Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary for Hurricane Harvey hitting Texas, first hitting the Rockport area, and then spending days pounding Houston with rains that caused widespread historic flooding.
In that year, the recovery around Houston has been nothing short of amazing. In fact, in a lot of areas, you would never know Harvey hit us. But, Francisco Sanchez with the Harris County Office of Emergency Management says many homes still need work.
“At least 62,000 homes have used various services for repair, and that’s just through our non-profit organization,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez also told KTRH News that around 200 residents are still displaced in the county. In Fort Bend, County Judge Bob Hebert says not everyone is back to being where they should be, either.
“We are working with a few hundred families to continue to provide them with the support they need,” Hebert told KTRH.
Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal says his county saw thousands of homes impacted.
“We had 4100 homes impacted. Many of those self-repaired. Some are still in bad shape,” Doyal explained.
In the city of Houston, City Council Member Mike Knox says only small steps were taken to cut down flood risk.
“We’ve cleaned out a few bayous, but as far as something significant that is going to mitigate another Harvey, we haven’t done anything yet,” Knox told KTRH News.
Lawsuits were filed over the release of water from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs won't be settled for years.
In all of the pain, there was a lot Houstonians and Texans had to be proud of during the storm and its aftermath. For instance, J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans raised 37 million for Harvey, and that money will be split between four different non-profits.
There was also the amount of strangers helping strangers during the storm. There were all of those people like the Cajun Navy, driving in from other states to help those in need here in Texas. Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo says all of this goodwill made him proud.
“Texans have hearts of gold. It was on display during Harvey. It was a point of pride and something I will take to the grave,” Acevedo stated.
And then there was Jeff Lindner of the Harris County Flood Control District, a calming voice that still lives this storm.
“This was so big. Everybody wants me to come and talk about the storm. I’ve been doing lots of presentations,” Lindner explained.
A GoFundMe page was started to get Lindner a vacation, one he plans on taking in November.