Mrs. Sheila Byrd is a teacher from the town of Dickinson and was kind enough to share her experience with Hurricane Harvey and the aftermath. In this interview, she describes her family’s ordeal with flooding in their home, the rescue to move them to safety, and the ongoing process of recovery. This photograph shows the front of her house which is largely obscured by piles of the family’s belongings which had to be removed. After Hurricane Harvey ended and people could access their houses again, flooded properties had to be cleaned out and stripped of all damaged materials.

A recurring theme in Harvey’s aftermath is the outpour of help from people.[1] Throughout her story, Mrs. Byrd recounts the abundance of blessings her and her family experienced from friends and strangers. She describes the school children, coworkers, friends (close and extended) and strangers that showed up to help with clean up and debris removal.[2] This photograph was taken on August 31st, 2017 during the preliminary cleanup efforts.

For Russell Creel, it was shocking to see the devastation in stark contrast to his own neighborhood less than five miles away. However, it was uplifting to see other people experiencing the same loss in their own life show up to help others in need. In his experience, it did not matter who you knew or came to help, everyone pitched in to help anyone who needed it. The same mentality applied to tools and resources, they were shared freely.[3]

 

[1] William Axford, "Man in Viral Video Scares off Looters from Robbing North Harris County Store during Harvey," Houston Chronicle, August 31, 2017, http://www.chron.com/news/houston-weather/hurricaneharvey/article/Hurricane-Harvey-looters-viral-video-John-Nash-12165416.php.

 

[2] Sheila Byrd, "Sheila Byrd Hurricane Harvey Interview," interview by author, November 2, 2017.

[3] Russell Creel, "Russell Creel Hurricane Harvey Interview," interview by author, November 3, 2017.