In small-town Texas, Harvey’s overlooked victims face unique challenges

Sept. 21--For many Americans, the lasting images of Hurricane Harvey will come from Houston: towering highway interchanges flooded to impossible heights and rows of roofs poking out of the water in city neighborhoods turned into swamps -- all with the Bayou City skyline in the background.

But as the nation turned its attention to the damage Hurricane Harvey wrought on the Texas' largest city, small town officials and residents from the Colorado River to the Texas coast were beginning to grapple with the unique challenges they face as disaster victims outside the metropolis.

In smaller communities, natural disasters often impact a greater percentage of the population than they do in big cities, making it more difficult to get back to normal. Small city governments often lack the manpower or expertise to get the most they can out of the state and federal grants for aid and reconstruction funds. Unincorporated areas, without so much as a part-time mayor going to bat for them, are at risk of being overlooked when resources are distributed.

"You're already seeing an outpouring of resources to the Houston area and a bit of neglect, quite frankly, to towns along the coast that were hit harder in terms of structural damage," said Shannon Van Zandt, an urban planning professor at Texas A&M University who studies long-term disaster recoveries in Texas.

In small-town Texas, Hurricane Harvey's overlooked victims face unique challenges

After water overflowed banks of the Colorado River and local creeks, towns like La Grange, Columbus and Sargent dig out of the muck.

Enter

**Digging out with fewer hands**

Recovery is no sure thing in the small Texas towns wrecked by Hurricane Harvey

September 22, 07:05 AMKickerThis is a kicker.

For many Americans, the lasting images of Hurricane Harvey will come from Houston: towering highway interchanges flooded to impossible heights and rows of roofs poking out of the water in city neighborhoods turned into swamps all with the Bayou City skyline in the background.

But as the nation turned its attention to the damage Hurricane Harvey wrought on the Texas largest city, small town officials and residents from the Colorado River to the Texas coast were beginning to grapple with the unique challenges they face as disaster victims outside the metropolis.

In smaller communities, natural disasters often impact a greater percentage of the population than they do in big cities, making it more difficult to get back to normal. Small city governments often lack the manpower or expertise to get the most they can out of the state and federal grants for aid and reconstruction funds. Unincorporated areas, without so much as a part-time mayor going to bat for them, are at risk of being overlooked when resources are distributed.

**READ: [Some question decision to keep Texas nuclear plant open during Harvey](http://www.mystatesman.com/news/some-question-decision-keep-texas-nuclear-plant-open-during-harvey/hV42L1T3Ane1qFEaHlGI3I/).**

Youre already seeing an outpouring of resources to the Houston area and a bit of neglect, quite frankly, to towns along the coast that were hit harder in terms of structural damage, said Shannon Van Zandt, an urban planning professor at Texas A&M University who studies long-term disaster recoveries in Texas.

COMING NEXT WEEK

Blown away

In Bayside, population 325 and falling, 80 percent of the structures were destroyed or damaged in Hurricane Harveys 130 mph winds. The cyclone took a similar toll on many of the hardscrabble towns wedged between the beaches of Port Aransas and the vacation rentals of Port OConnor.

Local economies have ground to a halt and city budgets, already teetering on the edge of solvency, are in peril. Next week we travel along the coast to bring you stories from three towns grappling with a recovery taking place off the public radar.

Small towns may still face additional hurdles even after the initial phase of the recovery ends and aid funds are distributed. Moodys, a credit ratings agency, last week issued a report saying that while larger cities likely have enough financial flexibility to recover from the storm without a credit downgrade, smaller local governments may be at risk due to depressed property values and, for coastal towns, dampened tourism industries.

Damage and losses from Hurricane Harvey are not likely to significantly impair credit quality for major and actively managed local government issuers, the report said. Credit risks may be more severe for smaller and not actively managed issuers with thin liquidity, narrow revenue pledges and/or few options to recover any lost revenues.

Most small towns already operate on razor-thin margins, making it more difficult to front the money for clean-up efforts and to cash in on projects that will lure significant matching funds from FEMA.

The man Gov. Greg Abbott has tapped to lead the recovery effort, Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, is from Placedo in Victoria County. Sharp said that he and other state leaders are making small towns a central focus of the rebuilding.

One of the things that Abbott really seriously wanted was for us to pay special attention to the smaller areas and least populated areas, and make sure none of those were overlooked, Sharp said in an interview. Im from probably the second-smallest town in the whole impacted area, so Im really sensitive to that kind of thing.

**ICYMI: [Viewing the destruction in Rockport](http://www.statesman.com/news/state--regional/truck-comes-back-life-rockport/Ku79DGuyZffYuRVc0y906H/).**

Sharp said he has activated A&Ms AgriLife Extension Service, which has an employee already living in every county in the disaster area, to coordinate recovery efforts outside Harris County, where his governmental relations team will take the lead.

The AgriLife employees, whose usual jobs is to inform farmers about the latest agricultural technology and research, will help local officials apply for aid and report back to state leaders on areas that havent been served, Sharp said.

Their job is to talk to the county judge, to the impacted people, school superintendents, whoever it is that needs help, and relay that to the office that we have here, Sharp said. They shadow those local folks. They tell us whats going on on the ground.

The American-Statesman visited three small towns stretching from Central Texas to Matagorda Bay where residents are recovering from historic flooding. Coming next week: A report from three coastal towns devastated by wind damage as Harvey hit shore.

After Harvey, starting over at 73

LA GRANGE An outgoing neighbor who kept her place spotless and often won the Yard of the Year award from her trailer parks office, Cecilia Gutierrez was proud of the mobile home she had lived in for 22 years.

But after Hurricane Harvey caused a historic flood on the Colorado River in La Grange, the 73-year-old found herself on an uncomfortable cot in a Red Cross shelter at the Second Baptist Church, struggling to maintain her pride.

I was looking at myself and the rest of them in the shelter and I told this lady, We look like homeless people, Gutierrez said. And then it dawned on me, and I said, We are. We are homeless.

After Harvey drenched the Austin area, a wall water making its way down the Colorado River tore through La Grange, cresting at 54.2 feet and displacing more than 100 residents.

With her trailer park destroyed and $5 to her name, Gutierrez said she doesnt know where to go next but is relying on her faith to guide her to the next phase in life.

**WATCH: [La Grange saw historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey](http://www.statesman.com/news/grange-flooded-during-tropical-storm-harvey/x6L7msR5DIpHfrvSa5kynJ/).**

When the flood hit, she was reading the books of the Bible in order, from Genesis to Revelation, and was in the middle of the Old Testament. A volunteer at the shelter gave her a copy of the New Testament, but shes waiting to pick up where she left off. Her favorite story is Noahs ark.

They were 40 days and 40 nights in the ark and they made it out and they prospered after that so god provided for them, she said.

Gutierrez spent nine days at the shelter before the Federal Emergency Management Agency placed her in a motel. Shes thinking about looking for apartments in Bastrop or near family members in Austin, but she likely wont be staying in La Grange now that her home has been destroyed.

The first time I walked into the mobile home, it was an incredible thing. It was like, Am I in a nightmare here? she said. You couldnt tell what color the carpet used to be. The refrigerator, instead of being in its place, was in the dining area. The TVs were gone.

Gutierrez, who lives on $755 per month from Social Security and disability, said she is now at peace with the loss of almost all of her belongings. She grew up poor in a barrio in Midland, which she said taught her to enjoy life without much.

I settled down to my beliefs. It was just material stuff, and I can do without it, she said.

For the basic things that Gutierrez needs as she rebuilds her life, shes found it difficult to ask for help.

Ive always been a very self-sufficient proud woman, and now its like, Why do I have to do this? she said. I dont like relying on other people, but since theyre offering the help, Im going to take it because I need it.

**POLITICAL ANALYSIS: [On Hurricane Harvey and the lurking threat to the Texas way of doing business](http://politics.blog.mystatesman.com/2017/09/07/the-alligator-in-the-water-on-hurricane-harvey-and-the-lurking-threat-to-the-texas-way-of-doing-business/).**

Gutierrez said she had trouble sleeping in the shelter and was too drained to process much of what had happened to her. But since moving to the motel, she has become rested enough to start thinking about whats next.

Ive thought about starting over at my age and I thought I dont want to buy another home, she said. I want an apartment where Im happy and its nice and clean in a nice neighborhood, and I think Im going to live there until its time to go.

When flooding hits the wrong side of the tracks

COLUMBUS As floodwaters crept further into her neighborhood than she had ever seen, Pandera Waddle Ford decided she was going to ride out Hurricane Harvey.

I prayed. I did a lot of praying. I believe in prayer, said Waddle Ford, 61, who runs a small charity, Caring Arms Outreach Ministries. Some guys came by. They were going to give me a ride on a boat, but I said, Well, Ive been praying about it. The Lord is not telling me yet to get out.

The next morning, her home, which was elevated during a recent reconstruction, was one of the few in the neighborhood that didnt flood.

I guess he heard her better than he heard us, her sister-in-law Barbara Waddle, 61, said while pulling trash bags of her belongings out of her home one block away. I was gone. She prayed and walked the land. I prayed and traveled.

The Colorado River makes two passes around Columbus, running along the north side of town before turning into the country to make a bow and looping back to the east side. Mayor Keith Dungen illustrates the peculiar geography with an old story about two robbers who came to Columbus on a boat.

They got out and went into town and robbed a store and went back and got in their boat and kept going downriver, he said. When they got out at the next town, they were still here and they got arrested.

Separated by a railroad track, the north side of Columbus was the African-American section during segregation. Today, most residents are black and many are Waddles, a family famous for producing star football players including the New England Patriots LaAdrian Waddle.

In most floods, the berm on which the railroad track sits acts as a small dam keeping the north side of town dry, Dungen said. But after Hurricane Harvey, water came from the other direction, and the berm trapped it in the neighborhood, which saw the heaviest damage during the flood.

We did not anticipate any problems there. Nobody over there had ever seen water like that on that side, he said. Most houses in the neighborhood are repairable, Dungen said, but its going to come down to FEMA and what resources are available because its not only the minority part of town, its a low-income part of town, and there are a lot of elderly over there also.

Low-income communities often fare the worst after natural disasters, and some never recover at all. With fewer resources, residents sometimes have to start from scratch to rebuild their lives and can sometimes face institutional hurdles to get outside help.

After Hurricane Dolly struck Texas in 2008, legal aid groups sued FEMA for denying assistance to low-income residents by claiming that deferred maintenance contributed to the damage to their homes. Earlier this year, a federal court ruled that the denials were illegal. Following recent Texas hurricanes, low-income housing advocates complained that the states approach to distributing U.S. Housing and Urban Development grants for disaster victims improperly unfairly overlooked low-income residents, leading to policy changes.

Waddle, who had water in her bedroom, bathroom and sitting room, said that although she doesnt have flood coverage, she is in the process of seeing what she can get from her insurance company before seeking FEMA aid.

I never had to deal with FEMA. Ive heard stories, said Waddle, who is a cashier trainer at a Brookshire Brothers grocery and has previously served on the Columbus school board. Im trusting god that they will be fair.

For now, Waddle is focusing on what she lost.

Pictures, pictures, pictures, she said, looking over the trash bags lined up on her porch. Its your life in a box in a trash bag.

Two weeks later, unincorporated Sargent, America resurfaces

SARGENT After a long day cleaning and hauling items out of their mud-caked first floor, Kimberly and Chad Ware joined their friends and neighbors for a few Lone Stars on their driveway.

They were in a good mood. It had been 16 days since Hurricane Harvey arrived in Texas, but it was the first full day since then that the Caney Creek wasnt in their house. Throughout the storm and the two weeks that followed, the Wares never left their flooded home.

We actually waded in and out of the house, said Kimberly Ware, who owns a hair salon.

Against whose better judgment? interjected Matagorda County Constable Bill Orton, who had swung by.

He got on to us because he is the authority. But I felt comfortable to be here because Billy was here, she said. When you have a constable whos like a family friend but hes still authoritative, that makes the town even better.

While several homes on the coast suffered significant wind damage, most of the storms victims in Sargent live along Caney Creek, which stayed out of its banks for an astonishing two weeks.

Unincorporated areas like Sargent, a rural town of 2,700 just north of where the Colorado River flows into Matagorda Bay, face unique challenges during disaster recovery because they lack dedicated streams of funding.

Shannon Van Zandt, a Texas A&M University professor who has studied disaster responses, said such non-entitlement jurisdictions, must instead look to funds distributed by the county or local council of governments and compete for what recovery money is left over from the entitlement jurisdictions and hope that it funnels some money their way.

Unincorporated areas dont have the institutional mechanisms to receive or spend money, Van Zandt said. The county could potentially undertake infrastructure repairs and improvements, but most recovery will be left to individual property owners.

Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald said he will use fierce advocacy to ensure places like Sargent dont get overlooked.

Theres a lot of challenges for us. We are a small rural county. Its hard to get noticed, McDonald said. If the county has a blessing, its a judge thats 6 feet, 8 inches tall. And I am the tallest judge in the state of Texas, and so I dont go unnoticed, and Im not quiet.

Kimberly Ware is doing her part to make sure Sargent isnt overlooked as well. From her salon, the towns unofficial cheerleader sells Sargent, America bumper stickers with a motto: A salty life with a twist of lime.

The people are just friendly and everybody has one common thread, she said, and that is we love to be on the coast and just have a good time and relax.

Staff writer Jeremy Schwartz and visual journalist Reshma Kirpalani contributed reporting.

For the American-Statesman's special report from LaGrange, Sargent and Columbus, visit MyStatesman.com.

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