“It’s interesting, emotionally speaking you’re watching the weather outside and the news on the Tv, at the same time, sitting there seeing complete devastation, feeling the desperation and seeing all these helpless people. “ Said Travis Welch, local resident of Houston,Texas.

Hurricane Harvey was a category three hurricane, that swept through Texas, Belize, Louisiana, Nicaragua, Honduras, Windward Islands, and many other southern states between August 17th and September 3rd.

According to the “New York Times” as of September 6th,  a total of 71 fatalities were confirmed.  

As reported by  local residents, this unfortunate outcome was not originally  expected.

“Initially I was not concerned. We have lived in Houston for 10 years now and  have been through several hurricanes as well as a number of recent storms that caused significant flooding and  we never had any issues.” Said Bridget Welch, local resident in Houston.

As the Hurricane hit Houston, Bridget’s initial “happy-go lucky” feeling rapidly changed.
“After the storm, I felt very unsettled. While our home and neighborhood was untouched, it was difficult to see so many people lose so much with nowhere to go. It made me sad that we as humans don’t consider the environmental impact our building and city development practices have.” Said Bridget

Bridget and Travis Welch, who are husband and wife, live in the “Houston Heights”,which is 2 miles west of downtown Houston, and is is the oldest community in Houston, which was established in the early 1800s. The “Houston Heights”, is 30 feet above the rest of Houston, in a “non- flood zone”,so fortunately for the Welches, they did not suffer any physical damage in their area.

In comparison, not everyone was as lucky as the Welches. A friend of the Welches, Tim Herron, who lives in Northwest Houston, suffered an abundant amount of damage.

“ As soon as I went into his house,we tore out the drywall, insulation and completely gutted the first floor.” Explained Travis Welch.  

In addition to physical destruction on Herron’s house, it also destructed Herron emotionally, as well as many others.

“Tim was a co-worker of ours we met years ago. He has always been a confident and decisive man. He was a high level employee in his company responsible for large construction projects managing many people. He was an entirely different person the two days we helped him. I was surprised to see him very shattered, unable to make decisions, and when he could make decisions they weren’t necessarily the best choice. He was truly saddened and overwhelmed.” Said Bridget.

After helping their friend, Herron, the Welches didn’t stop there.   

“We learned that the Red Cross had an easy system to collect donations. We donated  blankets, pillows, and water to Saint Lukes, our local church. From there, drivers from these various collection places drove to the Red Cross, which was located in the downtown Houston area, in a convention center. We made runs and took wheel chairs and Penicillin to the convention center which is, “The George R Brown Convention Center”,and is almost 2 million square feet in size.” Said Travis

As the Welches made runs to drop supplies off from Saint Lukes, to the convention center, they were shocked at  what they came across there.

“People were just donating everything. There was just mountains of blankets, mountains!” Explained Travis.

Along with the mountains of blankets, there was also a massive amount of refugees, at the convention center.

“ In a 1,800,000 square foot building, there was a reported 10,000 refugees living there. That’s  180 square foot per person to put it perspective. That’s 10,000 people displaced from their homes and plus all  the aids helping out in a cramped environment. It says a lot.  It was very eye opening for how reliant on the aids and the charities helping them out.” Said Travis

Even weeks after Harvey, the Houston community is still struggling to rebuild.  
“ Being out in greater houston feels different nearly three weeks after. Less traffic, people feel guilty going out to eat or getting their nails done, though the businesses need people to come back. Small inconveniences like road closures are still in place, and our recycling not being picked up because the resources are still working on storm clean-up.”

      As the devestation has affected the community in many ways, it has also affected the wildlife. 

    “Parks, like our favorite Buffalo Bayou, that thousands use everyday, were once green and beautiful, are now brown and muddy still from being entirely flooded and can’t be used. The city just seems quieter and sadder  as a whole.” Said Bridget