Hurricane Harvey, Social Media and Volunteers
By Kavika,
I have been following Hurricane Harvey with more than a passing interest. I spend the winters in Port Aransas and I'm considered a ''Winter Texan''....Two different times in my working career I have lived in DFW and Houston areas.
Friends have sent me photos of the home that I stay in during the winter season and it survived with only missing shingles and some water damage from a leaking roof. Yet right next door the house there was a 100% loss. Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, Rockport and surrounding small communities took a direct hit from Hurricane Harvey. The devastation is overwhelming. The Mayor of Rockport has stated that the town has no infrastructure left it was all destroyed.
Of particular interest to me was the Marine Center in Port Aransas which rehabilitates sea birds, turtles etc and does an outstanding job. I'm hoping that they were able to protect the critters that need help.
Port Aransas is the winter destination of the rare Whooping Crane, only 500 or so are left in the world and the migratory flock leaves from northern Canada and returns to Port Aransas area every year. How will they be affected, I have no idea but am hoping for the best.
I've posted many photo of the varied bird life in the area and am hoping that they survived and their nesting areas were not completely destroyed.
That takes me to what I saw on various newscasts over the past few days. Houston is in a crisis that is ongoing with the rain surpassing all records, creeks, rivers, lakes and reservoirs are overflowing their bank and causing widespread destruction. More rain is due throughout the week.
There is no way a city can be prepared for this type of storm. Which takes me to the social media and volunteer part. The police and all the various city and county departments were overwhelmed. The call went out on social media (twitter, FB etc) the response was magnificent, the people of Texas responded and a small army of private boats, trucks, and other high water vehicles began arriving. Social media was being used to save lives. The upside of today's communication.
Watching this unfold on TV I saw duck boats, flat bottom bayou boats, bass boats and every imaginable device showing up. They would answer calls from people stranded in their homes with no way from them to get to safety. They patrolled neighborhoods looking for people stranded. One guy brought in a dump truck another a front loader.
In a way it reminded me of ''Dunkirk'' when a small navy of private boats of every size and description braved the English Channel to rescue the British soldiers at Dunkirk. A bit dramatic you say, not in the least. This small navy of private boats rescued hundreds and when I went to bed last night they were still out there. More rain fell last night and will continue to fall making the disaster something that we have never seen before.
I was watching when a young man brought his flat bottom boat from the area he lived in, which was about a hour away and became part of the ''rescue navy''. Later he was joined by a reporter as they went through neighborhoods looking for people to help. His name was Austin and he had a reporter and cameraman with him. They heard noise coming from a home and Austin brought his boat right up to the front door. What they discovered was a very elderly couple with their middle aged daughter stuck there. The mother had dementia and the father was very weak. They went to work and rescued all three of them. What really struck me was that the reporter had the cameraman turn off the camera when they were going to bring out the mother who had dementia, they were not sure how she would be reacting and he wanted to be sure that she was treated with respect and not a spectacle for the news. Kudos to Austin the reporter and cameraman.
Austin said he would be in the devastated area for as long as it took to rescue people.
I imagine we'll see more of this over the next few day as the rain continues to fall.
Many states have responded to Texas need, aid from as far away as California and NY is heading to the Lone Star state, with many other states joining in to help Texas.
Kudos to the ''rescue navy'' of volunteers and to all the agencies that are doing a great job in the face of something that you would only see in a horror movie.
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To all our Texas residents on NT...Stay safe.
I expect a fairly high death toll, as the waters reach such unprecedented levels. I can't imagine being in my home and suddenly having the water come up to the attic-- although my family lived through this in the 1937 flood. Those stories have always been a part of my childhood.
My prayers and good wishes to to the people in Texas, and I hope they can be rescued and safe. Such a sad state of affairs!
We once had 20" of rain here in Louisville overnight, and it took weeks for the water to recede and perform even a general cleanup. Weeks. After the '37 flood, people had water in their basements for over a year. It's just too much to deal with. I hope that we send them drinking water from our water company, and help.
The continuing rainfall is going to continue to cause a lot more damage, Dowser.
I know... Not to mention that it will take a bit, after the rain stops, for all the runoff to reach the streams, etc. And the water table will rise, like above people's basements, etc., for a long time.
I really feel sorry for the people there.
the very best way to deal with a hurricane is to live where they dont hit. I learned.
Over 10 years ago I got out of a hurricane zone with everything I ever worked for.
These folks didn't.
I'm glad you did. But don't think you're safe just because you're inland. Hurricane Ike came up the Mississippi to the Ohio River and wiped us out... For 10 days we had flooding, which lasted a LONG time, and no power... We lost a lot of our beautiful trees, too..
Believe me I know. one of the times I evacuated Florida a damn hurricane followed me inland for two days.
But I moved to where there is no natural disasters to worry about. I had had it with thinking about them. 17 years was more than enough. I felt lucky to get out with everything I ever worked for. Millions don't.
Where is the place that has no natural disasters ?
Phoenix Arizona. Hot summers, beautiful winters and NO natural disasters.
Haboobs ?
Forest fires, drought, flash floods and dust storms....Arizona has them all steve.
I live in the middle of the city in the desert I highly doubt I have to worry about a wildfire, a drought, a flood or a dust storm destroying everything I have or killing me. I think I'm pretty save right where I am. In fact I'll bet about 13 million people in texas would change places with me in a heartbeat today.
True AZ is rated low for natural disaster, but they do happen....I burned my hand touching the hood of my car in August.
I'll take that over watching everything I worked for my whole life getting destroyed in a natural disaster.
Every year I was in Florida I woke up 6 months out of the year watching the weather to make sure a hurricane was not on the horizon. Now I dont care. I love it !!
That was a joke steve.
We New Yorkers come together in a time of need. Over 120 volunteers from the NTPD and the FDNY are in transit to Texas with equipment as we speak.
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The New York Task Force-1 team made up of NYPD and FDNY members prepares to assist with Hurricane Harvey rescue. Also Gov Cuomo is sending NY's national guard over to help.
It's times like these that our nation comes together. NY sees Texas as our brothers and sisters in need. This is the way it should always be.
We're deploying troops to help out, and several major corporations here in the city have made substantial donations. Maybe that will help some, anyway!
A flood rescue team left Renton at 1:00 pm PDT today by air. My understanding is one left Salem Oregon at about the same time.
A disaster recovery team is also preparing to leave next week.
Hang in there....
Help is on the way.
Update. The volunteer boat captain, Austin was interviewed this morning. He is back in his town because the flood is heading their way...
I hope he can get his family to safety. WHAT a nightmare!
There are no words to describe what is happening to millions of people. Horrible!
My sister and her daughter , who live in San Antonio, signed up on line Friday night to be volunteers in Red Cross shelters there. Saturday morning they went downtown and waited in line for two hours before being told they werent needed, they already had enough people.
Many people are volunteering in the disaster area.
That is good to hear JR...The volunteers are making a big difference in the services being rendered to those in need.
Bless all of those that are helping these unfortunate victims of Harvey! My brother lives in Texas, but just out of reach of Harvey... What a sigh of relief when I was able to get through to him.
Good to hear that he's out of the path of Harvey and the flooding Nona.
I just received an e-mail from him saying that they have moved into a hotel because of flooding near by.....
They are safe, and that's what matters. Thank Prez!!
I've been watching and it is truly touching that Americans, from every walk of life are responding and helping their fellow citizens. It's a pleasure to see.
There are those who think this is a great time to get their 15 minutes of fame: a friend sent me a video last night of some black guy sending out a plea for black boat owners because white boat owners were refusing to rescue black people. From everything I've seen exactly the opposite is happening, but some people need to turn everything into a cause (their own cause).