Hurricane Harvey
On August 17th, 2017, much of the gulf coast area sat around their TVs as meteorologists from all over Texas gave us a glimpse at a storm called Harvey. Harvey was estimated to be a Category 3 hurricane, that would make landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas. They expected a descent amount of rain, and possible flash flooding. No one expected what happened next….
Harvey made landfall on San Jose Island, Texas as a Category 4 hurricane. Wind gusts of 130 mph, it was the first major hurricane to make landfall since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The days following it’s landfall, from August 25th, to September 3rd, Harvey would dump more than 40 inches of rain in most areas, with peaks to 60 inches, making it the wettest tropical cyclone in US History. The resulting floods would leave 30,000 people displaced and would prompt over 17,000 rescues.
Hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses, and structures were devastated, as Harvey made his way along the gulf coast. Harvey penetrated Houston’s 1,000-year flood plain, and put the area in a full blown, Gulf Coast, state of emergency. As our fire and police departments were inundated with calls, the Cajun Navy was activated, and civilian volunteers stepped up to assist with the thousands of rescues.
Brittmoore Rescue was born on the 2nd day of Harvey’s rampage. It started as a husband and wife team operation, calling and assisting the Cajun Navy with rescue information. Over the course of the next 3 days, she and her husband would move the operation to a local business on Brittmoore Rd, “Tubular Solutions Incorporated”. With full use of the conference room, and warehouse, the operation would grow to 20+ volunteer dispatchers, 40+ donation volunteers, and numerous search and rescue teams, by boat. They would run 24 truck loads of donations (water, food, blankets, cleaning supplies, etc) around the city of Houston, and the surrounding areas. With the immense amount of help and support from the community, Brittmoore Rescue was able to form as a Non-Profit Organization, and now works to ensure that we are ready, if ever another “Harvey” comes to town.