Hurricane Harvey made landfall on August 25, leaving record-breaking levels of rainfall and flooding in its wake and devastating the people of Southeast Texas.
Yazoo City native Wes Claburn and his family experienced the storm first-hand at their home in Richmond, Texas, 20 minutes from Houston.
The Claburn family had been preparing for the oncoming storm all week, gathering necessary supplies such as food and water, and gasoline for the generator just in case they lost power.
The storm hit the Texas coast and hovered there all weekend, dropping up to 50 inches of rain or more in some places, breaking records for rainfall in the area.
To make matters worse, the Claburn family was under the constant threat of other severe weather, such as tornadoes, which kept popping up within a 10 mile radius of their home.
On Monday, August 28, Wes and his family emerged from the home to check for damage in their neighborhood. Surprisingly, they had not lost power during the weekend storms, and they were grateful to discover that though their ground had been saturated with all the rain, there was very little damage done to their home.
But the Claburn family was not out of the woods yet. Less than half a mile away from their home lies the Brazos River, which rose dramatically due to all the rainfall.
The next day Wes began to notice that the drains were now swelling up with water. Slowly the Claburns watched the water rise as Wednesday and Thursday passed, until the waters had crept up their driveway, nearly 10 feet away from their home.
"It was very surreal," said Wes, " We were able to watch the flood in slow motion. It wasn't like a wall of water came up on us real quick like in Houston. It started rising very slowly, I could measure the water with stakes I had put in the yard, so it was pretty intense on us."
The family worked hard to prepare themselves for water to enter their home, moving furniture and other items to the second story of their home to save them from the flood. Wes and his wife were ready to start making repairs, should the water damage their walls and floors.
The water did not reach their house and their electricity remained intact, so they were still able to stay in their home while the flood waters receded. Others in their surrounding area were not so lucky, some neighbors even had as much as 4 feet of water in their homes and needed evacuation.
When the National Guardsmen arrived in their neighborhood to evacuate flood victims, the Claburn's five-year-old son, JW, welcomed them with pride by displaying an American flag he found among the flooded debris.
By Saturday, September 2, their neighborhood streets were completely dry and people were able to return to their homes to survey the damage.
Wes Claburn and his family were extremely lucky to have made it through Hurricane Harvey with little damage to speak of. They stayed motivated by the constant stream of messages and support from family and friends through social media.
"We just want to thank everybody from back home, from teachers I had in school to the people that didn't even know me from my hometown," said Claburn, "The love and support that we received was greatly appreciated and will be greatly appreciated for the rest of our lives."
