"H" as in Hurricane Harvey for ABC Wednesday

I'm a little late for ABC Wednesday and almost didn't make it.  Living in Houston I thought "H" as in Hurricane Harvey was quite appropriate.  We haven't had cable so I didn't have Internet or TV.  Then today we got cable service back and an hour later the electricity went out again.  Earlier it had been out for 24 hours.  I'm hoping to get this up before anything goes out again.

Our home did not flood and I'm so grateful.  I am well aware that thousands and thousands of people weren't as fortunate.

I have never seen so much rain in my life!  I believe it was Saturday that I stayed up until 2:00 AM watching the water rise in front of the house.  Finally, the electricity went off and I went to bed.  It wasn't like I could do anything to stop the water anyway and it was already up to the front porch.  I took this picture with my phone as it was rising.  It was taken from the front porch and it's not very clear, but you'll get the idea.  That's a road not a lake.

We do not live that close to a creek or bayou so if we flooded it would be because the water couldn't drain off fast enough.  Houston is very flat and there is a lot of concrete which makes it bad any time there's a heavy rain...and this was no ordinary heavy rain.

When I came downstairs in the morning the floor was dry and the water had receded.  The heavy rain had let up for a while and we were spared. 

Without Internet and TV we were kind of isolated and didn't know too much about what the storm was doing.  My cell phone wasn't much help.  The Internet was very slow loading...if at all.  I did listen to the radio from time to time, but it's not quite the same.

My friend texted me some pictures of her home.  She's on the other side of Houston and about 35-40 miles from here.  She had three feet of water in her home and had to move upstairs.

This is her backyard.  Believe it or not there's a swimming pool under all that water.

I think she'll need a new car.

This is the view from her upstairs window.

I think with so many homes and buildings flooded it will take years for Houston to recover.  Many, many people have been rescued by boat.  Authorities asked for help and the public responded.  As I type this they are still pulling people from flooded homes.  I'm afraid the death toll will rise as the water goes down.

Today my son and I drove a few miles to the town where we used to live Friendswood, Texas.  The road was blocked by flood waters and we were forced to turn around.  I think it will be a while before the road is passable.  We saw a lot of abandoned cars that I assume are ruined.  I didn't think to take a picture of the cars because I was shocked at the scene.

We did go out on Monday when the rain let up and found an open grocery store.  We stood on line to get in and then were told that they had no refrigerated or frozen things because they had lost power for 9 hours and had to toss everything.

We drove around and found another grocery store that was open and stood on line again.  They limit how many can go in the store at one time.

Some shelves were bare, but we got what we needed.

And then we got on one of two lines.  Our line started in the back of the store by the dairy case.

We went all the way to the other side of the store and then towards the front.

It was actually very well organized.  When we got up by the registers there was someone who directed us where to go.  From the back of the store to the register it only took an hour.  Considering the number of people that was pretty good.

While we were shopping the heavy rains returned.  I was concerned that the road might flood, but we made it home!

We had all the necessities that we needed and decided we weren't going out again until the sun came out.

Today the sun came out and we went to Walmart for a prescription and stood in line again. I guess the stores all use the same crowd control system and it actually works quite well.

I guess this will be the new normal for a while.

I find myself shaking my head in disbelief all the time, but Harvey really did happen.  I think it took most people by surprise.  This storm developed so quickly.  I sure hope there won't be another hurricane this season, but hurricane season runs through November 1st.

Please keep Houston and everyone who has been affected by this tragedy in your prayers.

To visit other ABC Wednesday posts click here.  As long as the cable and electricity stays on I'll try and visit other "H" posts this week.