Church volunteers help Harvey flood victims with home repairs

Some residents don't have flood insurance

HOUSTON – Harvey may be out of Texas, but the Houston area is not out of the woods just yet. Heavy flooding continues to be a problem for many residents impacted by the storm, which hit Texas as a Category 4 hurricane and then dumped up to 50-plus inches of rain as it lingered for days as a tropical storm.

The rebuilding process will be long, but communities are coming together to make the grueling process just a bit more bearable.

“We basically walked up to this house and said, ‘Do you need something?’ And they handed us our tools and we’ve been doing what we can,” said Jonny Sayers, a volunteer.

Volunteers from the North Central Church helped people with recovery efforts. Altogether, there are 70 of them.

Sayers said they’ve helped with eight homes just on Thursday.

“We realized after we had sorted ourselves out that our houses were going to be fine, that our family was going to be OK and that it was our responsibility to do what we could,” Sayers said.

The willingness to step up and help is more than Diana Olmeda could have ever imagined.

“It breaks my heart because I’ve lost a lot of memorabilia, like pictures and my wedding dress, stuff from my daughter. I have one daughter, but she’s away at college,” Olmeda said.

Olmeda didn’t have flood insurance. She said she’s worried about the future, but find comfort knowing there are people like Sayers.

“We're just going to be giving everything we got, all of us, until it fizzles out. We don't have a great amount of skill, but we can do things, like cut sheet rock or carry things,” Sayers said.

Says said they’re not only helping to clean up. His church is also taking donations for Harvey victims. So far, they’ve raised about $15,000 and have collected much-needed items, such as food, clothes and water.


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