Reflecting on Harvey: The Signal staff shares personal stories of the storm

"I live about a 20 second walk away from my best friend, Aileen’s house. The water only got up to the end of my driveway, while the water rose to about four inches inside Aileen’s house. The picture shows all the things that Aileen and her family couldn’t salvage, and the video shows the aftermath of ripping out all the drywall in their house to prevent flood damage. Hurricane Harvey really brought the whole Houston community together, and it taught me that it can and will literally hit close to home."

"Every time I look at this scar on my arm, I think of Harvey and the impact it had on my grandma’s house. My grandma’s house was a part of Lake Houston as 10 inches of water rose into her house, forcing her to flee upstairs with her neighbors. In the aftermath, The stench of the wet carpet overwhelmed us as we started to tear out sheetrock and carpet. The scar on my arm is from the granite cutting me while we were moving her countertop, but I always blame it on Harvey. Harvey tested our fortitude as a family, and we won."

"I remember spending the first night walking back and forth in water taking items from our house to the upstairs part of the garage, just in case. The water had risen quickly and to the point where it reached the garage door. Behind my house the street has turned into a river in only a couple of hours time. Luckily, there were some breaks in the rain and no water came into the house. Over the next few days, our editor-in-chief at the time and I spent time updating The Signal’s website with contact information for shelters, press releases and messages from the president to keep the UHCL community updated. It was tough seeing people lose their homes and wishing I could do more to help. Harvey caused destruction, but also showed how in the face of turmoil people can overlook differences and come together in a united effort to help others."

“I moved to Houston two weeks before Hurricane Harvey, and I have to admit I never thought I’d experience something like that. Seeing the devastation and desperation with my own eyes was life-changing.”

"My Harvey experience was chill by comparisons of others. Our apartment complex and surrounding streets didn't flood. A few cars in the front of the complex did get water damage because of people coming and going out the front sloshing water higher. I didn't really take Harvey as seriously as I should have until I started seeing the photos online of places I knew never flooded."

"The water thankfully only came up my driveway and to the garage door, but watching the water level rise on the street was nerve wracking. I was very worried about others who may have already been flooding."

“So there's this storm drain under my patio. Generally I give it very little thought – it does what it’s supposed to do and I do what I'm supposed to do and we respect each other for that. But on the night that Harvey meandered into Houston, my relationship with this storm drain changed.

It's not a great storm drain. Only eight inches of rusted metal grate covering a pipe maybe four inches wide. This little drain keeps water from getting into my house. It keeps the pipe from filling up with leaves or random bits or mulch or what have you, as to allow the outflow of water. Well, Harvey rolled in that night and dumped more water than I was comfortable with. Sure enough that storm drain got overwhelmed with water and debris and started clogging up. So I’m standing outside, soaked, and I figure I can help this drain out to keep my house dry.

I get a pasta strainer and one of those giant Home Depot buckets and start bailing water through the strainer and into the bucket. I manage to bail just a bit faster than Harvey can rain, and for the next four hours or so my existence is clearing debris and excess water from this storm drain so it can do it’s job. By the time the first bands of Harvey passed and the rain slowed, I’d only gotten about half an inch in the house.

The next day I walked to just about every storm drain on the streets in Nassau Bay and cleared it of any debris that could stall draining Harvey's rain. Even got a thumbs up from a neighbor."

How did Hurricane Harvey impact you and your community? Share your Harvey experience with The Signal to be featured on our website as part of our Hurricane Harvey issue. 

Submit photos, videos, poetry, comments, art work, essays and any other way you would like to convey your experience via the Google Form link below.

https://goo.gl/forms/MNqytFK6AZEuKIGZ2