Memories of hurricanes past
Keep Helene’s victims in your prayers and send help
Steve and I came through Hurricane Helene without serious problems. The storm hooked east of us and spared our current residences while ironically tracking through my hometown in northeast Georgia.
The storm reminded me of a past experience that I wrote about in 2017 when we lived in Texas rode out Hurricane Harvey. That throwback follows. Enjoy it, but say a prayer for the people of Florida, east Georgia, and western North Carolina. I’m sure they would welcome donations and relief supplies as well. Food, clothing, tarps, and bleach for the flooded areas are invaluable after such a storm.
Most people have spent the weekend trying to get out of Houston. I’ve spent mine trying to go there.
In addition to being a contributor to the Resurgent, I’m also a professional pilot based at Houston’s Hobby airport. My flight schedule had me taking a trip out of Houston and all the way to Alaska on Thursday. I intended to return quickly.
We were watching Harvey, then a tropical storm, as I left. We stocked up on food, water and gasoline before I went to work and left my wife and children at our home in a small town northeast of Houston. We considered evacuating them, but they decided to stay home since the storm was forecast to hit in the Corpus Christi area, hundreds of miles away.
As it turned out, Harvey did not hit Houston directly, but the “dirty side” of the storm certainly did. For most of Saturday and Sunday, the storm’s bands hovered over Houston, barely moving, but dropping torrential rains. By Sunday night, my wife reported that our town had received 20.6 inches of rain. Forecasts indicate the possibility of another 20 inches to come over the next few days. Category 1 Harvey had turned into a monster.
Of course, my flight home was canceled. Over 24 hours of travel, the closest I could get to Houston and home was Dallas, where I sit in a hotel room writing this. Both of Houston’s primary airports are closed, as are most roads in the area.
My family is unable to evacuate at this point. We live on a county road and both ends are currently flooded. We are lucky in that our house is high and dry. Others are not so fortunate.
In the three years that I have lived in Texas, we have seen floods every year, but nothing like this. Texas storms are unlike those that I have seen anywhere else. It is not uncommon for a large storm system moving inland from the Gulf of Mexico to dump four to five inches of rain on our house within a matter of hours. Harvey dwarfs even these storms.
If there is a precedent for a hurricane to move ashore and simply sit over a city for days on end, I don’t know of it. A more normal storm would move inland and, cut off from the warm water that energizes it, slowly die. Harvey doesn’t seem to want to die.
Miracle of miracles, electric power and cell phone coverage seem to be intact in most areas. I have maintained contact with my family and checked on friends who are scattered around Houston’s immense metropolitan area. Social media has shown its value as people post road closings and reach out to bolster each other’s morale as the water rises. Some have been evacuated, most are sheltering in place. There is little choice but to shelter in place at this point unless you have access to a boat or a helicopter.
Houston is a flat area. Flooding is common even from much smaller storms than Harvey. There is simply nowhere for such large amounts of water to go. The situation will get worse. Water is being released from over-full reservoirs that will further swell the Houston-area rivers. The San Jacinto, the Trinity, the Brazos, the Colorado will all be swollen for weeks.
The indomitable Texas spirit shines through as Houston-area residents pull together to help one another. But, as independent as Texans are, the Lone Star State cannot cope with this disaster alone. Texas will need help to recover from Harvey.
With the area currently inaccessible, what Texas really needs right now is prayer. Thousands of people are stranded and in danger from the rising waters. Many more have lost their homes and possessions. Jobs are being lost as businesses flood. Rescue forces can’t reach everyone, but prayer can.
And still the rain continues. If the forecasts are right, it won’t stop for days.
Many in Texas are realizing what is really important. If you can escape the flood waters with your life and your family, you are blessed. Material things can be replaced. Lost lives cannot.
At times like this, we realize how fragile modern life can be. One day things are normal, the next can be a fight for survival. Man does not control his own destiny, no matter how we might pretend that we do. The forces of nature are far beyond our control. This is as true in modern America as it is anywhere else.
What we can be certain of is that God is control. The God who created the seas and walked on water can also calm the storm and make the floods recede.
Pray for my wife and children. Pray for Houston. Pray for Texas. Pray for America.
Back to current day: We eventually volunteered with a Red Cross shelter and distribution center in a local church. As I said, relief supplies are greatly appreciated. Some lost a lot and some lost everything. Some just need to know that the outside world has not forgotten them.
Glad to hear that you and Steve and your families are okay. I've been watching the news about Tennessee, and that flooding looks catastrophic.
"Man does not control his own destiny, no matter how we might pretend that we do. The forces of nature are far beyond our control. This is as true in modern America as it is anywhere else."
Powerful words David and it begs the question: Was it beyond our control? Not trying to suggest God isn't up there pulling strings, but ultimately we need ask; could we have done more? Done better?
I am not a climate change fanatic by any stretch of the imagination. I have come to believe we have played a role in the massive increase in the number of very large weather events taking place with each passing year.
What i do know is this: it has been folly for those who argue climate change is a Chinese hoax. Or, worse yet, governors who pass legislation to strike language from their documents so as to make them go away. Lunacy at its finest, but what the hell do i know?
In AZ this year, through Sept 12, the state has had just over 12 inches of rainfall (compare that to Harvey/Houston in 2017). Not unusual as we only average between 12-24 inches per year. Wild fires are our challenge but so far this year we've been lucky (or better prepared).
We have no children. If we did, i would be terrified for their future. Politics aside, It certainly appears as if God is angry at us for being such piss-poor caretakers of the planet.