"Sandra Edwards awoke on the morning of July 8 to the sounds of howling winds and gushing water. As she made her way from the bedroom to the living room, she stepped in a puddle. She turned on her phone’s flashlight and saw a hole in the roof, wooly insulation hanging off the ceiling and water pouring in. Hurricane Beryl had just made landfall in Houston.
In a panic, Edwards, 58, called her insurance company to report the damage. The woman who answered the phone tried to reassure her, but she was inconsolable. The 100-year-old house Edwards inherited from her parents had sustained significant damage from Hurricane Harvey in 2017 (she had to live in her car for months) and a band of intense thunderstorms known as a derecho earlier this year. After all the repairs, it was unlivable yet again. Her anguish has since given way to anger.
“The government doesn’t care about us,” she said, referring to the lack of investment in road-building, ditch-clearing and other improvements in the community. “If they cared, something would’ve been done by now.”"
Jana Cholakovska reports for Public Health Watch January 15, 2025.
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