Volunteer Groups Helped Rescue Residents From Houston Flood

When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, no one had anticipated how destructive it would become. Heavy rains hammered Greater Houston and the nearby areas displacing thousands of families. Houston is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the country, where over two million people reside in the city and the metropolitan area has nearly 6.7 million residents.

Hurricane Harvey started out as a tropical wave to the east of Lesser Antilles. As it traversed through Windward Islands, Barbados, near Saint Vincent, and into the Caribbean Sea, began to weaken due to moderate wind shear and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia on the 19th of August. It redeveloped over the Bay of Campeche and began to rapidly intensify on August 24th and became a tropical storm, then a hurricane later that day.

Deaths related to Harvey have reach 37 and rescuers are hoping the casualties won’t significantly increase while the rescue operation continues. Chief Art Acevedo of the Houston Police said authorities have received 60,000 to 70,000 calls for help.

A Year’s Worth Of Rain

“At least 19 trillion gallons of water has fallen on Texas since the storm began,” Meteorologist Ryan Maue of WeatherBell (a private forecasting firm) said. The affected areas with flooded with approximately 51.88 inches of rain, now the new record of the most rainfall for any tropical storm or hurricane in the lower 48 states.

The Cajun Coast Search and Rescue team, or better known as the Cajun Navy, a Louisiana volunteer group composed of anyone who owns a boat and wants to rescue flood victims, were among the volunteer groups that aided in the search and rescue operations right after the storm made a landfall.

Donate To Help

Relief campaigns and infrastructure rebuilding are now the main concern of the local authorities to help the survivors recover from the properties they lost to flood. Your donation (may it be in-kind, cash, or other items) will come a long way.

However, it is important to note that you should be smart when it comes to giving your money to charity institutions. It would hurt to verify if the charity soliciting for a donation is legit and trustworthy. While it is important to help, securing that your money would actually reach those who need it is also important.

If you are willing to donate but unsure who to contact or where to send your financial donation, check out the list of organization below:

American Red Cross. You can visit their website, call 1.800.RED CROSS or text HARVEY to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund. City Mayor Sylvester Turner has established this organization for tax deductible donations. Here’s the official website.

Local Volunteer Organizations Houston is the city affected, yet many other cities around Houston are welcoming evacuees. These cities need support as well. San Antonio for example is welcoming families from Houston and needs supplies to help with their relief.

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