FOOD DESERT: Areas hardest-hit now dealing with limited groceries
Eric Anderson swerved his ailing white minivan into the parking lot of a boarded-up Fiesta Mart when he spotted Houston Food Bank volunteers doling out provisions.
Tropical Storm Harvey had swamped the only major grocer in his northeast Houston neighborhood, forcing him and his family to search nearby corner stores for limited staples. The sight of his neighbors carrying boxes of produce across the sweltering asphalt came as a relief after days of anxious scavenging.
“We didn’t know it was this bad,” he said. “You’d think a famine has hit.”
Some of the region’s hardest-hit neighborhoods now face food shortages as local grocers struggle to repair their
most damaged stores, leaving lower-income customers with even fewer options for quality food at affordable prices. The problem is worse for people who either don’t drive or lost their vehicle in the storm.
At least nine areas identified by the Food Bank will require extra donations as grocers bailout water logged stores, replace ruined refrigeration units and mend a broken supply chain. It found scarcity in neighborhoods near the Fiesta Mart at Mesa and Tidwell as well as ones in areas like Baytown, Channelview, Kingwood, Cypress, Pasadena and Richmond.
“Areas that weren’t food deserts suddenly became food deserts, at least in the short term,” said Brian Greene, the nonprofit’s president and CEO. “The stores are doing their very best to recover.”
The crisis has prompted state and federal agencies to expand the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, for more than 600,000 households in Harvey’s path. Recipients already received more than $160 million in early benefits this month, and officials expect to offer additionalin the coming weeks.
“That just tells you the impact,” said Joe Williams, a grocery consultant for the Texas Retailers Association. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime storm.”
Fiesta Mart, which operates stores in some of Houston’s most floodprone areas, undertook a Herculean effort to restart its store chain well before the storm had passed. Executives worked nonstop to coordinate complicated logistics while dedicated employees waded to work, and the company managed to open about two-thirds of its Houston locations within two days after the rainfall started.
“We serve the underserved,” said Mark Sellers, the company’s chief operating officer. “We have an obligation to get our stores up and open very quickly .”
The number grew as floodwaters at last receded enough to allow supply trucks to replenish inventory. But three stores, including the one on Mesa Drive, will require weeks to clean and repair.
Other major grocers also lost stores. Kroger resumed the majority of its local operations last week, but its Champion Forest and Cypresswood locations suffered massive damage. H-E-B, which brought most of its stores on line within days of the storm, has closed locations in Meyerland and King wood for major renovations. A Joe V’s Smart Shop near Timberwood also flooded substantially.
Smaller food retailers flooded as well, with conveniencestores and mom-and pop markets still dark more than a week after the storm hit.
The Food Bank has ramped up its efforts in response, routing extra provisions to the areas of highest demand throughout the 18 counties it serves. Greene said it expects to ship a million pounds of food a day for weeks to come, mainly to hard-hit areas of Harris County.
When the Food Bank truck parked outside the Fiesta Mart earlier this week, the shopping center had hardly begun its recovery since the nearby Halls Bayou burst from its banks. Most of the flooded storefronts had fastened plywood to the windows amid reports of looting.
Volunteers filled boxes with 15,000 pounds of food as weary residents lined up to receive it. Dozens of others gathered at a nearby tent to apply for food stamps, some for the first time.
Jasmine Montgomery settled on a folding chair outside of the tent, resigned to waiting for hours to determine whether she would qualify for benefits because of her job situation. A nearby Rent-a-Center had hired her for customer service just before the storm, but then the building flooded, and she never heard back about whether it will reopen.
Montgomery, who doesn’t have a car, had for years walked to the Fiesta Mart for fresh goods, trying her best to make them last between trips. Then Harvey hit and pushed water high inside her house, submerging electrical sockets and destroying the food she had. Food stamps, she said, might help her afford groceries at other stores and save for repairs.
“The little food I did have was spoiled,” she said. “Now, I don’t have the means to buy anything .”
Anderson loaded a box of provisions into his van, hoping his faulty refrigerator would last until he could afford a replacement. Parts of his roof had caved in during the storm, ex posing his appliances to Harvey’ s torrent.
He considered himself fortunate — with the van, he managed to make it to a nearby Mi Tienda store when it finally opened after the storm. But floodwater had damaged the transmission, and he worried he might soon lose his only means of venturing outside the neighborhood.
“It’s only God pushing us along in this van,” he said. “Let’s hope I can put it in gear.”