On roads turned waterways, volunteers improvise to save the trapped

by Manny Fernandez and Sail-World.com on 2 Sep 2017 Editor's Note: Hurricane Harvey has caused havoc and pain. From the other side of the world, we have watched in horror, and then marvelled at the efforts of so many, some travelling from neighbouring States to assist. To all of them and on behalf of all those they helped, we say thank you and well done. As the devastation continues in other areas, and with tired people everywhere, the following article certainly struck a cord.

The men from East Texas had just boarded their boat here, when there was a sudden jarring bump underneath. “Fire hydrant,” explained Cody Cullum, 33, with a weary shrug. The men were riding down an urban sea off Beltway 8, in the dark. It was long after midnight on Tuesday in this residential section on the outskirts of Houston, and under the surface of floodwaters the color of coffee and cream lay the now invisible hallmarks of city life — gutters, sidewalks, front steps and mailboxes. In parts, the waterline left a visible sliver of the tops of abandoned cars and almost reached the bottom edge of stop signs.

The volunteer rescue boat and many others like it are a sign of how the response to one of the worst disasters in decades in Texas has been, in many ways, improvised. Recreational vehicles — airboats, Jet Skis, motorized fishing boats — have rushed to the aid of people trapped in their homes, steered by welders, roofers, mechanics and fishermen wearing shorts, headlamps and ponchos. The working class, in large part, is being saved by the working class.

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