The past several days have all brought one major thing in common for south east Texas: a whole lot of rain.
With even more predicted over the next several days, many residents have headed inland before their local streets flooded out. Many more decided to stay back and wait out the storm.
Coastal areas experienced 20-23 inches of rain overnight after forecasts measured expected rainfall in feet rather than inches. Houston has received as much rain in a matter of days that it normally sees accumulated throughout the entire year.
Despite the record amount of precipitation, Houston city officials didn’t call for an evacuation. Their reasoning was simple: you just can’t expect 6.5 million people to all get out of the city at once. The roads couldn’t handle it.
So with many residents trapped in their homes and places of work, local authorities have been working tirelessly to rescue them. They have asked that any civilians with watercraft assist in bringing others to safety.
CNN’s Ed Lavandera found one of these Good Samaritans just as he was getting his boat ready to drop in the water. When the reporter asked him what he was hoping to do, the man replied that he was going to “go save some lives”.
He said that he already had eight people contact him for rescue. He planned to pick them up, bring them somewhere safe, and go back to save some more.
Another man with him says that he was told by one resident the water had reached the second floor of their apartment building.
A boater tells @edlavaCNN that he's going to "try to save some lives" as flooding spawned from #HurricaneHarvey pummels Texas pic.twitter.com/sDTT843CFq
— Doug Criss (@CNNDoug) August 28, 2017
Amazing citizens like these men have been banding together in the wake of the natural disaster, but Hurricane Harvey is not done yet. Forecasts are predicting rainfall continuing through to Thursday.
We are thankful for the emergency crews as well. The past several days have not been easy for them, but they press on.
If you know anyone in the affected area, please stay in contact with them. If you are one of the victims of the floods, stay strong and stay safe!
Article via: Doug Criss & The Washington Post
