A Hurricane Harvey diary
Part one
By
Charles Abelard
2 September 2017
I began these notes in the evening of Tuesday, August 29, 2017, after the hurricane moved off to the east and Houston skies began to clear. The observations here are personal in nature, and reflect my own thoughts as the events unfolded, and as earlier parts of the story were better filled in with new information.
The date and approximate time I took down the notes is included. All times are in the Central Standard Time zone, with the summer “ Daylight Time ” in effect.
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Tuesday, August 29, 2017 , 8:49 p.m.
* Law enforcement begins to assert itself
There was apparently an armed robbery this morning in the midst of all the flooding. I missed the details, but it prompted a press conference by the Houston Police. They stated their determination to maintain law and order, and enumerated the police “assets” at their disposal.
For the most part, given the stressful circumstances, there has been a lot of the spirit of mutual assistance, helpfulness, and friendliness among the people who are affected by the hurricane. This has extended to the local news media and government officials. The story has been that “we are all in this together.” But I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop.
As the Texas National Guard, National Guard units from other states, the US Coast Guard, the US Navy, Army, and other military forces have come into the city on their humanitarian mission, it has been an opportunity to (a) display their fearsome-looking (although nonlethal) hardware, (b) show the flag, so to speak, building street credibility and good will among the people they help, (c) provide an authoritarian backdrop for local law enforcement’s press conferences, and (d) underscore that their…