Wednesday, December 15, 2021
On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey came ashore in Texas and then stalled, dropping over 50 inches of rain and flooding much of the Houston area for days.
On this day in 2017, Hurricane Harvey came ashore on the Texas coast as a major storm, then stalled over the Houston region and refused to move. For four days it poured, dropping more than fifty inches of rain in places and turning highways into rivers. The wind made landfall, but the water made the disaster.
Much of the harm fell on people who were not told to evacuate and had no reason to expect their homes to flood. The water rose into neighborhoods that had stayed dry for generations, and thousands were rescued from rooftops and attics by neighbors in boats while official help was stretched thin.
The lesson is that flood risk is not just for the coast or the floodplain. Knowing your elevation, keeping documents and a go bag ready to grab, and deciding in advance when you will leave rather than wait are what keep rising water from trapping a family.
