Hurricane Harvey Update: Meeting Refugees

I hadn't posted an update since we left my home on Tuesday. The levels of the Brazos River had passed the records of the 100 year flood we had experienced last year. We were now looking at 800 year-record level flooding, as well as reaching maximum capacity for the levy to break. This would leave my entire area in the flood map. This was the first time in my adult life that I've had to pack considering that everything could change in an instant. If the levy should break I might not have much of a home to come back to, and I was leaving as if I might never return. I brought clothes and my guitar. I figured everything else in the house could go to hell along with the river.

I almost couldn't get out of the neighborhood. The road that the man was standing on in the image above was my only way out. The road behind my house had fallen into a sinkhole, and highway 59 was my only means of getting across. Police were blocking off the ramp as border patrol pulled up with a boat for water rescues. We decided to weave around them and go south, not knowing what further flooding we would encounter, and turn back around going north on the highway crossing the river.

My heart was bleeding for my town and everyone displaced by this horrible storm. On Wednesday I got the chance to volunteer at the local high school that was functioning as a shelter. They were full to the max with donations after our community rose to the occasion. I saw sorted piles of food, toiletries, baby items, towels, clothes, blankets, all spread out and organized on cafeteria tables. People slept in the gyms on cots and air mattresses with blankets and could get food or supplies as needed. The gym showers were monitored so that people could utilize the shower schedule safely. I swung by the clinic, where the nurses were cheerful to say they would be open 24/7 if anyone needed assistance. Red Cross employees floated between areas making sure everything was running smoothly and interacting with people, putting a smile on faces as they could.

I was assigned to monitor the family gym from 8 PM to midnight. Towards lights-out, we moved back mountains of toys to the back wall, all donations to keep the children occupied while staying in the shelter and waiting for FEMA placement. From what I'd been hearing, people were getting turned out and into housing fairly quickly.

I sat next to the door after lights-out as some people came and went. I was touched by how some of them reached out, saying, "Thank you volunteers, we feel very safe here." I spoke with a man from Bay City who was forced to evacuate. He seemed very carefree, sitting next to us with coffee and a donut in some comfy pajamas and socks telling us the story, but I know not everyone felt the same.

We had helped a mother and several children to their beds, carrying a box of clothes she'd picked out of the donations for them. She managed to get them settled for bed and I showed her to the restrooms where she could change her clothes for the night. On the way back in I heard her say, "Let's see if I can get some sleep. I doubt it." This was the harsh reality. These people's lives have been turned upside down in the matter of an instant with no certainty as to what tomorrow holds.

At the same time, I've never been more proud of where I come from. Signs outside the shelter said that they were at maximum capacity for donations as well as volunteers. They had full shifts after the one I attended, and many shelters around the city were turning people away because they had too many there to help. Several have opened up their businesses to house those displaced by flooding. People are helping restore homes where the water has subsided. Celebrities have managed to raise millions of dollars for hurricane relief. My amazing cousin Sidney Ortega managed to raise several thousand dollars overnight (almost $13k to date) with her Texas Strong t-shirts with proceeds going directly to the Red Cross. At 24 years-old I have truly seen what it means to be #TexasStrong