Safe from the flood
New Waterford native was on last Toronto-bound flight to leave Houston airport
New Waterford native has made her home in Houston.
Tammy MacKinnon is sitting at the kitchen table in her mother’s New Waterford home, when her phone vibrates with an incoming text message that wipes the smile from her face.
The Cape Breton-raised nurse, who now resides in flood ravaged Houston, has just received some sad news from a work colleague.
“This isn’t good,” said MacKinnon, who then proceeded to read the message aloud.
“‘We lost our home, it looks like it might be a total loss, but we are trying to salvage what we can.’”
MacKinnon, who moved to East Texas some 21 years ago, is home in Cape Breton on a vacation that was planned before the full potential of hurricane Harvey was known.
In fact, she and seven-yearold son Joseph had seats aboard the last Toronto-bound plane that departed Houston on Friday before the sprawling city’s two international airports were closed due to the rising floodwaters.
“I’m not surprised by the flooding, especially in the areas by the lakes and rivers, but I would never have expected this devastation, it’s unbelievable, it’s just unbelievable — my house hasn’t flooded, but it’s flooded all around,” said MacKinnon, whose husband Alessandro remains at home with the family’s three cats in the north Houston suburb of Kingwood.
“He can make it to the grocery store, but there’s not really any food left there — he can’t leave the community because it is flooded on all sides.”
For her part, MacKinnon is trying to make the most of her vacation, however she admits she’s keeping her mobile phone close by her side.
“It is hard to separate vacation
from a catastrophic event, but I am still enjoying my time at home with my family and friends,” she said, adding that she’s already ticked two items off her holiday wish list, a New Waterford pizza and a trip to the Mother of Sorrows Pioneer Shrine in Mabou.
“And, my mother had fishcakes and homemade beans waiting for me when I arrived and I am planning to get out to pick some blueberries later this week, so there’s been lots of good things going on.”
MacKinnon said that while social media has allowed her to keep informed of what’s been going on in Houston, she’s not
sure what to expect when she and Joseph return home.
“I’m trying to find some balance because I know when we get back there it will be fullblown recovery — it’s going to be very surreal when we return, when we see all the devastation, it’s going to be very difficult,” she said.
“Even if my house survives, it’s going to be my community, it’s going to be my hospital, it’s going to be my employees, my friends, my family — who knows how many people will end up in my house when I get back?”
MacKinnon said she’s not sure when she will even
be able to make it home to Houston.
“I don’t want to book yet because I don’t know when the airports will be open — so I have to make sure the airports are open and that the roadway to my house is open to travel as well, so there are lots of factors involved,” she said. “For now, I’m just trying to enjoy the trip, to make it as normal as possible for Joseph.
But “normal” is not something she expects when she does return to Texas. And, she fears the worst is still yet to come for some communities in the area north of Houston.
“There are many reservoirs
and lakes north of here and, unfortunately, what happens when they reach their peak is that they overflow into the San Jacinto River, which comes right through the middle of Kingwood, so when they open the floodgates in a week or two weeks, even if there is no rain, some people are still going to get flooded again,” she predicted.
If there is a silver lining to the situation, it’s that MacKinnon and son Joseph may end up with more time to visit family and friends in Cape Breton.