Hurricane Harvey caused unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in Texas. Coming from the Philippines, I am relating this to the traumatic experience we had when 'Ondoy' hit, where houses, automobiles, villages went underwater, and lives were lost.
Harvey from Outer Space
In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches (100 cm) of rain as the system meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters. With peak accumulations of 51.88 in (131.8 cm), Harvey is the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the contiguous United States:
The resulting floods prompted more than 13,000 rescues, displaced more than 30,000 people, and inundated hundreds of thousands of homes:
But in the midst of the storm and flooding, I've read of simple yet inspiring stories of people helping other people, people unknowingly doing heroic deeds.
Here are some that I would like to share here on Steemit:
People coming together
“I’ve met more of my neighbours in the last 24 hours than I have in the last 20 years,” said Steve Hresko, a rescue efforts volunteer.
A photo of SWAT team officer Daryl Hudeck carrying a mother and her 13-month-old baby to safety has been widely shared online.
Here are 2 stories of news reporters rescuing and saving people live:
KHOU Reporter Saves Truck Driver
Brandi Smith was reporting on behalf of local station KHOU in Houston, Texas, after her channel's studio had been completely flooded and her colleagues evacuated.
She spots a truck slowly going underwater, and sees that the driver is still inside
The quick-thinking journalist happened to see a sheriff car going past towing a rescue boat and ran away from the camera to stop the vehicle and let the police know the man was underneath the bridge and in danger.
Brandi later took to Twitter to say that Robert, the driver, was safe and attributed the credit for saving his life to her photographer, Mario Sandoval, who she says spotted him in the cab.
CNN Reporter Saves Man from Flooded Ditch During Live Broadcast
Drew Griffin was reporting on Hurricane Harvey in the southeastern Texas town, 85 miles west of Houston, when the crew spotted a white pickup truck enter what looked like a street covered in water but was actually a flooded drainage ditch.
Griffin called out to the driver as the truck began to float away.
Using a rope they had on hand, the crew members were able to pull the man out from the vehicle and bring him to dry land.
"There was no time to call 911," Griffin said, adding that "there was no way they were going to get here in time."
One of America's largest breweries, Budweiser producers Anheuser-Busch, has swapped making beer for providing some much-needed water instead:
A deputy carrying children to safety:
Texas sheriff’s deputy Robert Goerlitz was captured passed out through tiredness following a night shift in the wake of catastrophic flooding in the Texas metropolis:
Then there's this story of 15 stranded pensioners in a flooded nursing home:
The photo was shared on Twitter by Timothy McIntosh, whose mother-in-law owns the nursing home, helping alert emergency services.
They were eventually rescued and photographed safe and well.
A furniture store in the city has opened its doors to help those made homeless by the flooding:
Animal Rescues:
These are just some of the remarkable actions of people during the storm, and thankfully, there are countless others. I read about these articles and found myself unable to stop from reading one story after the other. I decided this is something worthwhile sharing.
Note: Any gains this story/post gets will be donated 100% to victims of Hurricane Harvey.
Sources:
Yahoo
telegraph UK
businessinsider.com
mirror.co.uk