Lessons Learned from Hurricane Harvey

Lessons Learned from Hurricane Harvey

One year ago, Hurricane Harvey unleashed unprecedented fury on our community here in Texas. The anniversary has brought back the stress and trauma we experienced back into the present. This storm caused $125 BILLION in damages, second only to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some parts of the Houston area were hit with over 50 inches of rain!

I have never in my life been so frightened and worried for my friends, community, and my family. Feeling helpless to stop the water and watching it rise is something I will never forget. As with everything that happens to me, I look for the life lessons, and I’ll share them with you!

Lessons Learned:

• One of the most important lessons learned was the value of having flood insurance, even if there isn’t a requirement to have it. It’s a relatively inexpensive way to protect yourself from water beyond your control. A large percentage of our neighborhood flooded, and I was told that only about 20% of homeowners actually had insurance in our neighborhood. It is easy to rack up home repairs over $60,000 with a catastrophe like this.

• Everyone learned how to look up the elevation of their house (and their friends and family’s homes). We were within inches of our home taking on water! So many others were not so lucky.

• This tragedy reinforced the value of family and friends. The lengths people went through to make sure we were safe touched my heart. We connected and bonded over playing games and getting creative in the kitchen (We couldn’t get to the stores.) We got out on foot and talked to our neighbors. We bonded over a shared experience that we never expected to be so bad.

• Heroes exist everywhere! I witnessed several boats going along our main streets to rescue people from their homes, with many coming from Louisiana as a part of their “Cajun Navy.” Our good friends watched a man descend from a helicopter to rescue them and help them wade in chest-high water with only a backpack per person and their dog swimming next to them.  Evacuees were placed on National Guard trucks and taken to our elementary school where droves of volunteers in big trucks brought families to safer places. A local furniture retailer opened his stores as a shelter. A Houston Texans’ football player made a plea to raise money, hoping to receive $200,000, but ended up with around $40 MILLION in donations!

• Most importantly, we live in such an incredible community! Children baked and delivered cookies to flooded neighbors. Meals and snacks were delivered to those helping with evacuations. Schools became shelters. High school football teams banded together to help with rescues and clean-up. Strangers helped muck out flooded homes. Some offered laundry services to displaced homeowners. Many went through dangerous, high, moving water to offer help to others. So many opened their homes, sometimes for months, while the victims dealt with the aftermath.

This outpouring of selfless generosity was astonishing! I am proud to be from a community that truly embraced one another in the face of a tragedy. Fast forward a year, and for the most part, life has returned to normal (even if it’s a new normal). We get a little worried when we get heavy rains (which is often in Houston) and watch the hurricane forecasts a little more closely, but I still believe we live in one of the most compassionate and generous places on earth. I still see heroes everywhere, but their acts are a bit less publicized. So many friends who have been sick or are recovering from surgery with meals, transportation, or child care. Many offer advice and services on our neighborhood forum. Several people I know have had their meals paid for them in drive-throughs, and they pay it forward to the next person.  So many donate their time and money to serving our area and making it better. Keep up the good work! I hope you are all blessed to live in a place like this, and if it isn’t, start a kindness revolution and watch your good deeds inspire others!