DETROIT – Metro Detroit native Tom Etienne, now a teacher in the Houston, Texas area, is dealing with flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
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Etienne, a Canton Township native, writes to us from his current home in Seabrook, Texas - about 30 miles southeast of downtown Houston:
On Saturday night, around 7:30 p.m., the rain stopped and some friends invited me over to watch the Mayweather v. McGregor fight. I had been holed up in my house all day Friday and Saturday, waiting for this storm that just didn’t seem to be coming - so I made the decision to go.
I live in Seabrook, on the north side of Clear Lake. My friend’s house was in Houston, on Beamer and Fuqua (south belt area). When I got there is was drizzling a bit, but definitely nothing that would worry somebody from Houston. Within an hour of me arriving there it was pouring, but still nothing that somebody from Houston hadn’t seen before.
After about 30 minutes, the rain wasn’t letting up at all. We noticed the water in the street was rapidly rising. A couple decided to leave before it got worse. They called about 10 minutes after they left and said their car stalled in high water and they were stranded at a gas station.
My car was in the street, so I started going to neighbors’ houses to ask if I could park in their driveway, but they were planning on doing the same. A couple of us at the house decided to start pulling cars up onto the lawns. I waded to my car and opened the door; the water level was nearly spilling over.
I hopped in and pulled it up onto the lawn. I chose mine first because it was one of the smaller ones. By the time I went back to get one of the larger cars, the tail pipe was underwater and it looked like the water level was over the bottom of the door. It was pretty chaotic; everyone is yelling and it’s pouring down rain - and at this point the water is at my thighs.
We left the car and headed back into the house.The homeowner gave me a change of clothes and we couldn’t really do anything at this point except watch.
At this point, I don’t think anyone knew how bad it really was.
It seems like there has been a bad flooding event every year since I’ve been there, so I’m thinking it will pass at some point and everyone will be fine. Watching the storm on the news wasn’t reassuring, as the satellite was showing rain bands that were just continuously hammering the Houston area. Our phones were constantly issuing flash flood and tornado warnings. As the water kept rising and the rain wasn’t letting up, we starting moving stuff upstairs. Everyone ended up spending the night.
Nobody slept much. I went to bed around 5 a.m. and woke around 7 a.m. to find that the rain had let up a bit. The couple that left before made it back to the house. Around 11am the streets seemed to be drained, and some people started to leave.
I decided to leave too, despite the homeowner strongly recommending that I stay. I didn’t want to be a burden when it came to water and food…I’m sure they didn’t prepare for all of us to be stranded there. I arrived to the only entrance/exit to the sub and the water level looked pretty high. A car was stalled out. I got out of the car to survey the area in order to see if I could make it through. It didn’t seem very deep and I could see road ahead so I decided to go for it (I assume the car may have stalled out when the water level was higher). I made it through the first patch of high water and it wasn’t long before I made it to an intersection where it looked like all directions were flooded. I decided to take Fuqua to I-45, rather than Beamer to the Beltway.
I almost immediately regretted the decision when the water was about halfway up the car. I pulled into a spot for U-turns, and was going to head back to the house, but the road was significantly deeper on that side. I considered leaving my car, but I knew it was going to start raining again soon and my car had no chance if I left it there. So, I decided to keep heading for I-45.
I couldn’t have been luckier, and I’m not sure how I made it through the water without my car stalling.
As I was merging onto the feeder for I-45, there were many cars stalled out, or just abandoned. The on ramp to I-45 was flooded. I saw the top of a truck, so there was no way my car was going to make it. I drove up over a curb and across a separator to get on 45 South. There was no flooding on the highway, but I assume it was different during the night since there were many abandoned vehicles. Cars were driving in both directions on either side of the highway.
Many families were on the side of the road, but were being helped by emergency responders. Off the highway was completely flooded. It looked like all of south Houston was a lake. The Baybrook mall area was underwater.
It really felt like something out of an apocalyptic movie; absolutely devastating.
I made it to Nasa Rd 1, and as I drove by the lake I noticed it was nearly coming up onto the road. This was intimidating as I lived right on the lake, but turning around didn’t seem to be a great option. I made it back to my place safely and the lake was coming up onto the apartment complex’s property.
Being safe myself, I started to contact others. This was when I heard that the high school I work at, Dobie, was being used as a Red Cross shelter. A former student of mine was there after evacuating their home. I gave her a Game of Thrones play by play to keep her mind off things.
Other students were sending pictures of their neighborhoods. This is about the time that it started to hit me about how bad this really was. Things didn’t let up much on Sunday and Monday. Some family in Michigan has been urging me to evacuate, but there weren’t any safe evacuation routes. Many teachers and families have lost their homes to flooding and occasionally tornadoes. It really is unbelievable and heartbreaking.
It’s now Tuesday and they’re saying things are getting better, but it’s pouring outside (at least in the Clear Lake area). Everyone is still expecting more flooding. Some first floor apartments flooded early this morning, which is the highest the lake level has been so far. I know people all over the Houston area and it’s flooded everywhere. We’ve had over 23 inches of rain in the past 24 hours in most parts around here on the south side. The wind, which has been nearly absent so far, is just now starting to pick up as Harvey is just now making its way to the area. Flash flood warnings are still in effect.
The worst part is that we all want to help each other out but we’re stranded for the most part. The best that most of us can do is help out our immediate neighbors until the flooding subsides some. Everyone is constantly checking up on one another.
People who I barely know are offering me shelter, food, and water at their homes in the event that the lake level gets too high. It really is incredible how everyone is coming together.
School is supposed to be back on next Tuesday, September 5th, but it’s hard to imagine that the community will be recovered by then. If we do go back by then, I imagine it is primarily to keep to the kid’s minds off of what happened.
It really is devastating to think about how many lives will have to be rebuilt, and it’s harder when these people are close to you. The hardest part is not knowing how people are doing; I still haven’t heard from nearly 130 students of mine who all live in the Southbelt area.
I’m safe though. How are you?