When we look back on 2017, the two things we will remember will be things that left us feeling very different emotions.
As much as the city was uplifted by how the Astros won the World Series in seven games over the Los Angeles Dodgers, the city was dealt a very tough blow when Hurricane Harvey rolled into town with his drenching, flooding rains.
Harvey slammed into Houston on Saturday, August 26th, but earlier that week Harris County Judge Ed Emmett knew he would be a problem.
“There potentially are some areas that have never flooded that are going to flood this time,” Emmett told KTRH in the days leading up to the storm.
Harvey dumped over 50 inches of rain on us, killing 88 in Texas including HPD officer Steven Perez. It was a death that had Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo struggling for words in the early days after Harvey hit.
“His father in law told him not to go to work because of the conditions. They were so bad. But Steve said that we have work to do,” Acevedo stated, fighting through tears.
Thousands were displaced from their homes and had to seek refuge in shelters, and Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta told KTRH many have not recovered.
“Normalcy may be years away, depending on their individual situations,” Sebesta told KTRH News at the end of November.
But Harvey also showed how good we all can be. For instance J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans raised 37 million on his own for the relief effort.
“It has truly been incredible to watch. I cannot thank everybody enough,” Watt said on his Instagram account. His original goal was to raise $200K.
Jeff Lindner with the Harris County Flood Control District, who was the voice of calm during the storm, says there was no way we could prepare for the flood we saw.
“We were facing something that we really don’t have any knowledge of. It had never happened before,” Lindner said this week, adding that the vacation social media tried to get him to take still hasn't been taken.