Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske reports on the thousands of evacuees at Houston’s convention center as they struggle to cope with Tropical Storm Harvey.
Reporting from HOUSTON — Victims were arriving empty-handed: soaked, scraped and in search of missing relatives after narrowly escaping death. One man arrived after a tree fell on his house, killing his dog.
Only seven months ago, the gleaming George R. Brown Convention Center hosted visitors from around the country for Super Bowl LI festivities. But that was before the ruinous deluge of Tropical Storm Harvey, before 40-plus inches of rain in four days sent thousands of people fleeing their homes and turned the 1.8-million-square-foot convention center into a massive emergency shelter.
On Tuesday, a gathering space built for 5,000 people was packed with nearly 10,000, languishing on rows of green cots, hushing unruly children, peering dully at large video screens for news of the storm — waiting for word of when, if ever, the endless rain would stop.
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Sources: FEMA, Mapzen, OpenStreetMap, population image Copyright, 2013, Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia (Dustin A. Cable, creator)
(Ally Levine / @latimesgraphics)
The convention center was already full at midday, and so many new victims had showed up that a line of dozens was forming out in the rain.
“This is a crazy difficult moment,” MaryJane Mudd, a local spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said as she darted through the crowd in red vest and rain boots.
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They had military-style meals ready to eat, blankets, baby formula and diapers, but were facing shortages of hot food, cots and wheelchairs. “We have enough basics to get people off the street. We won’t turn anybody away,” Mudd said. “But there’s not enough. We’re over capacity. We planned for weeks, but even then, this is rough.”
The crowd was a cross section of Houston, the country’s fourth-largest city and by many measures its most diverse. There were women in head scarves, families chatting in Spanish, veterans toting military duffel bags and neatly coiffed elderly women wheeling carefully packed suitcases.
Most of those arriving, Mudd said, show up with “a combination of fear and anguish.”
“I wonder why,” one man repeated as he lay on his cot.
Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske speaks to people who evacuated their homes and are staying at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston as they struggle to cope with Tropical Storm Harvey.
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By late morning, the halls buzzed with a low hum of voices and activity.
Survivors searched for federal assistance coordinators; volunteers circulated offering fresh fruit and collecting trash. A man passing out stickers in a Spider-Man suit immediately attracted a circle of squealing children, soon joined by several men shyly asking to pose for photos.
In the women’s restroom, women preened before a bank of mirrors and sinks, washing out their muddy boots. Men shared newspapers and helped carry cots. Teenagers bent over their phones.
Nearly all had stories of escaping their homes as dark brown waters swirled, often having to flee by boat or even helicopter as the floods turned entire neighborhoods into inland lakes dotted with roofs and treetops.
Vianey Salazar, 17, said her family and three others — about 40 people, half of them children — made it to the shelter early Tuesday after water surrounded their homes in northeast Houston and they had run out of food.
“When we saw the water was rising, we knew we had to go,” she said.
They had to pay a team of beer-chugging rescuers $40 to drive them to a fire station, where they were turned away, she said. They tried a school next, but it was closed, windows dark, alarms blaring. Finally they reached the convention center. They planned to meet relatives there Wednesday and go stay with them east of the city.
Vivian Bell, 61, ignored the pain in her feet from diabetes sores as she walked the length of the convention center to bring food to her three grandchildren. Then she watched over them as they slept on cardboard pallets, sorting supplies she had gathered, including comforters and prepackaged meals.
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“I tried to get a bed, but they said they didn’t have any,” she said.
Vivian Bell with her grandchildren at the Houston convention center
(Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)
Her grandson had been trying to persuade her to leave town and stay with her son in Killeen, Texas. But after escaping to safety in a dump truck, Bell refused to leave her family at the shelter.
“We’re going to ride it out together,” she said.
When volunteers announced lunch was served — a mix of rice and vegetables — more than a hundred people lined up. Many had children in tow. Some pushed relatives in wheelchairs. A woman started shouting, “I love you, Lord! I Love you, Jesus!”
“Oh my God in heaven,” said Robert Hart, 64, a homeless Marine veteran accustomed to staying in shelters.
The woman quieted down on her own, and the line trudged forward.
As the day wore on, tension began flaring.
Loretta Jones had seen her neighborhood in southeast Houston engulfed, and fled her family’s home of 40 years with her two young sons.
Rescuers in a military truck drove them to the convention center downtown — an area that has largely escaped inundation — where workers offered clothing and food.
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But her 12-year-old son was getting antsy. He got into an argument with another boy while playing ball in the hallway, and another storm victim, Kesha Bundage, had to intervene.
“You already lost a lot,” Bundage, 44, told the boy, who was teary-eyed. “This is going to happen. You just got to pray on it.”
Just then the other boy’s mother arrived, and she and Jones began to quarrel. A police officer intervened, and tempers subsided, but Jones worried about her hotheaded sixth-grader as the days drag on.
“I have a feeling there’s going to be a fight before this is over. I’m trying so hard,” she said, longing aloud for a smoke.
The officer advised her to go get a cigarette.
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Samir Novruzov wades through water to get to a vehicle after spending the day clearing out his flooded home in Katy, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Melissa Teague, right, instructs her children Andrew and Emily as they clear out their flooded home in Katy, Texas, on Monday.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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People ride through floodwaters in Katy, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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People hop off Chris Ginter’s truck as he helps ferry residents around Katy, Texas.
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Two men collect a disposed mattress as residents in the Trinity/Houston Garden area of northeast Houston gut their flooded homes.
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Wayne Christopher, center, weeps as his wife, Helen, looks on during a Sunday service at First United Methodist Church in Dickinson, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Hurricane Harvey severely damaged the First Baptist Church in Rockport, Texas. Worshipers on Sunday brought their own chairs to take part in an outdoor service.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Ken Garrett, right, hugs Pastor Jordan Mims after they both delivered prayers on the grounds of the First Baptist Church in Rockport, Texas.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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University of Houston law professor Johnny Buckles props up an American flag on the debris pile from his flood-damaged home in the Kingwood area of north Houston.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jose Esquivel flags down motorists to visit a parking lot full of donated clothes, supples, water and brisket in Refugio, Texas.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Despite heavy damage and no electricity, a homeowner displays his patriotism while clean up and recovery efforts continue in his devastated neighborhood of Rockport.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, Yusuf Seager, from left, Rahib Ahmed, Rahman Nasir, and Khalil Nasir help tear out drywall damaged by floodwater in the Westbury neighborhood in Houston.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association help residents of the Westbury neighborhood in Houston clear debris from their homes. It is also the Islamic holiday of Eid-ul-Adha. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Many roads and Interstates in Texas remain flooded, including this one in west Houston. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jenna Fountain and her father Kevin carry a bucket down Regency Drive to try to recover items from their flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas on Thursday.
(Emily Kask / AFP / Getty Images)
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Lillie Roberts talks with family members as contractor Jerry Garza begins the process of repairing her Houston home on Friday.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Volunteers from the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association to perform holy prayer as they help local residents in the Kashmere Gardens area of Houston clean out their flooded homes.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Volunteers assist Cornell Beasley with repairs to his damaged home in Houston on Friday.
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Katie Estridge organizes hundreds of soaked family photographs on the front lawn of her father’s home in northeast Houston.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Wes Higgins wipes sweat from his face after spending five days patrolling flooded Houston neighborhoods in his boat. Higgins, from Knott, Texas, organized a volunteer team of 10 boats to help Houston residents.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Members of the California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing, Senior Airman George McKenzie, left, and Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster, right, help a man carry his infant, who has a serious medical condition, to a hospital in Orange, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A search-and-rescue crew speeds along Maple Rock Drive in west Houston looking for flood victims.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman and a child are among those rescued by California Air National Guardsmen in Lumberton, north of Beaumont.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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California Air National Guard 129th Rescue Wing’s Master Sgt. Adam Vanhaaster searches for people in need of help near Lumberton.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A man prepares his dinner at home near Lumberton.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Boys sit on a damaged railroad track near Lumberton.
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A woman waves to a California Air National Guard helicopter from her neighborhood near Lumberton.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A drop-off point for boat rescues in Lumberton.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Baseball fields in Lumberton are inundated.
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Coca-Cola delivery trucks are trapped by floodwater in Lumberton, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A military search and rescue helicopter refuels mid-flight before resuming nighttime missions over areas flooded in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Houston police search a flooded home after hearing that an elderly couple lived there. The house was empty. Police later learned the couple had safely evacuated.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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West Houston resident Pedro Albiso uses trash bags to protect his shoes and pants as he prepares to cross a flooded street.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Patients are evacuated from Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas after the city of Beaumont lost its water supply.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Fatima Flores, 12, gets her hair done by cousins Shelly Flores, 7, left, and Ashley Flores, 7, as their family takes shelter at Max Bowl, a bowling alley in Port Arthur, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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James Benoit, left, and George Clipton sought refuge at Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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June Ayrow spent the night with his oxygen tanks underneath a table at Max Bowl in Port Arthur, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Floodwaters surround homes Thursday in Port Arthur, Texas.
(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
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Volunteers rescue patients from the Cypress Glen nursing home where floodwaters trapped dozens of elderly patients in Port Arthur, Texas on Wednesday.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Residents lie on sofas as they wait to be evacuated from the Cypress Glen senior care facility in Port Arthur, Texas, which was inundated with floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey on Wednesday.
(Matt Pearce / Los Angeles Times)
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Emergency crews help rescue elderly residents from the Golden Years Assisted Living home in Orange, Texas, on Wednesday.
(Gerald Herbert / Associated Press)
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Rescuer workers help a woman from her flooded home n Port Arthur, Texas.
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Evacuees ride on a truck after they were driven from their homes by the flooding in Port Arthur, Texas.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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People wait in line to buy groceries at a Food Town during the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)
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Juan Figueroa removes damaged furniture from his mother’s northeast Houston home where residents begin rebuilding from the devastating effects of the storm.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Rafael Minor, left, and Miguel Ramirez remove the contents from a flooded home in northeast Houston on Wednesday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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A construction crew cleans out a home that was flooded by Tropical Storm Harvey in Spring, Texas.
(Brett Coomer / Associated Press)
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A flooded residential neighborhood near Interstate 10 in Houston, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A flooded residential neighborhood near Interstate 10 in Houston, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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People come out to view the flooded areas near their homes in Houston, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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CaroLine Kirkpatrick of Salt Lake City, Utah, is evacuated from the Omni Hotel by rescue worker Adam Caballero in Addicks, a suburb of Houston, Texas.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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People displaced by flooding fill the shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.
(LM Otero / Associated Press)
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Mark Ocosta and his baby, Aubrey, take shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Frantzy Thenor receives an embrace from a fellow evacuee after he helped her leave from the flooded Omni Hotel, in the Addicks area of Houston, Texas.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Storm clouds over Houston skyline.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Recreational vehicles sit on their sides in flood water in Houston, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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A woman carries a dog above the rising floodwaters near Addicks Reservoir.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Eduardo Retiz, 21, drives his elevated pickup truck through a flooded street near Addicks Reservoir.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Mike Hoskovec, left, walks to a boat after helping friend Ben Berg, behind, move some photo albums to the second floor of his Nottingham Woods home.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Matthew Koser looks for important papers and heirlooms inside his grandfather’s house after it was flooded by heavy rains.
(Erich Schlegel / Getty Images)
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Residents wade through floodwaters as they evacuate their homes near the Addicks Reservoir Tuesday.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
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Larry Koser Jr., left and his son Matthew look for important papers and heirlooms inside Larry Koser Sr.’s house after it was flooded by heavy rains.
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Portions of Interstate 10 remain flooded in Houston, Texas.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
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Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Comfort Morgan is helped to dry land after being rescued from her flooded home in Twin Oaks Village in Clodine.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine, where a collection of small boat owners, including some with pool toys, coordinated to bring most to dry ground.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Rising flood waters stranded hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine, where an collection of small boat owners coordinated to bring most to dry ground.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Hundreds of residents of Twin Oaks Village are evacuated in Clodine Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Residents are stranded at Twin Oaks Village in Clodine due to rising flood water.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Stranded residents of Twin Oaks Village in Clodine are evacuated from the rising flood water.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jan Tullos, 32, searches a flooded home for an injured woman who was reportedly stranded inside in Clodine, Texas. The home was empty.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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People walk down a flooded Houston street as they evacuate their homes after the area was inundated with rains from Tropical Storm Harvey.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Dean Mize holds children as he and Jason Legnon use an airboat to rescue people from flooded homes in Houston on Monday.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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Dean Mize, left and Jason Legnon carry a person to an airboat as they rescue people in Houston.
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Evacuees walk down a flooded street after leaaving their homes Monday in Houston.
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Dean Mize holds a child as he helps evacuate people in Houston as Tropical Storm Harvey continues to drench southeastern Texas and Louisiana with heavy rains and surging floodwaters.
(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)
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People evacuate their flooded homes on Monday in Houston. By Monday morning, 911 operators had received 56,000 calls, city officials said.
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Adults use a kiddie pool to transport children as they evacuate on Monday.
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People catch a ride on a construction vehicle down a flooded Houston street.
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Alexendre Jorge evacuates Ethan Colman, 4, from a Houston neighborhood inundated by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey.
(Charlie Riedel / AP)
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People push a stalled pickup to through a flooded street in Houston on Sunday, as Tropical Storm Harvey dumped heavy rains.
(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
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A Houston police officer helps Frank Andrews, 74, into his walking chair after rescuing him from his flooded home in the Braeswood Place neighborhood, southwest of Houston, on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Wilford Martinez, right, is rescued from his flooded car by Harris County Sheriff’s Department Richard Wagner along Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas.
(David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
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Daniel Gross, 15, is rescued by Houston police after he was stranded on top of his car in southwest Houston.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Andrew White, left, helps a neighbor down a street after rescuing her from her home in his boat in the upscale River Oaks neighborhood after it was inundated with flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey.
(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
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Volunteers and officers from the neighborhood security patrol help rescue residents in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood Sunday.
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Jesus Nunez carries his daughter Genesis, 6, as he and numerous family members flee their flooded home, walking nearly four hours to the safety of a relative’s house on Sunday.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske was a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times from 2006 to 2022 in Houston, Los Angeles, Washington and the Middle East as bureau chief.
