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Surviving Harvey
‘Where are we supposed to go?’
Aug. 30, 2017
About this series
In the aftermath of Harvey’s landfall, The Washington Post documented scenes of fear, despair and hope.
On Aug. 25, Harvey slammed into the coastal community of Rockport, Tex., as a Category 4 hurricane. It quickly weakened to a tropical storm, but for days, it has rained trillions of gallons of water on Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, and the surrounding region.
The torrential rains have produced historic flooding that is both unfathomable and intimate.
It is a mass catastrophe experienced by people one by one, two by two, wet, exhausted, clinging to each other and to hope.
Houston
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SHANNON HAYES
“We have to start over. We can’t go home. We don’t have a home to go to.”
“We have to – all new furniture, new clothes for the kids, they lost all their toys, it’s like we’re starting from zero.”
“We have nothing but what we could bring in our hands.”
“We don’t know what’s next. It’s like we have to literally take one day at a time.”
Friendswood, Tex.
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Cypress, Tex.
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Seabrook, Tex.
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LEAH KERNOHAN
“I’ve been through a lot of storms, and I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes, and this is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”
NAISM JOIEM
“Last night it was raining, and we wake up, and, flooding everywhere.”
“We cannot even drive. We cannot even work today.”
“I live down the street here, right here. And flooding – was raining last night, all day.”
Jacinto City, Tex.
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The waters rose swiftly and unpredictably, confounding most efforts at organized evacuation.
The thousands of rescues are a showcase of American improvisation.
People have been taken to safety by jet skis, kayaks, bass boats, helicopters, military high-profile trucks designed for battle conditions, and air mattresses pushed or pulled along flooded streets.
Katy, Tex.
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CHIEF ART ACEVEDO Houston Police chief
“We’re working our way to Greenspoint North Command.”
“It is actually evacuating two apartment complexes near the Greens Bayou.”
“There is flooding all over this city.”
“Stay home. We have one fatality and a potential second fatility from the floodwaters out here.”
“You guys, stay in twos! This is what we’re facing up here, folks.”
“Stay in your homes. Do not try to come out here on your own.”
Houston
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Friendswood, Tex.
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A VOLUNTEER
“We have had a tremendous outpoor of all these things from the community, and so it seem like as soon as we run out of blankets, somebody walks in with more.”
“So, our needs have been met. So, it’s been good. God is in control.”
AN EVACUEE
“Well I woke up the family around seven, and I realized that the streets were flooded. And the yard was kind of flooded.”
“We waited it out a little bit. Then the water started coming in through the back room. And then eventually it started coming through the living room.”
“And then these two guys with canoes came and picked me and my two kids up. And then we ended up over here.”
“I didn’t want to go in the canoe because the water looked so deep, it was waist height. But then I didn’t want anything to happen to these two.”
“But he did pretty good. I held on to him, so he did pretty good.”
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BROCK LONG FEMA administrator
“Helping Texas overcome this disaster is going to be far greater than FEMA coordinating the mission of the entire federal government.”
“We need citizens to be involved. Texas – this is a landmark event.”
“We have not seen an event like this. You could not draw this forecast up. You could not dream this forecast up.”
“It’s been a very challenging effort for the National Weather Service, who’s been putting out great information. We’d been telling people this was coming, it’s still ongoing.”
“But you couldn’t draw this situation up.”
Lumberton, Tex.
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JEFF MCNEAL Lumberton fire chief
“A lot of rescues are concentrating over here on the west side of the freeway, so we’re using Station 2 as a base of operations.”
JAMIE MORENO Lumberton resident
“I’m extremely worried. I feel bad.”
“My mom lost everything, so, it sucks.”
QUESTION
“Is your mom here, is she ok?”
JAMIE MORENO Lumberton resident
“She’s supposed to be coming. I’m waiting on her. In a boat somewhere. So, she went back in to try to find a few things, but it’s all floating.”
Lumberton, Tex.
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POUPEE HIGGINS
“It was already to the back of our deck and coming in to the back.”
“We should have left two days ago. We really should have, when we could have gotten out. And we didn’t. And that’s dumb.”
“It’s got to be better. It’s got to get better. Please, God, let it get better.”
Abandoned neighborhoods are eerily silent. The evacuees’ new environs are noisy and bewildering. All kinds of Americans are thrown together, clutching sodden photos and donated pillows, waiting for food, information, sleep, reunions, certainty.
Texans pride themselves on being tough. The aftermath of Harvey is going to test their resolve.
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More coverage
Here’s how you can help Texas residents affected by Harvey
What the flooding and rescues of Hurricane Harvey look like, in videos
Before-and-after visuals of the massive flooding in Texas
Credits
Text
Ann Gerhart
Story and presentation
Kevin Schaul and Samuel Granados
Video and photo editing
Reem Akkad, Patrick Martin and Marisa Schwartz Taylor
Video footage
Zoeann Murphy, Whitney Shefte, Dalton Bennett, Jorge Ribas, Lee Powell, Jabin Botsford
Drone footage
Tom C. Nguyen
Photography
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post, Adrees Latif/Reuters, Erich Schlegel/Getty Images, Joe Raedle/Getty Images, Jonathan Bachman/Reuters
‘Where are we supposed to go?’
Episode 1 · Aug. 30
Throughout Southeast Texas, rainfall of biblical proportions has flooded tens of thousands of people out of their homes.
Watch again
A makeshift army, marching on adrenaline
Episode 2 · Sept. 2
The labor of saving and serving flood victims seems without end. The relief workers, exhausted, push on.
Watch this episode
A long and fraught recovery
Episode 3 · Sept. 12
Throughout Houston, thousands are struggling every day to find a place to call home.
Watch this episode
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