Jan Wesner Childs
It's been almost exactly three years since Hurricane Harvey dumped an estimated 1 trillion gallons of water on Houston and surrounding areas, flooding more than 150,000 homes.
Some 96,000 of those were in the city, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Flooring, walls and furniture were soaked in water. Countless houses later filled with mold.
Many of those who lost their homes to Harvey are still struggling to fully rebuild.
"Some of us in this area ... we're just forgotten about," Houston resident Geneva Mitchell told KPRC-TV.
Mitchell and others are frustrated and angry over a city program set up in January 2019 to dole out more than $400 million in federal aid. More than 9,000 homeowners were invited to apply for assistance, according to Houston Public Media. By the end of July, fewer than 150 had been helped, the Associated Press reported.
Tropical Storm Laura could impact Houston and other parts of Texas this week, but forecasters say it'll be nothing like Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall on Aug. 26, 2017, near Rockport, Texas, as a Category 4 storm with winds up to 130 mph.
Landfall was just the beginning of Harvey's story – the storm hovered over land for days, dumping a record-breaking 61 inches of rain in parts of southeastern Texas.
More than 23 inches fell in parts of Houston over a two-day period. The flood control district in Harris County, where Houston is located, estimated that more than 1 trillion gallons of water poured from the sky in four days.
The storm caused more than $131 billion in damage, the second-costliest hurricane to ever make landfall in the U.S.
Lloyd Nelms was one of the thousands whose homes were destroyed or heavily damaged by the relentless flooding. Nelms wasn't able to get help from the city, so he turned to the state instead. His home was finally repaired this year, according to the AP.
"I lost hope in the city, but I didn’t lose hope in God," Nelms said.
Houston resident Lawrence Hester stands with his grandson on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, as he discussed the repairs taking place at his home to fix damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017.Lawrence Hester, 59, lived with three relatives in a home infested with black mold for more than two years after Harvey, using buckets from the dollar store to contain water from the leaky roof, he told the AP.
"Living in those conditions for so long, I felt like it was normal," Hester said.
Hester got help from a nonprofit called West Street Recovery. Work on his home is nearly complete, although a few minor repairs remain since the coronavirus pandemic halted construction.
As for why the rebuilding has taken so long, the city blames the state for failing to provide clear guidance on the rebuilding program. State officials, in turn, say the city is at fault. The dispute between the two sides has gone to court.
"The government is bickering over funding as far as who it belongs to, but it really belongs to the residents and the residents are still here waiting with hands empty," Julia Orduña, with Texas Housers, a nonprofit that works on housing issues, told the AP.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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