Hurricane Harvey made landfall Friday night August 25 2017 between the cities of Port Aransas and Port OConnor Texas. A Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 130 mph Harvey was the first Category 4 hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2004s Hurricane Charley.
As the storm hit the combination of wind and water would leave wide swaths of South & Coastal Texas uninhabitable for weeks or months said the National Weather Service in Houston. Officials in at least one town asked residents who insisted on staying behind to write their Social Security numbers on one of their arms. It would make identifying bodies easier.
Harveys deluge of rain drenched Texas and the entire Coastal Bend region for more than a week.
A year later as students across Texas have returned to school over the past 10 days many in the coastal city of Port Arthur are still living in small trailers or are stuffed into crowded rooms as their parents or other family members continue to argue with insurance providers trying to recover some sort of payment for homes that were lost a year ago to Hurricane Harvey.
Those families and students who survived and still remain have longed for the stability of a regimented school day even as the hurricane fades from public consciousness.
More than 75 of Port Arthur ISDs students were displaced from their homes by Harveys flooding and were forced to move into hotels or trailers or temporary housing with relatives. Some 500 students are estimated to have left the district to find shelter.
A lot of these kids and adults are still living with the trauma because theyre still living in shelters. Theyre still living displaced. Theyre still living in multi-family residences. Theyre still living in storage containers" said Tommy Smith a mental health liaison for Spindletop Center a community mental health clinic in Beaumont Texas.
Harveys not over for a lot of the communities around here" Smith noted.
We could see this storm park for almost five days in some places said Bill Read the former director of the National Hurricane Center as Harvey made landfall last year. Thats just going to be a huge problem for these areas for a very long time Read said at the time.
Weve never had anything like this said Corpus Christi Mayor Joe McComb as Harvey moved inland a year ago.
Today many Port Arthur residents say theres still a lingering anger and feeling of bitterness about not receiving the same amount of attention and state resources as the City of Houston did despite the widespread and extensive destruction that hit in the central part of the Texas coast.
We do get forgotten about" said Kim Phelan who started the Behavioral & Mental Health Consortium of Southeast Texas to organize mental health initiatives in the region recently.
I dont think people are really aware of just how... how this community has been impacted by the hurricane."
In the Houston area a coalition of almost 20 community organizations met regularly last school year to share the successes and challenges of their individual efforts and brainstorm ways to coordinate services in schools across the region.
Two months after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tasked three state government agencies with creating a comprehensive list of mental health resources instructing them to link local area schools with the right organizations and agencies proving help. But many of the state and local efforts designed to train teachers and mental health professionals help students were grant-funded with specific and set end dates limiting the scope of their efforts.
Right after Harvey school districts needed immediate resources to help children and families and they also needed training in trauma. They were desperate for that" said Janet Pozmantier director of the Center for School Behavioral Health at Mental Health America of Greater Houston a lead organization in the coalition assisting in hurricane recovery. The state is kind of playing catchup here to what we had to start doing in Houston."
In the city of Port Arthur with about 55000 residents fewer local mental health resources existed than in a larger metro area like Houston hampering efforts to help the growing number of people being pushed to their limits in the months following Harvey.
Mental health providers say the stress and instability exacerbated already existing anxieties and traumas. And they dont expect the problem to let up any time soon.
Local mental health professionals say theyre seeing more teenagers seeking help this summer during a summer period when they typically see fewer teenagers because school is out.
More than anything adolescents need boundaries stability some predictability to their lives and all that got thrown out of the window" said Sally Broussard behavioral health administrative director for Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas Beaumont Hospital.
They didnt know about their schools. They didnt know about their homes. They didnt know what was going to happen with their families jobs. All of that thrown into the mix just creates everything you dont want for mental health."In the beginning of the year many students at Port Arthur ISDs Abraham Lincoln Middle School were sad and angry said Camilla Washington who coordinates counseling and other services for the school through the nonprofit Communities in Schools Southeast Texas. As a result the organization stationed more licensed mental health professionals in the Port Arthur and Beaumont schools after Harvey hit in part to train educators to distinguish between a student acting out and a student dealing with anxiety.
The kids didnt really know how to channel their energy and say what the problem was. Some would be angry" Washington said. There was a lot of acting out."
And Washington even experienced the anxiety within her own family as well. Her 12-year-old daughter who is terrified of drowning became more clingy after the family was rescued from their flooded home during the hurricane. And her 8-year-old son gets anxious in the rain. It rained one time and he was like Oh Mama our house isnt going to be flooded again? I said Oh I hope not!" Washington said.
I get that way too sometimes but try not to think about it" she added.
Port Arthur ISD is in the process of hiring two additional social workers one for the elementary school and one for the high school said Superintendent Mark Porterie who is still living in a two-bedroom trailer with his wife and daughter while his house is being repaired.
As long as you can work youre thinking youre OK. But until you stop and just think about what youve gone through and deal with the loss you cant start healing I think" he said. People say theyre OK. But its almost like going through a death. People have to go through the stages" said Porterie.Even students who are not in hurricane-related crisis struggle to help their friends and neighbors. This summer Memorial High Schools senior class organized a bowling party on $2 Tuesday" at the local Max Bowl where a year ago many of those in attendance had briefly sheltered seeking safety and dry ground. We were just trying to make the best of it" said one student. Were just trying to make sure nobody in our class feels left out or sad or ever thinks about Harvey."
