submerged her car She wouldn't be able to drive It was too dangerous to leave On the morning of August 27 however Ferguson Smith and her family had no choice but to evacuate By then Harvey had dumped more than a foot 0 3 m of rain in Houston and I DON'T THINK I CAN CRY ANYMORE I'VE GONE THROUGH A LOT OF EMOTIONS A LOT OF ANGER SADNESS YOU KNOW EVEN ENVY WHY DIDN'T MY HOUSE MAKE IT 4 other parts of southeastern Texas The National Weather PEGGY BOURG SURVIVOR Service NWS had issued a flash flood emergency for the area Meteorologists for the NWS warned Catastrophic flooding in the Houston metropolitan area is expected to worsen and may become historic 3 In their house Ferguson Smith and her family waded through water that had risen past their ankles Yasmine Ferguson Smith's daughter found a garter snake floating in the water in her bedroom The family quickly packed backpacks full of supplies Then they opened the door and stepped outside into waist deep water They carried their backpacks over their heads Ferguson Smith kept an eye on her sister hoping Charmane wouldn't break down from the stress
Thousands of vehicles were destroyed by Harvey's floodwaters Ferguson Smith and her family slowly made their way to higher ground pushing against the current They managed to reach the parking lot of a nearby store A crowd of people had gathered there A massive 18 wheeler rescue truck arrived Everyone clambered onto the open truck bed and they were driven to a local church Once they arrived they were able to dry off A city bus pulled up to the church It transported Ferguson Smith and her family to the George R Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston where they took shelter with thousands of other people who had also been displaced from their homes
HOUSTON AND HARVEY In 2017 Houston was the fourth largest city in the United States It had a population of more than two million people and a population density of approximately 3 500 people per square mile 2 6 sq km The mayor of Houston THIS IS A CITY OF HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY AND THIS IS A CITY THAT WILL COME BACK STRONGER THAN IT HAS EVER BEEN OF THAT I HAVE NO DOUBTS 6 Sylvester Turner was concerned for the safety of the city's residents However he decided HOUSTON MAYOR SYLVESTER TURNER against issuing a mandatory evacuation order Government officials can issue mandatory evacuation orders to urge residents to leave a danger prone area in the event of a perceived upcoming emergency The purpose of a mandatory evacuation order is to get people to safety before a hurricane or other type of disaster strikes Houston's mayor had last issued a mandatory evacuation order in late September of 2005 Hurricane Rita a strong storm that had developed over the Atlantic Ocean was about to make landfall on the southeastern coast of Texas Houston was in the path of the storm
More than three million people attempted to evacuate Houston and the surrounding region This was the largest mass evacuation in US history at that time An endless line of cars clogged the main highway out of the city The traffic jam was more than 100 miles 160 km long Cars stalled in the road as they ran out of gas which made traffic even worse Passengers sat idle in temperatures of 100 degrees Fahrenheit 38°C many choosing not to use air conditioning in order to conserve gas More than 100 people died during this evacuation some from heat stroke and others from traffic accidents or car fires Fewer than ten people died from the hurricane itself While the evacuation had been intended to save people it ended up putting many in danger Turner did not want to repeat that mistake with Harvey Because there had not been much advance warning about how intense and destructive Harvey could be the mayor and other government officials did not think there would be time to organize a safer more effective evacuation effort But Ed Emmett a Texas county judge assured the public that even though a mandatory evacuation wasn't issued emergency teams would be well prepared to help people
