When Harvey happened

It was Friday night when Harvey started. Some friends had come over. We first realized how serious it was when our friends had left. I watched in awe at how much rain had fallen. It had already layered the street.

The next thing we knew, our friends texted us their car broke down. A sinking feeling arose in my stomach. They said they pushed their SUV back home (luckily, they only lived five minutes away). The road looked like a black river, snaking through the neighborhood. I slept that night with doubt in my mind.

The next morning was pure terror compared to this. As soon as I saw my dad at home I knew what was happening. It was flooding more than anything I had ever seen in my life! In fact, the water was so high, it covered our whole yard! The water was climbing up step by step.

But the real panic started when the tornado alerts sounded off. We packed medicine, clothes, water, food and blankets and hid in a closet. The worst thing that happened was the power went out. We were sent scrambling and toppling over each other, feeling and inching around for any light source we could find.

Some neighbors came over because their house had flooded. We made lunch and lit candles. It was family bonding time. We spend the next few days listening to the radio for status updates on the weather. Every five minutes we could hear helicopters zooming by over our house.

By Monday all the water had receded, but there was so much damage done. Our dad’s car was left in our driveway, and water came up all the way to its doors; the others were in our garage, which flooded. Thank God our house didn’t flood. Our neighbors are still here while they fix their house. But otherwise, I would honestly say that although Harvey was disastrous, it brought people together in a way.

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