigrant or native born. In
the midst of the chaos named Harvey, all those people were Texans, and they were
Americans—they were brothers and sisters. And while this tragedy has been hard
to watch, and clearly even harder to endure, the affirmation of the greatest of
the values for which America stands, has been something we all needed to see—and
more, something we all need to emulate.
There are ways we all can help
the people devastated by Harvey. Canadians can donate money through the Canadian
Red Cross. Here is a link to the designated page on their website: http://www.redcross.ca/about-us/red-cross-stories/2017/red-cross-responds-to-devastation-caused-by-hurricane-harvey
The American Red Cross is, of
course, involved in providing assistance. In addition, here is a list I found of
resources in need of various donations, for my American friends who want to
help: https://www.yahoo.com/news/help-victims-tropical-storm-harvey-212340221.html
You don’t have to give a lot;
you might think your five dollars won’t help, but it will. Your five dollars
added to the five dollars of thousands of other people means thousands of
dollars times five will flow and be used to help put people’s lives back
together again.
In the meantime, let’s all send
positive thoughts and prayers for the people affected by this disaster. The
people of Texas are resilient. They will get through this, and come out
stronger. I truly believe this to be so.
Love,
Morgan
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