Harvey devastated Victoria, but residents aren’t giving up

VICTORIA — The streets of Victoria no longer look the same as they did before Harvey rumbled into town. Now, stoplights are broken, trees are leafless and debris scattered everywhere.

But survivors of Harvey in this city of more than 63,000 are finding that the kindness of others has helped them weather the hurricane’s wrath.

On Sunday, which President Donald Trump declared a National Day of Prayer for those affected by the storm, thousands of residents of Victoria, 125 miles southwest of Houston, received food, water and ice from state agencies and citizen volunteers.

“We’ve seen people from everywhere. They just show up and jump right in. It’s very helpful and heartfelt,” said Rick McBrayer, Emergency Management Coordinator for Victoria.

Harvey hit the coast as a Category 4 hurricane, then transformed into a tropical storm. When it struck Victoria about a week ago at a Category 2, the city was battered by winds and gusts in triple digits and plunged into darkness — the storm killed power in thousands of households and brought a deluge that led to a boil water notice. City residents were ordered to evacuate, and away they fled. Many Victoria evacuees have returned to their hometown, only to be without potable water and power to cook food and cool their homes.

Recovery begins

City and county officials in Victoria worked with the state to establish two points of distribution. The state has now sent out the Texas Army National Guard and Texas State Guard, many of them from San Antonio, to multiple municipalities in Texas.

In Victoria, the painstaking task of rebuilding and recovery has begun, im- peded in part by lingering effects of the hurricane. As of 4:30 p.m. Sunday, there were 5,400 outages left in the Victoria County area, down from its peak a week ago of about 29,000.

“Not only did we get the force of Hurricane Harvey seven days ago, but then we had major flooding after that,” McBrayer said.

The city has been under a major flood warning by the National Weather Service for days now, with waters reaching over 30 feet at crest on Friday. Residents experienced between 9 to 15 inches of rainfall countywide, McBrayer said.

Under a beating sun Sunday, red-faced volunteers and guardsmen handed out Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs. The food packets typically are passed out to the U.S. military, and have water-activated heaters — residents can eat hot spaghetti or tortellini just by adding water.

People came in droves, and at each handout residents gave thanks. “Thank you all for everything you do,” one man said; “God bless you,” said an elderly woman; “Can I shake your hand?” said another resident.

A smile but no house

About 1,700 families took advantage of their services Saturday at the community center site, which, McBrayer estimated, added up to some 4,000 people getting aid.

Moses Valenzuela, 20, drove down from Lubbock with his mother to lend a hand. They couldn’t find a hotel room in Victoria — many are still booked from evacuees and temporary workers, or are out of order because of a lack of power — so they’ve been staying at a hotel in San Antonio and making the drive in the mornings.

“I just started thinking, I’m at home with my family while other people are not with their family. They’re picking up debris from their house and trying to figure out their future. And I thought, I have to come down,” Valenzuela said.

“Everyone is going to Houston instead of the other small communities,” he said, as he grabbed two MREs and, with a smile, handed them to a family in a pick-up.

“How’s your day?” he asked them, and they grinned. The woman shook his hand.

“Some don’t even have a house and still smile,” he said, as he shook his head in disbelief.

For about a week, the two distribution sites in Victoria each have issued between 2,200 and 2,500 cases of water per day and 2,600 to 3,000 bags of ice per day, McBrayer said.

“Now we’re at the point when we’re getting the resources we needed and the needs are slowly coming down,” he said.

But while the “trickling effect,” as McBrayer called it, of the hurricane is slowing, it’s still not over.

Haresh Kumar, a kidney doctor, tended to four patients Saturday night that all had kidney failure because of dehydration.

“I’ve never seen four patients with heat exhaustion in one day like that. I can tell it’s because they don’t have good water to drink,” he said.

“They’re trying to fix their city and not keeping themselves hydrated,” he added.

Both hospitals in Victoria closed, he said, sending upward of 300 patients in mass casualty ambulances to hospitals in San Antonio and other areas.

He said they reopened the hospitals on Wednesday. Kumar started work early on Sunday so he’d have time to get out to the distribution site and volunteer — he handed out the water.

“It’s better to know they’re getting water here than seeing them in the hospital,” he said, shrugging, before rushing to hand off a pack to a couple.

He said beyond folks’ physical well-being, he worries about their mental health.

“Most of the people that stayed thought they were going to die from the winds,” he said. “You can see it was an emotional trauma.”

‘We’re going to make it’

But around the city, churches, nonprofits and shops are beginning to open up, many offering free clothing or water to residents. Kumar said it’s a different city now, but that that’s OK.

“If you look around, we’re getting so much support,” he said. “I think we’ll come out stronger.”

McBrayer said the troops likely will pack their bags, and the distribution centers will close, when more residents get more power back and the water becomes safe to drink — all which could be solved as early as this week.

Susan Nevlud and her husband fled to Waco during the storm and when they returned found their home intact, but they’ve been without food and potable water. She said they’ve been scrounging around town, getting a free meal from a car dealership here, a case of water from a local church over there.

“We’re just waiting at this point,” she said, two MREs in her hands and a case of water in her backseat.

“The scariest part was coming home to see what we had left. But it’s OK,” she said. “We’re going to make it.”

“It’s sad, but people are strong,” said Bob Sparks, who was picking up meals for his neighbors. “We have a resilient people here. Out of the ashes, we will rise.”