Picture of our neighborhood in Alvin TX from Google Satellite maps
We Flushed Our Flood by Frances M. McCrory-Meservy August 18, 1983
Hurricane Alicia formed over the north central Gulf of Mexico on August 15. It drifted slowly westward and northwestward while steadily strengthening on the 16th and 17th. This motion brought Alicia over the western end of Galveston Island, Texas as a Category 3 hurricane on August 18. Alicia moved northwestward into Oklahoma as a tropical depression on August 19, then turned northward before dissipating over Nebraska on the 21st.
The Coast Guard cutter Buttonwood moored at Galveston reported sustained winds of 96 mph with gusts to 125 mph. Hobby Airport at Houston, Texas reported 94 mph sustained winds with gusts to 107 mph. Wind gusts of hurricane force in downtown Houston littered the streets with broken glass as windows broke in the high-rise buildings. Additionally, twenty-three tornadoes were reported from Alicia.
Alicia was responsible for 21 deaths and $2 billion in damage in the United States.
We lived in a nice two story home in Alvin TX across the street from the High School. The whole neighborhood was covered with shade trees as was that part of East Texas.
We knew the hurricane was coming in but we were about 50 miles from the coast. Al had purchased enough ice the day before to fill up our ice chests. We had allowed our refrigerated and freezer supplies diminish before the storm so we would not lose a lot of food. We had a gas stove so I was able to cook the meat as it thawed out. Then I put it in waterproof containers in an ice chest. We had stocked up on cold cuts and bread for sandwiches because even though we had gas and could cook, it would heat the house up and we would get too hot. We also filled jars with water and put them in the refrigerator. We filled the tubs with water so we could flush the commodes. We also had portable radios, flashlights, batteries and hurricane lamps.
We asked God to protect the homes and people in our neighborhood and went to bed about 10 PM Aug 17. Some time early in the morning I heard trees breaking and the wind was howling. I again prayed for God to protect everyone and their property in our neighborhood in the midst of the storm and went back to sleep.
We woke up to no electric. When we looked in the back yard, we saw there were no trees down in our yard. God had answered our prayers. The trees in our whole neighborhood were folded (broke) toward each other and across the electric lines. In the front yard, there were huge limbs between the car and garage; but there was not a scratch on the car or house. No one nor their property in our neighborhood was harmed.
As the storm blew and the heavy rains came down our street started to flood. We would watch it get up to the edge of the porch and then we would tell the clouds to "peace be still" (the rain would stop for a while) and we would start carrying buckets, dipping them in the water and pouring it down the commode. The eye went over us and we got a reprieve. Then we started hauling water again. The floodwaters never came into our house.
We were without electric for about 6 days. Stephie, Davie and I played board games and sang to entertain ourselves. Al went to work (he worked at Hobby Airport at the time) and picked up ice each day on the way home.
We checked on the church in Longpond. Everything there was OK; but our Parishioners had a lot of limbs to clean up. Thank God none of them nor their homes were harmed.
When the linemen finally got to us, we were singing. We took them iced tea and thanked them for doing a good job. They said we were the only people who thanked them - most people came out and cursed them for taking so long to get the lines cleared. How sad - they were working as fast as they could.
God had protected us in the midst of the storm.
Psa 107:28 Then they cried out to the LORD
in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
Psa 107:29 He
stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were
hushed.
Prov 10:25 When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.
Isa 4:6 It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.
Isa 25:4-5 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
Isa 32:2 Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Mat 8:24-26 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" But He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.