‘No dire straits’: Despite 40-plus inches of rain, Texas town makes a fast recovery from Hurricane Harvey

A few days after Hurricane Harvey, it’s nothing but sunshine in Shoreacres, Texas.

Immediately after the tiny coastal town suffered the rainiest tropical storm ever recorded in the continental U.S., Shoreacres Mayor Kimberly Sanford indicated the town was in for a struggle. But a few days after the storm, the town’s city manager says Shoreacres is doing well.

“We don’t have any debris in the street and we have very little wind damage,” City Manager David Stall said Friday.

He said he doesn’t even think the city needs to call in a commercial debris removal company.

A Bluffton resident started a social media campaign earlier this week to “adopt” Shoreacres and send donations to the town, but Stall says things never got that bad in Shoreacres.

“It didn’t put people in dire straits,” Stall said. “Unless your refrigerator went under water, we never lost power long enough for it to really be an issue.”

While Stall said he was aware of an infant who ran out of soy formula, the issue was handled promptly.

“My administrative assistant drove to a local Target store (on Wednesday) and purchased the formula for our resident,” Stall said.

He said food donations the town has received haven’t been needed, but they’re not going to waste.

“I’m equally certain that our surrounding communities have a tremendous need for assistance and that no donation would go to waste,” Stall said. “I would not want to deny any of them the opportunity to accept the generous assistance your community is offering.”

He said one of those towns is Dickinson, Texas, which is located in Galveston County. Shoreacres has been working on getting some of the donations it has received to Dickinson, Stall said.

He said Shoreacres still appreciates Bluffton’s help.

“The willingness of your community to make the offer, and organize assistance for residents of Shoreacres, is sincerely appreciated,” Stall said.

Stall said none of the town’s homes were destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.

“It is estimated that about 12 percent of our 660 homes received some flood water in (the) living space, and in most cases (the water reached) 6 inches or less,” Stall said Thursday. “We have no reports of any homes with more than 36 inches of water.”

He said at least four homes received more than 2 feet of water and none had more than 3 feet.

Stall said the water began receding on Tuesday.

“This was a rain event,” Stall explained. “It would’ve been worse if the hurricane made landfall here.”

Back in 2008, Shoreacres experienced just such a landfall with Hurricane Ike.

With that storm, the town lost 88 percent of its homes from both wind and flood damage.

“With Ike, we were the poster child,” Stall said. “We had the most damage in the Houston area.”

“It wasn’t like that this time,” he continued. “We didn’t have any wind damage, no structural damage.”

Stall said the town did have major street flooding with Harvey during the peak of the storm, making roads impassable for a day or two. But the water receded quickly.

He said the town’s location on the bay provides optimal drainage during flooding events.

And because the town is located in such a hurricane-prone area, they’ve been working to prevent Shoreacres from seeing the type of devastation they had with Hurricane Ike.

“We’re trying to make the city more resilient,” Stall said. “No house that’s been built since 1985 flooded in Hurricane Ike or in Harvey.”

He said all of the homes that did flood were older homes built in the lower-lying areas of the town.

Stall said the town elevated the main offices of the city hall building, which were undamaged by Harvey. Police, water and sewer services also were not disrupted.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "‘No dire straits’: Despite 40-plus inches of rain, Texas town makes a fast recovery from Hurricane Harvey."