Hurricane Harvey

Nothing adds stress to being in the middle of a hurricane like throwing in tornadoes (who knew?) and getting stomach cramps with non-stop diarrhea. And kids who have been cooped up for two days.

It's still going on and just insane at the moment. A tornado just missed our subdivision about 30 minutes ago by less than a mile. And it's supposed to keep going like this through Monday. It's ridiculously insane.

Thanks! I will

Stay safe!
I have relatives in Houston; they have had flooding before. Sounds awful.

Thanks for checking in @lab. We're all doing great physically. It was really hairy for a couple of days, but luckily our subdivision didn't have any flooding into the homes. One night it got up to front porches but then the rain slowed enough so things could drain a bit.

Emotionally, I'm a total wreck. I had refilled all of my prescriptions, but apparently they didn't actually put my antidepressant in the bag or something, because it wasn't there when I went to fill up my pill box. It shows "still in progress" on the Walgreens app. But it means that since Saturday I've been cold-turkey without the antidepressant, while flaring a bit (about 8 bms per day with cramping, but no blood) and lack of sleep (tornado and flood warnings every 45 minutes all night since this started, so I'm running on 3-5 hours of very interrupted sleep). But thankfully the roads are clear enough today to make it to the local grocery store, and the pharmacy there is open for a couple of hours and they're giving me an emergency fill for a couple of days' worth until my regular pharmacy opens back up.

Guys, I can't even begin to describe how horrific this has been. As I scroll through posts of the local facebook groups I'm in, it's just awful. People will be trapped with waters rising and posting out calls for help because they can't get out and and 911 is on hold for literally hours at a time. I just feel shell-shocked.

omg scifi, i can't imagine what you folks are going through. thoughts and prayers for you and your family as well as all others affected by this horrendous storm.

scifigal,

I never really thought about anyone on HW being affected by this disaster. I really hope things settle down there. Stay safe, and keep us posted.

I'm glad to hear your subdivision didn't get flooded. I live in Austin, and work for the city. We're getting ready for evacuees to be bused in to us. It's so devastating to see what's happened. And yet, so amazing how people, communities and resources are coming together to help.

Hey @clo! I was also thinking about you this week and wondering how it was going. I am so glad that you are doing well and are safe. My heart breaks for your friend who lost so much. So many people did. This has caused flooding in areas that have never flooded before, so a lot of people are going to really struggle. Thank goodness for FEMA loans at least. We just bought this house three months ago and made sure to get flood insurance, so that was a relief.

I've seen videos of the fire ants and alligators! So awful!!! Mostly in my subdivision we had a lot of carp that came up with the water and were literally swimming in our streets! Some people actually had fish for dinner. But it's going to be nasty as the water goes down and they get caught. Bleh.

I really appreciate all of your insight and advice. I'm a couponer and a Mormon, so between the two things we have so many non-perishable food items, toiletries, etc. that we could literally live for over a year without needing to buy groceries other than the basic staples of milk, eggs, and bread. We've been able to share a lot with our neighbors who quickly ran out of diapers and other things.

I think we're mostly past it all, and we were one of the very lucky few who didn't flood in the house and never had water/power/internet shut off. It came close several times, and the tornadoes were awful, but I think I'm mostly emotionally damaged. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the local news and Facebook. I'm itching to get out and start helping rebuild, but it's still going to be days before the flood waters go down. They're supposed to actually get worse even though the rain has stopped because as we drain, the reservoirs will keep filling up and need to be released into neighborhoods. It feels like the "gift that just keeps on giving," only not really a gift.

Prayers are desperately needed, thank you. Prayers for your friend especially.

Oh, I didn't think you sounded bossy AT ALL! It sounded kind and warm and caring, and I was grateful for those sentiments. <3

Its going to take many years for recovery. We dealt with Sandy in 2012 which was terrible but still not as bad as this. I drove through some of the worst hit spots recently and there is still major work going on to restore many houses.

Thank you so much, Plucky. I'm sorry for what so many of you are going through. My best friend just moved here a few weeks before it hit, and her family had been in Katrina, so this was a huge struggle for her. I heard that 85% of the homes lost here did not have flood insurance, so like with you all, it's going to be a very long road to rebuild. It breaks my heart.