Hurricane Harvey

 

My disclaimer for this blog post is, i’m physically and mentally tired…so i’m not capitalizing my i’s – you’ll be ok. and this is my therapy…typing it out. i really don’t care if anyone reads it 🙂 yes, that is how i feel today!

the last 4 days have been hell for some, easy for others and in between for most. I experienced Harvey in a different way with flooding up to 3 feet in my garage and foyer steps. Thank goodness for my townhouse being elevated and the rains to lighten up

trapped – the feeling was trapped. i couldn’t figure out what to do first after i had realized i had water in my house and up to my front porch step. and out the driveway into the road, it looked like a lake, a continuous lake. it was unbelievable.

i haven’t even paid my first mortgage payment.

I met my neighbors through this – Salima and Karim and their 17 year old daughter. My other neighbors, Olga, her husband who i can’t recall his name, but he’s cutting our shared grass plot right now, and their 2 kids Lex (5), Nina (3). and they just brought me a gingerbread man cookie 🙂

I learned several things since Hurricane Harvey hit on Friday night. i’m going to list them at the end as they may come in handy for you in the future with a storm. I hope not, but just in case. here’s my chronology of my journey through the hurricane.

On Saturday before the rains hit and while the Hurricane was making landfall, i scurried to the grocery store. I was traveling the whole week before as Harvey was developing and finding its path to Texas and turned into a Hurricane from a Tropical Storm. i was not prepared. I didn’t have water. I didn’t have a strong flashlight. I didn’t have bread, fruit, dry goods, canned goods, deli meat, avocados, etc. But had a successful attempt at the grocery store, choosing what was left on the shelves. not a great plan. don’t recommend it. But hey,  i got my 6 miles in, as i’m training for a half marathon in October. The storms were getting worse as the day went on and rains heavy. I laid my head down that night and just said the serenity prayer….things i can control and things i can’t.

On Sunday i woke up at 815 when my dad called me. i usually don’t sleep that late but i was up at 2, 4 and 6 with the loud thunderstorms, and heavy loud rain. oh my-lanta is what i said when i ran down my 3 sets of stairs. it flooded. i have to call you back. he prayed with me and i went into a survival fix it mode. what can i do – i don’t have sandbags…i don’t have enough towels to absorb the nasty water i saw in my foyer. i looked out the window to see water for days. i realized i had so much stuff in my storage closet on the first floor and still items in the bedroom closet i never took upstairs. So for an hour, i moved it all up. Then i prepared the bedroom and bathroom for flooding. Mats off the ground, trashcan up – shower curtain thrown over the bar. stripped down the bed to bare mattress. and just had a dresser and bed left on the ground. it was all moved by 930 am! so then i got the courage to open the front door – it was up to my top steps and about to come over…you can see my video prayer on Facebook telling the water to stop right there in Jesus name 🙂 and it worked. the rest of the day i was glued to the TV and texting and calling friends. and received a ton of messages from my friends who were checking on me. i could barely sleep that night. the waters didn’t rise somehow when it rained all day 🙂

I needed a project on Monday to stop me from watching the news and absorbing what i was learning about the tragedy around the city of Houston, Rockport, Corpus Christi, and every town in between, hurricane demolished homes, the waters in Houston were rising, floods, rescues, evacuations, — so i decided to turn the TV off and distract myself. I unpacked the last of my boxes from my move 4 weeks ago, specifically setting up my office. i realized i have a lot of writing pens, notebooks and sticky notes…i could open an office supply store. ridiculous. i also have a lot of books, books i haven’t read, but have all intentions to do so…maybe one day 🙂 i also learned my friend lost everything on this night. her cars, her house, her wedding dress, her girls belongings, their clothes, books, shoes, memoirs from travels, her home office, her pictures, her furniture, her pool, her kitchen, the family center, her casa. Her girls are 8 and 5. Devastation. But she was safe. she and her husband made a hard, courageous and bold decision to leave everything they had for safety. i couldn’t sleep this night either.

on Tuesday, it was still raining, all night, but the waters didn’t rise. However, i was determined to get things accomplished today. i finished an expense report – YAY and decided to turn the TV off. I needed emotional release and to process all i had heard, watched and learned. so i decided to take care of myself, so i went upstairs and lifted weights, cried, lifted weights, cried, laid down on my yoga mat and cried and stretched. All while blasting worship music in my house for about 6 hours this day. Music is a welcome distraction for me. it keeps my mind from wandering into the what-ifs and what should or could i be doing…then i got to go for a 30 minute walk when the rain stopped and the sun came out. the highlight of my day…to walk outside in mud puddles and nastiness and witness how quickly the extra 20 feet of water the bayou had received, go down to its normal stages. and the sun on my face, how refreshing when you don’t see it for days. Did i mention my roof started to leak overnight this day and started coming through the sheetrock. Oh well, not a gushing leak and hopefully it will stop raining soon. i did sleep 6 hours straight this night! and it stopped raining.

Today, Wednesday, was a day with sunshine and wind – both elements drying up water. both lifting spirits of Houstonians. i decided i needed to run and go get my car. its about 2 miles to my work garage. a nice way to start off the morning finally. my car was fine on the 4th floor. Thankful i had the opportunity to take it to higher ground. Home Depot and Lowe’s are closed so i found a little ACE hardware. I bought a hose, cleaning supplies, workgloves, construction grade trash bags, buckets, N95 masks, etc. I was determined to clean up my garage i had avoided to assess. As i was picking up soaking wet cardboard boxes, sweeping out dirty water with worms (live), cockroaches (dead), mulch, and who knows what else…i had to start praising through it. I had to say thank you God i have eyes to see, i have a nose to breathe and smell, i have legs that move, i have hands that can be used to clean. i felt like I was speaking 3 year old speak. But, that turned my moment of frustration into joy to be able to physically clean my place out today. i was able to get to my vehicle, drive to a store, purchase home supplies and walk back in my door. Thousands of people in Texas didn’t have that pleasure today. I watched 5 minutes of TV – ongoing rescues – over 100,000 evacuations and almost 50,000 in shelters around the county. I just can’t right now…

Make the time to be intentionally kind to yourself during these life altering, stressful moments (or days in our circumstance). There’s so much devastation, including loss of life; this can affect a person mentally, spiritually, emotionally or physically. It’s definitely going to take a financial toll. One day at a time, one hour at a time for some. 

It’s so inspiring to see volunteers are coming out of the wazoo. there are generous people here in Houston. there’s so much kindness happening – it’s amazing. kindness of rescuing people stuck in homes, taking them to shelters, to seeing shelters fill up and open another one and mobilize enough volunteers  to do so! i love neighbors checking on neighbors. mine just borrowed my hose to clean out her garage. the other borrowed the trash bag so he can start throwing away. That’s how you love your neighbor as yourself. small tangible ways.

if i’m fully honest with myself and sharing publicly, i’m battling guilt for not being affected so badly and that comes through the spirit of comparison. i can’t describe it except to say that i’m continuously telling myself that i was affected too. and once i’m making progress with my house and its in a healthy place again…i can go help others – when they need it. Their journey of rebuilding will be for the next 8 months to a year. My damage is a few weeks to a month or two of work. So my focus is to get me on my way so i can then go serve others soon. My friend lost everything – that keeps me focused on what matters.

it’s been a long 6 days including Friday’s stressful day flying back to Houston. i’ll end with a list of things to have in your house for an emergency and tips on how to prepare for a natural disaster. it’s not official, its not endorsed by any group, its lessons learned. and its probably not comprehensive, but its a start and thought provoker for others, i hope.

Items to have on hand in case:

• gallon jugs of water
• bottled water
• empty water bottles full of water
• fill up tubs with water
• canned tuna or tuna packets
• dry eats – crackers, chips, trail mix
• flash lights
• batteries
• coffee in its various forms (with and without electricity)
• cooler – for the cold goods if power goes out
• ice for the cooler
• refrigerated stuff – use up the refrigerated goods, as long as you have power – you should know the area if power goes out easily or if it’s pretty hard core.
• plastic bins to throw stuff in
• water proof case or sleeve/file for items like license, debit cards, credit cards, passport, checkbook, insurance cards, numbers, etc. MUST DO.

for the home damage:

• vinegar
• borax
• bucket to mix
• items to stir the elements your mixing
• a funnel to pour them into the spray bottle i will use
• work gloves
• plastic gloves like medical gloves – to pick up nasty things that were ruined
• construction grade bags to throw away what was damaged
• sheetrock cutter
• extra bucket (always good) – might want to pop a squat
• broom or squeegee to sweep out said nastiness in your garage or home
• N95 masks to protect those precious lungs
• bleach – not preferred by me as an asthmatic

and for the love of all that is good in the world, get some rain boots – they come in handy! especially during an 800 year flood.

will write again later, but for today, i needed to get 6 days of emotions out on paper…