STORM OF THE CENTURY
COVERAGE OF HURRICANE HARVEY IN THE CROSSROADS
Beyond spiritual healing
September 21, 2017
Once the power was restored at First United Methodist Church, the congregation and its network of churches set out to heal the community.
Even before Hurricane Harvey, the downtown church offered free prescription assistance, mental health counseling and aid to the most impoverished.
Now the church is expanding its reach by planning a medical clinic with DeTar Healthcare System.
Click here to continue reading.
Back among friends
September 20, 2017
BLOOMINGTON- Playing on the Placedo Elementary School monkey bars and sitting in the breeze with friends was the best part of starting school for Francisco Garcia.
“For Hurricane Harvey, I went to McAllen because we have family there,” Francisco, 6, said. “I didn’t have any friends to play with.”
The first-grader was among many Bloomington school district students beginning the school year Tuesday after Hurricane Harvey pushed its start date from Aug. 28.
Click here to continue reading.
Unsteady start
September 19, 2017
REFUGIO - For Michael Moore, sitting in a makeshift Refugio school office in the gym’s foyer without air conditioning felt more normal than the past three weeks.
“This is not what any of us planned,” Michael, 18, said Monday. “We are still a family, we are all strong and we will be all right.”
Click here to continue reading.
Lost in the shadows
September 18, 2017
Alexa’s hope of living a normal life in the United States with her 11-year-old daughter came crashing down with the tree that landed on her home during Hurricane Harvey.
Just two years ago, the mother and daughter moved from Mexico to Bloomington, a rural community of about 2,500 residents.
Alexa bought a trailer, her daughter started school and the two started settling into their new life in the U.S., she said.
Click here to continue reading.
Left high and dry
September 17, 2017
When Darlene Moya, 38, returned from Austin with her three children after fleeing Hurricane Harvey, she found herself locked out of her Victoria rental home.
The single mom said she knew this might happen when she decided what most mothers would: Instead of spending $170 on rent, which is due weekly, she used the last couple hundred dollars to her name to evacuate her daughters - who are 2, 3 and 15 years old. The family sought shelter with relatives in Austin, out of Hurricane Harvey’s deadly path.
Click here to continue reading.
Still not normal
September 16, 2017
REFUGIO - Lucas Garcia has not been able to eat more than crackers and water for the past couple of weeks.
“My stomach has just been tied up in knots,” Garcia, 62, said, clutching his stomach outside his home on Commerce Street.
His lack of appetite made him turn down a delicious chalupa plate his wife, Rosario, brought him to eat the other day.
Click here to continue reading.
Lost at sea
September 15, 2017
PORT LAVACA - Six years of Jerry Burklund’s memories are halfway sunk into the bay at Nautical Landing marina.
“That boat had a lot of stories attached to it,” Burklund said Wednesday as he looked down at his Carver Montego boat sticking out of the brown pier water.
Burklund, 75, had spent several years traveling through the Florida Keys on the boat, he said.
Click here to continue reading.
Harvesting hope
September 14, 2017
Cindy Gayle let out a heartfelt cry after learning seven of her horses were under her collapsed barn that was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.
“It was like someone crumpled a paper napkin,” the 63-year-old Goliad woman said. “When the tin collapsed, it was like a knife hitting the horses. It hurt seeing the horses like that.”
The Goliad Fire Department helped free the horses from the collapsed structure. Six of the seven horses suffered injuries, with cuts from 12 to 16 inches long.
Click here to continue reading.
Under their wing
September 13, 2017
ROCKPORT - When they removed the interior walls of their office Tuesday, the International Crane Foundation’s employees found more than they could have hoped for among the rubble.
“We went from 1,000 square feet to 100, but it’s all good stuff,” said Liz Smith, senior whooping crane scientist.
She surveyed their findings laid out on a blue tarp. The game cameras and tripods would be useful, as would the waterproof notebooks that had lived up to their name.
Click here to continue reading.
A lot on young minds
September 12, 2017
Although Chloe Reynolds was safe and dry Monday at Shields Elementary School, her mind was wading through Houston’s floodwaters, hoping her father was OK.
“My dad lives in Houston,” Chloe, 10, said on the first day back at school. “I’ve cried so much watching the news and seeing Houston.”
Victoria school district welcomed students back Monday for the first time since Hurricane Harvey passed through the Crossroads.
Click here to continue reading.
'It was like we had been bombed'
September 11, 2017
ROCKPORT - El and Bill Gibbens didn’t expect Hurricane Harvey would obliterate their three-story, 3,200-square-foot vacation home on Holiday Island in Rockport.
“It was like we had been bombed,” said El Gibbens, 51. “If you could imagine, all the debris that is pilled up on the roads was everywhere.”
The couple had gone to Nashville, Tenn., for a wedding and didn’t have much time to ready their Rockport and Victoria homes for the storm. They made it back to their Rockport home four days after the hurricane and were shocked at the ruins.
Click here to continue reading.
Nature interrupted: Storm has far-reaching environmental impact
September 10, 2017
Environmentalists are comparing Hurricane Harvey with the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill from 2010.
They worry that with the governor suspending some environmental rules, the Category 4 hurricane’s effects won’t be fully understood until long after the spotlight is pointed elsewhere.
“With the BP oil spill, we’re still learning things like how dolphins and other marine life fared,” said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas.
Click here to continue reading the story.
Doing their part
September 10, 2017
SPANISH CAMP - A Victoria couple who traveled to Fort Bend and Wharton counties to rescue flooded residents said they were just owning up to their heritage.
“We kept saying, ‘This is just what Texas does,’” said Alison Jecker, 32.
Days after Hurricane Harvey’s landfall, Jecker, boyfriend Mark Robinson, 34, and about a dozen other Crossroads residents along with their boats staged do-it-yourself rescue operations in the sunken city of Richmond and then Missouri City. Two days later, Becker and Robinson found themselves in Wharton County where they rescued abandoned dogs and other animals from almost certain death.
Click here to continue reading.
Disaster for humans means catastrophe for pets
September 9, 2017
At Victoria Animal Control, a black-and-white pit bull rescued from a flooded Victoria neighborhood got food, love and an aptly chosen name.
“We named him Harvey,” said Victoria animal activist Toya Stone, unofficial liaison for the Texas rescue group Wags, Hope and Healing, while cradling the dog she helped save.
Although two weeks have passed since Hurricane Harvey carved a swath of destruction through the Crossroads, residents still are struggling to get back on their own two - or four - feet.
Click here to continue reading.
Dire straits
September 8, 2017
Cindy Barrientes donated her last $5 to Hurricane Harvey at a checkout lane Wednesday night.
This turned out to be good karma because a few hours later she learned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would help her financially.
“I just don’t know how to use it,” Barrientes said. “I’m not sure when or how it will come in.”
FEMA deemed her apartment unfit for habitation.
Click here to continue reading.
FEMA frustrates Harvey victims
September 7, 2017
If Richard Quinonez hopes to reunite with his wife and three daughters again, he needs help.
“People don’t have money like they think they do. People don’t have family like they think they do.” Quinonez, 41, said. “I lost everything.”
Quinonez is one of thousands in the Crossroads who are applying for Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance in the aftermath of the hurricane. Many say the compensation offered so far by FEMA falls far short of the need.
Click here to continue reading.
Victims find hardship, opportunity
September 6, 2017
SEADRIFT - Mary Ann Guerrero, 45, watched the inspector enter her mold-choked home Tuesday afternoon and wondered what she would do if the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied her family’s request for assistance.
“I have no idea,” Guerrero said. “That’s the scariest thing.”
Like many Crossroads residents who returned to find their homes damaged and destroyed by Hurricane Harvey, Guerrero and her family face limited options in getting back on their feet. With her workplace still without power and savings rapidly diminishing, Guerrero, the sole bread-winner in the family, said she was placing all of her hopes with FEMA.
Click here to continue reading.
Church offers refuge for devastated town
September 5, 2017
REFUGIO - When Hurricane Harvey’s darkness covered Refugio on the night of Aug. 25, Joy Ministries became a beacon of light.
“We were a light, help and assistance to people who reached out,” Peter Vega, church minister, said Monday. “We put our gloves on and went to work.”
Church ministers sheltered 40 hurricane evacuees for about three days starting Saturday despite not having electricity or running water.
Click here to continue reading.
For some, normal still far away
September 4, 2017
For Susie Starkey, helping her employee clean and clear her flood-damaged Victoria home Sunday was never optional.
“You just have to do it,” Starkey, 57, said, holding the hose of an industrial vacuum inside a Greens Addition home rented by her employee, Helena Hamilton, 53.
More than a week after Hurricane Harvey ravaged Victoria, some residents are still working to return to normal life. Although the hurricane and ensuing flooding left most houses still standing in the neighborhood, many remain unlivable with mud, water, burgeoning mold and thriving mosquitos inside.
Click here to continue reading.
Residents rely on families to rebuild
September 3, 2017
BAYSIDE - Sabine Wiegand, 54, spent Saturday afternoon clearing her belongings from her closet and loading them into a moving van.
It was in that closet - just a week earlier - where she hid with her 76-year-old mother and their cat as Hurricane Harvey ripped the roof off their Bayside home. They lived less than a 30-minute drive from where the storm made landfall with 130 mph winds in Rockport.
“I was praying to God all night - ‘Please God, please God,’” she said. “I really thought we were going to die - that house was going to crash in on us.”
Click here to continue reading.
The long road ahead
September 2, 2017
REFUGIO - The new furniture delivered to Refugio ISD on Aug. 24 was going to put the finishing touches on a renovated school.
However, Hurricane Harvey changed all of that the next day. Most of the furniture, in addition to the buildings, are damaged or detroyed.
“It was overwhelming at first,” Superintendent Melissa Gonzales said Friday.
Click here to continue reading.
Animals’ angels
September 1, 2017
Amid the scenes of human loss from Hurricane Harvey, volunteers raced Thursday to save zoo animals in Victoria.
Thursday’s effort followed a heroic week by four Texas Zoo workers who rode out Hurricane Harvey with the animals and then stayed as the Guadalupe River flooded the structure in Riverside Park.
Almost all of the animals survived, said zoo board president Jimmy Zaplac, who spent Thursday with rescue workers wading through floodwaters and ferrying crated animals to dry land.
Click here to continue reading.
30.9 feet and rising
August 31, 2017
Wading back to his waiting wife, Alex Gonzalez, 34, had happy news about their family home.
“Everything is good. We are dry,” said Gonzalez, a homeowner in Greens Addition, a west Victoria neighborhood where Guadalupe River water swept through Wednesday. Throughout much of Greens Addition, the river slipped its banks, filling homes with muddy floodwater carried south from distant rains. That water closed roadways, forcing some Victoria families from their homes and stranding others.
Returning from his expedition into the flooded neighborhood with a bucket of essentials taken from the home, Gonzalez wondered aloud how long the family’s luck with the water would last.
Click here to continue reading.
‘Everybody will pull together'
August 30, 2017
TIVOLI - It wasn’t until three days after Hurricane Harvey struck Texas that Delia Garza, 56, finally scrubbed off her Social Security number written in pen on her arm.
“I had my social on one leg and one arm,” said Garza, who lives in Tivoli. “They were going to identify me one way or another.”
As the storm destroyed her trailer Friday night, she took shelter in her father’s home across the street, where she and her sister prayed with rosary beads in a bathroom, just steps away from the room they shared as little girls.
“To tell you the truth, I have never seen my town under this much destruction - I never have,” she added. “With all this destruction, I’m hoping that everybody does get together to get Tivoli back.”
Click here to continue reading.
‘It’s the luck of the draw'
AUGUST 29, 2017
Even before Hurricane Harvey arrived, this year’s shrimp and oyster season was on track to be one of the worst for Seadrift oysterers and shrimpers.
“I don’t know what we can do,” said Seadrift resident Edward Torres, who has supported his family by catching shrimp and oysters out of Seadrift for the past 22 years. “For the fishermen, it’s not good.”
As Harvey continued its departure Monday from the Crossroads, water-logged cities and towns assessed damage and began caring for their residents.
Click here to continue.
'At least God let us live'
AUGUST 28, 2017
Heather Meadows said she feels as if she is living in a nightmare.
“Is this all a dream?” said Meadows, 22, who has lived in Tivoli for a year and a half. “Can we just all wake up now?”
Meadows is one of thousands of Crossroads residents who have been left to pick up the pieces after Hurricane Harvey destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses when it made landfall as a Category 4 storm Friday night. From the coastal city of Rockport to Victoria, hundreds of thousands were without running water or electricity. Others have lost their homes entirely.
Click here to read more.
'We thought we were going to die'
AUGUST 27, 2017
REFUGIO - Lamar Rodriguez, 51, huddled with her two young grandchildren in a neighbor’s bathtub in a dark, shuddering home.
“We thought we were going to die,” Rodriguez said, almost overcome with emotion Saturday afternoon as she stood in the midst of her ruined neighborhood.
Powerful winds and deluges of floodwater mangled the family’s aging home and sowed terror in the hearts of Rodriguez and the neighbors who sheltered there. By Saturday, the storm had left the city - and most of the rest of the Crossroads - without power and water. In more rural areas, including Refugio, phone service was even gone.
The intensity of Hurricane Harvey stunned many in the Crossroads who had not seen a Category 4 storm since Carla 56 years ago.
Click here to continue reading.
'Prayers protect us'
August 26, 2017
PORT LAVACA - Crossroads residents watched helplessly Friday as the worst storm in 56 years roared ashore.
Harvey grew to a Category 4 hurricane at 6 p.m., drawing terrifying comparisons to Carla, which blasted through Port O’Connor on Sept. 11, 1961.
Harvey was expected to cause devastating damage as the storm started stalling after making landfall. Heavy rains could continue through Monday afternoon, dumping 20 to 40 inches.
“What that means is we’re going to be in the middle of the bad side of the storm for roughly 48 hours,” said Deputy Bryan Simons, Victoria County sheriff’s office spokesman.
Click here to continue reading.
Brace yourself
August 25, 2017
Victoria and three surrounding coastal counties issued mandatory evacuation orders Thursday as Hurricane Harvey rapidly intensified.
Crossroads county and city officials met throughout the day in a race to keep up with the rapidly changing storm. Roads and highways out of the Crossroads filled with cars as residents fled with their families.
“We’ll be hit head-on or the north side, the worst side of the storm,” Port Lavaca Mayor Jack Whitlow said. “This is not a good one to sit out. There will be no water, no electricity during this storm, no police, no medical services. You’ll be on your own if it happens. It’s best to get out of town.”
Click here to continue reading.
Here comes Harvey
August 24, 2017
With a potential hurricane headed Wednesday for the Crossroads, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration and residents scrambled to stock up on supplies.
Local government officials and authorities met throughout the day, monitoring the potential of tropical depression Harvey developing into a hurricane by the time it reached the Texas coast. The forecast called for Harvey to make landfall late Friday somewhere along the Coastal Bend.
Click here to continue reading.