Hurricane Harvey causes widespread devastation

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The devastation of Hurricane Harvey began in late August when it hit the Texas coast.

In Houston, most people were not aware of Harvey until the week before it hit, Wednesday, August 23 when it was still a tropical storm.

“I didn’t believe it was going to become a hurricane,” senior Kristopher Blake said.

Everyone was either anxious or in disbelief when it began to escalate from a tropical storm to a hurricane.

“I just felt anxious when I started to hear about it,”  Anatomy and Physiology teacher Julie Allison said.

On Friday, August 25, Houston issued its first hurricane warning, and by that evening Harvey had strengthened to a category 4.

“I began to worry when it became a category 4,” senior Lauren Griffiths said.

Grocery stores all over Houston, including the Klein area, were having shortages of supplies, as people began to take precautions and stock up on necessary items. By Saturday, many stores began closing due to lack of inventory.

“I began stockpiling food and water for my kids the day I was told about it on Wednesday,” Allison said.

The days during the hurricane were spent barricading in houses or dealing with the hurricane’s terrible impacts on their lives. As terrible as the effects of Harvey were, Houston area was largely unscathed in the case of causalities when compared to hurricane Katrina or Irma.

“It has been the worst hurricane o hit Houston, but its amazing how few lives were lost,” Allison said.

Klein was mostly unaffected, but not all students and staff were so lucky. many of their streets and houses were flooded. Students and staff were either trapped in their houses or had their homes severely damaged.

“I felt trapped and helpless that I couldn’t help the people who needed it,” Griffiths said.

The people unaffected began to help those whose lives had been thrown into disarray.

“I volunteered Wednesday and Thursday ripping out sheet-rock and continued to help throughout the week,” Blake said.

It was difficult for those helping and those who needed help to see their friends and family in such a difficult time.

“I teared up thinking about my students who were going to be displaced or not have any clothes and food, ” Allison said.