Residents returning to their homes in Victoria, Texas, have begun cleaning up in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey, dumbstruck by the destruction caused by floodwaters.
“At first it was — you’re kind of, like, speechless,” Victoria resident Mary Martinez said by phone Thursday. “My first thought after I kind of assessed everything, I said, ’Oh my goodness, I don’t have the manpower, I don’t have the tools and even the funding ’ You don’t even think at that point what are you going to do. It’s ’I don’t have it’ — that’s all I knew at that point in time.”
Floodwaters have begun to recede, and the federal government estimates that 100,000 homes in South Texas and Louisiana were affected by Harvey. Proposals for an aid package are estimated at more than $100 billion.
Downed trees and power lines, unsanitary water and flood damage are just some of the things Victoria’s 68,000 residents are contending with — though they fared better than neighbors elsewhere in Harvey’s path.
Victoria lies 50 miles from the Gulf coast, about 30 miles southwest of Houston. The city had ordered a mandatory evacuation before Harvey made landfall Friday as a Category 4 hurricane. By the time storm had moved on, Victoria recorded just under 20 inches of rain.
“We’re just far away from the coast to just minimize the real open-force destruction of the full power of the hurricane,” said O.C. Garza, the city’s director of communications. “But certainly it’s been powerful enough — with its rain and with its winds — to damage us to the core.”
Mr. Garza said no fatalities or serious injuries have been reported — in part because of the evacuation and the brunt of the storm missed Victoria. Mr. Garza said he and his family stayed, and their house received minimal flood damage.
“It’s hard to say why people stayed, but it only takes riding out a storm of this magnitude once in your life to inspire people to evacuate the next time,” he said.
He estimates the city faces hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage, but noted that fewer than 100 families had floodwaters in their homes. The most daunting challenge the city will contend with, he said, is clearing away tree debris.
“We have about 300 miles of street in Victoria, and because this is a tree city, literally, the tree and the yard waste debris will be one of our biggest challenges,” he said, adding that he expects it will take at least three months to dispose of all the debris.
Mr. Garza said experts estimate that 95 percent of Victoria’s electrical power will be restored by Saturday evening. The city’s water system has resumed operation, but residents are required to boil water before using it to drink, wash or even brush their teeth.
Ms. Martinez said power hadn’t been restored to her home Thursday, but the cleanup effort was being shouldered by volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse. She had called their number she found on a flyer at her local church.
“They put tarps on my roof, they cleaned out those two rooms, they’ve cut the trees,” she said. “The house is starting to look like a house again. With all this assistance — and it was all because I called a number — and their response was, its been so helpful. It helps a homeowner and the family.”
Cleanup costs can multiply quickly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommend throwing out all things contaminated by sewage or flood water, including drywall, insulation, mattresses, carpeting and furniture. All hard surfaces — flooring, concrete, molding, wood and metal furniture, countertops, appliances, sinks and plumbing fixtures — must be cleaned thoroughly with hot water and soap.
The Red Cross has set up a distribution center providing cleaning supplies in Victoria, Mr. Garza said.
Samaritan’s Purse media representative Kaitlyn Lahm said the nonprofit group had started mobilizing volunteers and tractor trailers with disaster relief supplies from it base in North Carolina as Harvey gain strength last week.
“Those disaster relief units are tractor trailers that are stocked with emergency supplies, generators, chain saws, tarps — anything that we would need to help families start to recover and pick up the pieces after the storm,” Ms. Lahm said. “We’re seeing a lot of wind damage here, there’s a lot of downed trees, a lot of roofs that have been torn off, shingles that are missing.”
Ms. Lahm said about 180 volunteers already have worked about 1,200 hours in Victoria and the neighboring city of Rockport. They are planning on deploying additional volunteers to Santa Fe, Texas, and Houston as water recedes.
• Laura Kelly can be reached at lkelly@washingtontimes.com.
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