Hurricane Harvey Creates Enough Debris To Fill Texas A&M Football Stadium 25 Times
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
GALVESTON, Texas (CBSMiami) – Southeast Texas is trying to recover after Hurricane Harvey dumped trillions of gallons of water on the region.
The governor says the death toll from the storm in his state in now 82.
Two weeks after Hurricane Harvey, debris piles now line the streets of many Houston neighborhoods. There is so much storm debris it could fill the Texas A&M football stadium 25 times.
"It's unbelievable. It doesn't look the same. It is not home like it was," said Nancy Sue Bammel.
The last time she saw her house she was fleeing rising floodwater from a controlled release of the Addicks Reservoir during the storm.
"They had to come to my front door and I got in the boat," she explained. "It was like a movie almost."
For the past two days, her son's company helped strip her first floor down to the studs.
"It's humbling but this is where we're from so we just all pitch in," said Stuart Bodden, CEO of Express Energy Services.
FEMA expects to payout $11 billion to insured homeowners in this part of the state alone. Many who didn't have flood insurance will have to get grants or loans to rebuild.
"Every school had some type of damage, whether it be trees falling, A/C not working," said Brian Busby with the Houston Independent School District.
Still, most Houston students went back to school this week. Only a handful of campuses have yet to open, and those students will temporarily relocate to other facilities.
Across southeastern Texas, it'll take strength and time to emerge from Harvey's havoc.
A total of 28 shelters in Texas are still housing those who lost homes.
The governor says he's heard Washington may send as many as three more aid packages before the end of the year. Congress has already approved $15 billion for initial Harvey recovery.
