Weymouth family still recovering from Texas hurricane

Dec. 19--The recovery from Hurricane Harvey has hardly begun for Weymouth natives Emmie Moore and her fiancé Steve Haskell as they anticipate the arrival of Christmas in Lumberton, Texas, where they recently purchased a home with a down payment from a flood insurance compensation check.

Moore said the home she and Haskell previously lived in with their three daughters in nearby Bevil Oaks was totally destroyed by flood waters when Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, swept through their community, Aug. 24-25.

"The house had eight-feet of water in it for not less than a week," she said. "It took a couple of days for the water to crest and then it started receding. "

Moore said the interior of the house was in shambles after the flood waters receded.

"It looked like somebody picked it up, shook it and put it back down," she said. "It is interesting what water does. Finding a dining room chair in a bedroom was weird."

Moore said the flood waters also claimed an urn with her grandmother's cremated ashes.

"When I focused on that I got depressed, and I had to refocus," she said.

Moore said an acquaintance provided temporary shelter for her, Haskell and their three daughters during the past three months before they purchased a two-story home that had been previously foreclosed by a financial firm.

"I lived on a couch," she said. "When I got insurance money, I put a down payment on a house and am moving in right now. It sounds really exciting, but it does not have a stove or a refrigerator. I don't know when I will get one of those things. We don't have pots and pans or a can opener. You need to be able to survive in a home."

Moore, a licensed mental health therapist, said Haskell left his job at a grocery store to transport their daughters to a charter school that does not provide bus transportation.

"You have to drive them and we only have one car," she said. "My fiancé could not do his shift at work and drive them to school."

Moore said she and Haskell did not want to have their daughters leave their school and attend classes in a school where they did not have any friends.

"We felt the girls have been through so much," she said. "We pray we made the right decision, and hopefully we did."

Moore said the biggest challenge for her family is getting the essentials needed to live in a house.

"When people say, 'what do you need,' I say I don't have pots and pans to cook things," she said.

"The kids don't have bed mattresses, sheets, or pillows, or a couch. We could care less that we don't have a TV. The things people think of to live comfortably in a home, we don't have."

Moore said she and Haskell have told the girls they won't be able to expect as many Christmas presents because of the family's tight financial situation.

"I'm the only one working right now," she said.

Moore said the plight her family is experiencing with rebuilding their lives is being felt similarly by residents in coastal communities that were ravaged by Harvey.

"People are leaving their houses," she said. "Other people are selling them at a huge loss. Some people have abandoned their properties because they can't do anything. Some people have trailers on their property."

Moore said trailers provided by FEMA began arriving in Texas communities last week.

"FEMA makes you sign a lease that you will keep the trailer on your property for at least two years," she said.

Moore said there is a 70-year-old man living nearby her home in a tent because he has nowhere else to go.

"We take turns as a community checking in on him to make sure he is okay" she said.

Moore said one of the biggest issues is making sure the city water is clean enough to drink or bathe in at different intervals.

"We get automated messages saying there has been contamination in the water, don't bathe in it or brush your teeth," she said.

Moore said disaster agencies like the Red Cross and Salvation Army have long since left the areas ravaged by Harvey.

"People are not having an easier time," she said. "The Salvation Army truck was handing out Gatorade. There is nothing like that now. There is a vulnerable population here that is at risk."

Moore said when a disaster occurs relief agencies inundate a stricken area with supplies for people in need.

"Everybody shows up with all sorts of stuff," she said. "But with all these months gone by, we need help now. We need that stuff now. We don't have a way to get all the things we need. The whole process is backwards. It is overwhelming. You add Christmas to it. I have a 12-year-old who lost everything she owned. It is Christmas and I won't be able to get her a damn thing."

Moore said she and her family are living in a "Catch 22" situation they have no control over.

"You have to make choices about feeding the family and doing things to survive," she said.

Donations for the family can be made to the Moore's PayPal EmSpiration account by emailing [email protected].

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