Luck of the Draw
Hurricane Harvey has come, stayed and stayed and stayed and finally moved on. Personally, we made it through without any real problems. Our street got pretty high on Saturday when we received 14in of rain in a three-hour time span. But it never made it much more than half way up the drive way. Some people who had cars on the lower halves of the drive ways got their cars partially flooded but other than that our street faired very well.
The same can’t be said for much of the area. Friendswood and League City were hit pretty hard and they are both very close to us and very familiar. Watching flood footage online takes on a new meaning when you recognize all the places that used to not be covered with water. The water has started to recede, stores have started to reopen and some people are able to return to their homes. But it’s going to be a really long time before things ever get back to “normal” for a whole lot of people.
What makes this whole tragedy particularly personal is how close it came. In May we sold our house and moved to a new one in this same area. Moved maybe a mile away (1.3mi according to Google). We lived there for almost 11 years. That is the longest either I or my wife have ever lived in a single house. It was the home my son was born into. And it got flooded.
Our entire old street must have been underwater. Three months difference and that would have been us throwing out much of our belongings. And looking ahead to trying to figure out how to rebuild our home at the same time as many, many other people.
In February, if our gutter hadn’t fallen down, taking part of the fascia with it we would probably still be there. We had talked about moving many times over the years. Had even had the house for sale once. But time after time we just decided to stay there.
I can’t help but feel some sense of guilt that I made it out so well while this new family and all my former neighbors did not. It’s not logical but what emotion ever is?
So for the record, we made it through okay. Now on to the area recovering.
