In the past month, there have been uncommonly many devastating natural disasters in Central America and the Gulf of Mexico, from a barrage of Atlantic hurricanes to a deadly earthquake in southern Mexico.
Here at WS, students find themselves at the end of September with one month of school behind them and little to worry about in the way of bad weather, but over one thousand miles to our Southwest the state of Texas is still recovering from August’s Hurricane Harvey, the first in this string of disasters.
The hurricane flooded much of Southeast Texas, including the region’s major urban center, Houston, where approximately 40,000 homes were destroyed. While this disaster physically occurred far away from Northern Virginia, its impact is still felt here by family members of those who have lost their homes and possessions in Texas.
One WS family member of those who were affected in Texas is junior Parker Brown, whose uncle’s father and mother’s house was totally flooded. Luckily, both of them had evacuated from their suburban Houston neighborhood before the flooding began. Unfortunately, all of their belongings could not be recovered.
“They lost all their furniture, all their photos, valuables, antiques, everything they cared about. It’s really sad,” said Brown.
As many other Southeastern Texans, Brown’s relatives did not have flood insurance as there was little precedent for such extreme weather conditions in the area.
“It’s heartbreaking, really,” Brown said.
WS English teacher Deena Johnson’s family members living in the Houston area were also heavily affected by the hurricane. Johnson’s brother Eric, and his wife, had just moved into their new house two weeks prior to the hurricane, unaware of the high extent to which their area was at risk of flooding during the storm.
Fortunately, by the time of the flooding a rescue helicopter was available to save Eric and his wife.
“He and his wife had to be airlifted out of their neighborhood,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, they lost mostly everything in their home along with their two cars.”
While Johnson’s family members did escape with their lives and found a place to stay with family, they do face the reality that practically all of their belongings have been lost.
“Being airlifted as they were, they could only escape with the clothes on their backs and their two dogs, Tiger and JJ,” said Johnson.
The Johnson family in Texas, like so many others, applied for assistance from FEMA, which will hopefully help restore their lives in the months following this tragedy.
“I am extremely grateful that my family suffered no loss of life as a result of this hurricane,” said Johnson. “My heart bleeds for those who did.”