Houston resident Niti Atre’s feelings about Hurricane Harvey are pretty simple.

“[I] hope I will never see a storm like this again in my lifetime,” Atre said.

On Aug. 26, a category 4 hurricane hit the Texas coast. While damage stopped before it reached the DFW area, it left many devastated in cities along the coast, including Houston.

Houston resident Kavita Sriram and her two children knew they had to prepare when they first heard of the storm. However, the family stayed as they thought the elevation of their house would keep them safe.

Infact, their entire community, Katy, a suburb of Houston, stayed right along with them.

When the rain started around 5 p.m. on Aug. 25 with tornado warnings blaring every five minutes, it did not take long to see how destructive the storm would be. A neighbor down the street had their patio ripped away by a tornado.

However, the next day got even worse.

Reports about flooding started spreading Saturday evening, that’s when the main issue shifted from the actual hurricane to the flooding. Later that day, government officials started ordering evacuations in specific areas.

“I suggest that you should take the hurricane warnings as seriously as possible, not to panic and to keep yourself updated with the news.  Also, always volunteer and help out in the community when disaster strikes,” Sriram said.

Atre was not sure if she had to evacuate since Hurricane Harvey was said to make landfall south of Houston, so she wasn’t expecting was the flooding.

Out of all the people she knows who live in Houston, only three people evacuated, everyone else decided to stay and brave the storm.

Atre thinks that in most cases it will take a couple of years to recover from Harvey.

“A medical center would recover fairly soon since it will receive a large amount of funds while a suburban area might not recover at all since it’s not as significant,” Atre said.

Houston resident Bo Nacol was conflicted when he heard there was a hurricane heading his way,  Nacol owns a commercial haunted house which was under construction. But still, the hurricane gave him a sense of excitement.

“The child inside of me was vibrating with excitement because there’s something fun about chaos,” Nacol said. “It’s also wonderful to see people come together at times like this, it’s a rare thing to find.”

He was in Pearland when it started raining around 1 p.m. on Aug. 26. When he headed home later that night, it took him an hour and a half to get home when it normally took him 20 minutes.

After the bulk of the hurricane had past, Nacol decided to help out, and took his 6×6 vehicle to rescue people. His vehicle should only drive into seven feet of water but he took it in parts of Houston which were in 30 feet of water.

“I drove a SWAT team into the house of a guy who was armed and strung out on drugs,” Nacol said. “He’d been barricaded in his house for four days. Everyone was either incredibly grateful or incredibly eager to help.”

Gallery • 2 Photos

Courtesy of Sandeep Loka

Cars on Allen Parkway at Studemont Street are submerged in water due to flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. Allen Parkway was hit particularly hard due to it’s proximity to downtown Houston.

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