The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Appeal to help Angus family hit by hurricane
Mother and daughter have lost their home and possessions
An appeal has been launched to help an Angus family who lost everything during the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey.
Tania Wishart, 59, and her daughter Stephanie, 19, left Arbroath for Texas in 2011.
Their home in Dickinson is under water and all their belongings are gone.
Tania’s son Stephen, who lives in Belfast with his fiance Chloe, launched an online fund to help.
“Unfortunately, my mum and sister have been victim to this storm and have lost everything they have, including their home, car and all their personal belongings,” he said.
“My mum woke up in the middle of the night with water in her bedroom and her ground floor apartment flooding. “As she opened the door many of her belongings were drifting out onto the street with the water and she saw that her car was completely submerged.
“She and a neighbour made it into a first floor apartment block while the water rose but had to wait for hours before a rescue boat could reach them.
“My mum had nothing more than the clothes on her back, her phone and $20 in her pocket.”
The Galveston County kitchen supervisor, who is originally from Brazil, and her daughter have been separated by the floods but are staying in touch. Stephen added: “There was a lot of debris floating in the water and boats hitting cars and mum really feared for her life as she cannot swim.
“Eventually, she was taken to a rescue centre in Austin. However, she is now five hours away from my sister who was staying with friends that night.
“Although they are both still separated they are alive which we are so thankful for.
“We are still unsure of what the next steps are but an option is to come back to the UK and start a life again from scratch.
“At this point we don’t think insurance will cover a flood like this to help with all of their personal belongings and the car is completely gone.
“Ultimately, everything has been taken from them and they will now need to rebuild their lives and that’s why we have set up this appeal.”
The fundraising page www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/stephen-wishart has already attracted hundreds of pounds of donations.
Parts of Texas have been hit by more than 50 inches of rainfall since the hurricane landed on August 25, setting new records before it was downgraded to a tropical depression on Wednesday.