Houston, Texas - Hurricane Harvey Disaster Recovery

Dear Friends:

In late August, Hurrican Harvey struck the southern coast of Texas. With winds up to 140 mph and Pouring more than 60" in rain in just a few days. Major flooding took place mostly in Houston and its surrounding cities.  In addition, with that much rain in so short a time period, the existing reservoirs almost burst. To protect a major portion of downtown, engineers had to release several feet of water into neighborhoods that hadn't already experienced flooding. The result of all of this was devastation on a scale that hadn't been seen before. Thousands of homes were flooded...completely lost.

Two weeks after the initial floods, the water had receded enough to allow volunteer disaster recover help to enter Houston neighborhoods. My church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) joined together with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and other churches to coordinate help to homeowners that had homes full of water. The water damage seeped into carpet, floors, walls and other parts of the structure. With high temperatures, the mold was starting to grow up the walls...so we had to act fast. The key was to pull out everything...everything...down to the frame. It was physical labor that was required, as you couldn't do this by machine.

I was lucky enough to volunteer for several work assignments. Ever since the storm hit, I was anxious to try and help. It's something that makes me so incredibly happy - it's hard to explain. I joined several teams from our congregations in Austin. These teams, in turn, were joined by congregations from all around Texas to put over 10,000 Mormons in action for both Houston and Corpus Christi disaster recovery.

I started my day in Austin, receiving work assignments and starting the 3-hour drive to Houston. When I arrived, I couldn't believe the devastation. House after house after house...there were piles of debris and belongings all over the lawns and spilling into the street.

Every once-in-a-while, you saw a glimpse of humor...something that probably helped people cope with the toll that the disaster has taken on people's spirits:

Inside of several houses, it was the same story - all carpet, sheetrock, flooring, and furniture had to be thrown out. After working for several hours...this is what it looked like:

The worst part was appliances. Several refrigerators had been sitting there, surrounded by water, with rotting food inside. I had several guys actually vomit on the pavement as we dragged some of these out to the curb. I won't be able to forget that smell for a very, very long time.

While the work was difficult and gross, it was tempered by the feeling that you were making an impact on someone's life - in a positive way. Everyone on our team wore the yellow vests, representing Mormon Helping Hands. Several times, we had homeowners thank us with tears in their eyes. They didn't exactly know who we were, but they knew that they yellow vests had come to help them when they didn't have anyone to turn to. THAT is why I gave up several days to do it.

We had other assignments that day. One was to pull up a wood-panel floor. This was probably the hardest work, as we can to chisel and tear each piece:

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. I still had a 3-hour drive to get back to Austin. However, I knew that I had done some good that day:

With thousands of 'projects" still left to do, I volunteered again the next weekend.  Again, I met early in the morning in Austin. Then, assembled a team and drove the 3 hours to Houston. This time, I was placed in charge of the work party. It wasn't tough, as the group was focused on doing good. Those are the teams that are a dream to lead.

Remember what I said about appliances? I found a whole pile in the first neighborhood we were assigned too. This time, I brought Vick's Vap-o-Rub to put right underneath my nose, so I didn't gag ; ) It's a trick I used when I used to work on cadavers back in pre-med.

After working on a couple of houses, a man pulled up in a small car. He was with the homeowner's association. He had brought lunch to us, as a way of saying "thanks" to the Mormons that had been working for several weeks in their neighborhood. It was a lovely gesture, and every nicer when we found out that the food had come from a local restaurant. It was delicious!!!

One of the assignments that day was to clear or "muck out" a series of condominiums that were near a creek that had spilled over into the neighborhood. My team went right at it, clearing everything to the outside bricks on the exterior of the structure:

Again, it was a long and exhausting day...but I was fulfilled by helping those in need. The window for being able to directly help these homeowners was closing, as the black mold was starting to take over the homes we couldn't get to. However, we were able to save many of them. Several other churches also did exactly the same thing. It was a reminder that the world is full of good people that want nothing more than to help a fellow brother or sister.