Re: Hurricane Harvey

One year ago today, Harvey arrived here in Houston. We got 54 inches of rain at my house in about 48 hours. I live on a private dead end street with 12 houses. Eleven of them flooded and by some miracle ours did not. By this time of day we had 7 families who had taken refuge in our home. Most were here 3-4 weeks as they began to try and find a place to reside until they could get their life back in order. Some stayed longer. We were very fortunate and glad to help. Some 48,000 homes in the Houston area were so damaged, they had to be bulldozed. There were 155,000 homes flooded in Houston.

One year later there is still huge amounts of construction under way. There are homes that are just now getting looked at due to the issues with flood insurance and availability of qualified workers. Two or our beach communities, Rockport Texas and Port Aransas Texas took direct blows. I owned a beach house in Port Aransas that was wiped out....as in gone. I went down there this last weekend to see how the town is doing. It still looks like a war zone of boarded up business's and many many houses under various stages of repair and many more houses set for demolition.

On my way back a funny story...wasn't real funny at the time...….I got pulled over by a Sherriff for 70 in a 55. I honestly didn't realize I was speeding. He asked me if I knew the speed limit and how fast I was going. Yes on one, no on the other. He did the usual license/insurance check and asked me had I spent any money in town. Yes...I bought a hotel room for 3 nights, plenty of restaurant expense, and hired a guide to fish. He thanked me for trying to contribute to the local economy, asked me to pay more attention to my speed, and sent me home without even a warning ticket.

For those of us who lived through Harvey, we have so much to be grateful for. For those who suffered you see the best in people coming out to try and help where they can. Houston passed a $2.5Billion dollar bond this weekend to help folks with flooding neighborhoods. It is supposed to be matched by fed funds as well.

If you happen to be passing through Texas on your travels and can find your way to Port Aransas or Rockport, please try to patron the local business's. If you don't know who Mattress Mack is....look him up. You will meet one of the worlds best humans. He has given so much personally and financially to help others. See his store he opened up during the flood to let anyone in and feed them. He let people sleep on all his store furniture including mattresses that cost thousands of dollars.

 

If you happen to be passing through Texas on your travels and can find your way to Port Aransas or Rockport, please try to patron the local business's. If you don't know who Mattress Mack is....look him up. You will meet one of the worlds best humans. He has given so much personally and financially to help others. See his store he opened up during the flood to let anyone in and feed them. He let people sleep on all his store furniture including mattresses that cost thousands of dollars.

Let me repeat that, Mattress Mack, owner of Gallery Furniture, opened his stores to the National Guard and others with no place to go during Hurricane Harvey. They slept where they could on new furniture. He brought meals in for everyone.

Meanwhile, our famed Pastor Joel O'steen wouldn't open his church, located high and dry in some of the worst flooding, to the public.

Kudo's for mattress Mack. A pox on the fake pastor.

Good to hear something positive for a change. Good on Mack!

Some preachers can give religion a bad name.

^^That's why I don't understand that he fills the place begging for money all the while preaching in $3000 suits.... People are truly gullible...

Kudos indeed for mattress Mack. His story actually went nationwide on OANN and other real news outlets btw..