He’s in Houston. She’s on Lady’s Island. But love binds this Lowcountry couple together

Milk.

It’s taken for granted every day, but it was milk that brought tears to the eyes of a couple in the midst of the historic devastation of Hurricane Harvey in Texas.

Laura Thomas Oden is hearing about all the misery from her husband, Barrett.

He’s in Houston. She’s at their home on Lady’s Island.

He can’t get to the Lowcountry, but their home and street were spared. Other parts of their neighborhood are flooded.

“We tried to open our house to as many people as possible because we have power and we’re dry,” Laura said. “But, then, how do people get to us?”

She tells of a friend who was up all night frantically digging trenches and tearing down a privacy fence hoping to get the rising water to drain.

Another friend’s mother has cancer and is on oxygen. Her house was flooded and lost power, but the elderly woman was taken out by boat.

Another friend and her husband, Kemberli Bowman Bishop and Sam Bishop of the Houston suburb of Katy tell this story:

They packed their “essentials” in fresh-scent kitchen garbage bags, put on fishing waders, floated a pink raft to the front of their apartment complex, took a Jet Ski to somewhat higher ground, picked up an orange blow-up pool boat from a group of rescue guys, waded about a mile, got picked up by a man in a pickup truck, and rode the tailgate to parking lot, only to find that no one could get to them to take them to her parents’ house.

An aunt offered her place, even though she already had a family of five sheltering there. Then her maid of honor came to rescue, somehow getting a truck through one lane of expressway, with the only open ramp the one that goes to her place.

“We asked the Lord to make a way, and He did,” Kemberli wrote on Facebook after recounting the venture.

“We are safe, we are in the shelter of dear friends and we are therefore among some of the MOST fortunate of those who may lose all of their belongings. While we have no idea the order in which we will find our place upon return, we are comforted in the fact that they are just things. Love to all.”

Laura and Barrett Oden know the Lowcountry well. They were married at the Old Sheldon Church Ruins, and her father had a place at Fripp Island back in the 1960s. Her South Carolina roots go seven generations deep, so she’s right at home on Lady’s Island, where they also dodged the worst of Hurricane Matthew last fall.

Laura is here, counting her blessings and watching from afar the “mind-boggling” disaster of home, and the grassroots heroism of people helping people.

Back home, Barrett Oden discovered quickly that people could not get milk. When a neighbor said he was returning, Barrett told him to bring milk. He brought 35 gallons. They posted it on Facebook, and it was gone in hours.

“It made me cry,” Laura said.

And she made her own Facebook post: “On behalf of Houston, thank you for your support, prayers and kindness.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 3:52 PM with the headline "He’s in Houston. She’s on Lady’s Island. But love binds this Lowcountry couple together."