Growing up in Houston, you got used to the saying, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait 10 minutes for it to change.” But in April 2016—during the Tax Day floods—I learned that sometimes the only thing that changes that quickly is your sense of safety—and it can take years to get it back.
My then-girlfriend (now wife) Emily was new to Houston at the time, and I did what a lot of young locals do: I downplayed the storms. I was 22, had survived Hurricane Ike and Rita as a child and it had been years since another severe weather event. I hadn’t yet become a journalist. It was something we were just used to, “So what’s the big deal?” I thought.
According to the Harris County Flood Control District, the April 2016 floods dumped more than a foot of rain across parts of the region, overwhelming bayous and neighborhoods that many residents had previously not considered vulnerable.
That day, I was at Emily’s apartment in the Cypresswood area near Meyer Park in Spring. She loved that area. Even though it was an hour drive from the University of Houston, where I had recently transferred, the drive was worth it. For my 18th birthday, my mother bought me my first car, a 2001 Lexus IS300, and I loved driving it…