Hurricane Harvey

The ShelterBox response

ShelterBox deployed aid in Houston and other areas impacted by flooding following Hurricane Harvey.

ShelterBox USA – Harvey Outcomes Report 2018

Tamara Richards, 32 weeks pregnant, talks with ShelterBox Operations Team Lead Andrew Clark after moving into her “new house.” (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

ShelterBox brought privacy and comfort to the evacuees through the distribution of its Shelter-in-a-Shelter tents. ShelterBox had positioned tents, school kits, blankets, groundsheets and solar lights near the hurricane-devastated region as it communicated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state agencies to determine urgent shelter and aid needs.

Charity Navigator included ShelterBox USA in its list of charities providing assistance in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

Read the ShelterBox press release about Harvey.

Read ‘It’s Time To Rethink Emergency Evacuation Centers‘ by John Nosta
Published by Psychology Today on Sept 5, 2017

 

 

Hurricane Harvey was a Cat 4 when it first made landfall northeast of Corpus Christi, Texas on Aug. 25th.

Harvey made land fall three separate times, dropping a staggering 20 trillion gallons of water in the Houston area and causing an estimated $100 billion in damage. It is also estimated that nearly 200,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged and while area shelters swelled to 43,000 people.

Images from ShelterBox show the impacts of Harvey - Sept 2017

Photos from the Response Team show: the impact of Harvey as area shelters have filled rapidly (top); a flooded Houston street (left) and a recent arrival to a shelter after receiving medical attention (right).

 

ShelterBox aid deployed in Texas

ShelterBox aid arrived in the form of tents, blankets, groundsheets, school kits, and solar lamps. A provision of tents was being used as privacy tents at area shelters where large numbers of families were being housed, allowing for medical treatment, childcare, and a host of other critical options.

The first ShelterBox Tents were deployed at the George R. Brown Evacuation Center in coordination with the Houston Health Dept as part of our “shelter within a shelter” solution to give doctors, nurses, and individuals privacy for medical screening.

ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray and SRT Tim Osburn unloading privacy tents at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

Volunteers erect one of privacy tents at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray with SRT Tim Osburn in one of privacy tents at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

At a shelter in Crosby, Texas, ShelterBox distributed tents for displaced families, half of whose homes washed away in the hurricane. Many of these vulnerable families have young children and are living in a shelter set up at the American Legion Club.

Cindy and Gordon lost their home after water from the San Jacinto River rose and flooded the mobile home park in which they lived. “It’s our new house,” she said sitting inside her new tent. “We just got out with what we could, and we got out before a lot of other people did. We got out when the water started coming up. There are no words to describe it. I mean I can’t believe these people coming to help us like this, it’s so great. I feel like I’m in a big home (the tent). It’s the best home we’ve had yet.”

ShelterBox set up privacy tents in the American Legion Post 658 as they respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. ShelterBox team members Louis Turpin, left, and Bruce Heller set up one of the many privacy tents. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

Cindy Crow shows a photo of her flooded mobile home, with her ShelterBox tent in the background. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

Cindy and Gordon Crow move into their “new house” after their mobile home was flooded by Harvey. (Photo by Erich Schlegel for ShelterBox)

 

 

The ShelterBox Response Team initially deployed included to the Harvey reponse: Bruce Heller of Allen, TX, the treasurer of the ShelterBox USA Board of Directors and a Rotary Club member; and Tim Osburn, based in Lakeway, TX, also a Rotarian and former member of the Board of Directors.

Since 2011, Heller has deployed as a Response Team member of disasters in Kenya, Peru, Iraq, Kurdistan, and the Philippines. Osburn has deployed to disaster sites in Ethiopia and Nepal and participated in the domestic deployment following the 2011 tornadoes in Arkansas.

ShelterBox volunteers assist with the Hurricane Harvey disaster response

A businessman, Heller said he’s devastated to see so much of Texas underwater. “As a Rotarian and a ShelterBox Response Team Member, I am proud to be able to respond in my home state of Texas, where so may are suffering as a result of this storm. As people of action, the best thing Rotarians can do to help in moments like these is to lend support to trusted partners, like ShelterBox, who are experienced in disaster response and who can make sure aid is being allocated appropriately, where need is greatest.”

Upon being deployed, Osburn said, “Texas is a proud state and as a native Texan it is a humble privilege to serve my fellow Texans and the countless others in 9 other countries that Shelterbox is currently conducting relief operations.”

Additional support in Texas included: Response Team member Candice Streff; Three Board Members: Marlise Skinner, Louis Turpin and Don Utz; and Director of Fundraising Sarah Robinson. Several ShelterBox Ambassadors also volunteered their assistance to the response.

ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray tours areas impacted by Harvey

ShelterBox USA President Kerri Murray was on the ground in Texas to coordinate with the Response Team as well as local agencies. Pictured above: Kerri coordinates shelter options with a Red Cross representative; Magician David Blaine with Murray at one of the area shelters; H-E-B President Scott McClelland with Murray and a local community outreach team.

It’s hard enough to lose your home and be traumatized by the massive devastation of a disaster. In these times, critical community services and support can be disrupted. We are providing the privacy tents to enable services to continue and a sense of normalcy to return.

“Women who are nursing still need places to breastfeed. People need places to receive counseling and attend AA and substance support meetings. People need places to worship. In coordination with the Red Cross and Department of Public Health in Houston, ShelterBox USA set up Shelter-in-a-Shelter solutions that now serve as private spaces for HIV/STD consultation, lactation stations, places of worship, and more.”

~ ShelterBox USA President, Kerri Murray

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— Daphne Unfeasible (@DaphneUn) August 30, 2017

Bad Timing

Katrina 2005

August 29th marks the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The storm devastated communities all along the coasts of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi with hurricane-force winds and a storm surge that sent walls of water several miles inland. It was estimated that 80% of New Orleans was completely flooded.

Aid from ShelterBox was the first help to reach many survivors of the disaster. Response Team volunteers worked with local Rotarians, government officials and partner agencies to distribute tents to thousands of people who had seen their homes and possessions destroyed.

 

Staying Prepared

As the Response Team works to deliver the best shelter solutions in Texas, our worldwide operations continue.

ShelterBox is currently also providing emergency shelter to families who have lost their homes in Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Cameroon, Niger, Colombia, and Somaliland. Response Teams are conducting assessments in Sierra Leone following heavy rain and mudslides, and in Nepal, as extreme flooding throughout South Asia is claiming lives and displacing families (NY Times 8.29.17).

The organization responded to the last tropical storm to threaten the U.S. in 2016 as Hurricane Matthew cut through Haiti, Cuba, and on to the Eastern seaboard of the U.S.

Harvey's Aftermath

Photos by Erich Schlegel

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 28: Stranded vehicles sit where they got stuck in high water from Hurricane Harvey on Voss Road in Houston, Texas August 28, 2017. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 28: Arthur Kolten, 96, center, was rescued by volunteers in a motor boat from his flooded home in the Meyerland neighborhood of Houston, Texas August 28, 2017 after Hurricane Harvey inundated the Houston area. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 28: Evacuees fill up cots at the George Brown Convention Center that has been turned into a shelter run by the American Red Cross to house victims of the high water from Hurricane Harvey . (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 28: Evacuees fill up cots at the George Brown Convention Center that has been turned into a shelter run by the American Red Cross to house victims of the high water from Hurricane Harvey . (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

WESTLAKE, TX – AUGUST 29: Texas Army National Guard members Sergio Esquivel, left, and Ernest Barmore carry 81-year-old Ramona Bennett after she and other residents were rescued from their Pine Forest Village neighborhood due to high water from Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 29: Larry Koser, Jr., left, and his son Matthew look for important papers and heirlooms inside Larry Koser, Sr.’s house in the Bear Creek neighborhood in west Houston, Texas after it was flooded by heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017. The neighborhood flooded after water was release from nearby Addicks Reservoir. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 29: Matthew Koser looks for important papers and heirlooms inside his grandfather’s house in the Bear Creek neighborhood in west Houston, Texas after it was flooded by heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017. The neighborhood flooded after water was release from nearby Addicks Reservoir. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 29: Matthew Koser is hypothermic and waits for rescue atop his car after looking for important papers and heirlooms inside his grandfather’s house in the Bear Creek neighborhood in west Houston, Texas after it was flooded by heavy rains from Hurricane Harvey August 29, 2017. The neighborhood flooded after water was release from nearby Addicks Reservoir. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 30: The Walker and Brown families walk out of the water at Memorial Drive and North Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor of west Houston, Texas where residents rescued from their flooded homes and apartments due to high water coming from the Addicks Reservoir after Hurricane Harvey. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 30: Blake Kuklin prepares to rescue more people at Memorial Drive and North Eldridge Parkway in the Energy Corridor of west Houston, Texas where residents were evacuating from their flooded homes and apartments due to high water coming from the Addicks Reservoir after Hurricane Harvey. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 30: Residents are evacuated from the apartment complex they live in near the Energy Corridor of west Houston, Texas where high water coming from the Addicks Reservoir is flooding the area after Hurricane Harvey. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

 

HOUSTON, TX – AUGUST 30: The Martinez family evacuates the apartment complex they live in near the Energy Corridor of west Houston, Texas where high water coming from the Addicks Reservoir is flooding the area after Hurricane Harvey. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)

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