Before her military service, Ensign J. was a realtor in Houston, so she knew the city well. She was able to put that knowledge to use by helping the National Command Center plot locations of incoming emergency calls. She was also able to help her team understand what the area should look like, as they examined overhead imagery of Harvey's aftermath.
Throughout the storm, Ensign J. remained in close contact with her family. Her parents, who live in a northern Houston suburb, were not flooded but the areas around them were, leaving them house-bound.
"The rain just didn't stop," said Ensign J.'s father, Dan. "It just kept raining and raining and raining. Everything was underwater. There's a massive amount that came in and that's really where all of the destruction comes from. It all came from the water rising and going into people's houses that don't normally flood. We expected rain but no one expected the force of a hurricane."
Nor did they expect the catastrophic flooding from the dams' release. Her mother, Judi, observed, "There was no preparedness for that."
The family was housebound for about a week following the storm. Once they were able to get out of the neighborhood and go to the local grocery store, Judi remembered, "there was nothing in the store. And then we were going far and wide to just do a weekly grocery shopping trip. Just to get basics. And basics weren't coming for a while."
Ensign J.'s childhood home was severely damaged and many of her childhood friends' homes were destroyed. Her high school sustained so much damage it has to be completely rebuilt before students can return. She feels the destruction keenly, not just for herself and her family, but for her community. "Every school that was damaged, every business, that was someone's livelihood. That was someone's memories."
Ensign J.'s parents saw signs of rescue efforts all around their neighborhood, both official-the Coast Guard used Ensign J.'s middle school as a helicopter landing zone-and unofficial, with the Cajun Navy-an informal group of private boat owners who volunteer in search and rescue efforts-coming with their boats from Louisiana to pitch in.
Judi recalled, "We had people from all over the country providing resources to Houston. It's testifying to human nature that, in the end, people helped people. It brought out the good in people. People just came together."
The city of Houston is now rebuilding and recovery is happening gradually, thanks to the spirit of community and resilience.
"There were a lot of people really motivated to get moving and working on [rebuilding]," Dan noted. "That's really the spirit that they're working on. Everybody's trying to clean it up, get it going, get it back. It may be even better if they can."
Ensign J. agreed. "Seeing that spirit, it makes me proud to come from there and to have been able to help in a capacity."