It is just a month that I started my classes at the UoH and it has been quite eventful indeed. The week started with a stellar event, a solar eclipse. Although Houston did not witness total solar eclipse, but everyone was excited! But by middle of the week everyone started talking about the forthcoming heavy rains by the weekend. Everyone told me this is going to be serious. By Friday early morning the shelves in Kroger started emptying out, specially bread and water. We started stocking up as well - dry foods, baby milk, water, veggies, water in the bath tub. By Friday evening we were informed that due to inclement weather the day care will remain closed on Monday. The landfall happened around early morning Saturday, Houston still seemed okay, there were some winds and it rained. We three remained in home and watched the rains. The evening was mostly uneventful as well. But by mid evening I received a Tornado alert and that scared me!! I have never ever witnessed a Tornado and the alert was in effect for almost 1.5 hours. It almost felt like an eternity to me. I didn't feel like eating dinner. Fortunately our power never went away, nor the water supply. Rest of the evening we texted and were in touch with our other friends to ensure everyone is safe. It was quite difficult to gauge the amount of rainfall from our area. There was no standing water in our community. Nor there was any destruction due to the winds. But news started coming in about other area. WhatsApp feed showed unimaginable pictures - the highways are under water. Cars flooded. Home flooded. Houston received about 3ft of rain in 2 days. And on the top of that , due to the unprecedented heavy rains, US Army Corps decided to release water from Barker and Addicks reservoir to prevent the reservoirs from breaking down. This unleashed heavy flooding in parts of Western Houston. It is almost 3 weeks now that Harvey is over. Post Harvey, Florida witnessed Irma. Puerto Rico is currently being devastated by Maria. It is one of the worst hurricane season of the Atlantic Ocean. Some areas of Houston still look like this: Flooded houses will need a major renovation. Clean up efforts continue throughout the city. Houston School District opened last week. Neighborhoods have come together to save itself.
Amidst the destruction and chaos, everyone is trying to move forward. When I see news like this, it fills up my heart. Houston will never retreat, be it Harvey or anything else.
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