The latest interview in my Impact series:Just months before Hurricane Harvey, Jennifer Coulter and her husband, Chris, decided to start a new company called Texas Power Agents. The SBA used the timing of that decision to deny them a loan. And because they were then forced to liquidate their 401Ks to repair their home (a move which Jennifer thought counted as income), the City then denied them a Homeowner Assistance Grant. Through it all, they managed to rebuild their home, grow their company, and grow closer as a family. Long ago, they stopped expecting help from the bureaucracy and rebuilt their home with their own hands and the help of friends. Now, one thousand days after Harvey, they look back at the whole experience as a blessing in many ways.
Bob Rehak: Harvey flooded your home. How badly?
Jennifer Coulter: Almost two-feet. But we gutted up to four feet. The house was unusable for a long time because it’s a one story house.
Jennifer Coulter is dwarfed by the pile of debris in front of her home.
The Great Post-Harvey, Year-Long Camp Out
Bob Rehak: You lived in a camper in your driveway for about a year.
Jennifer Coulter: That was our best move! We went to a friend’s house for a week. And then another friend’s. Once we figured out this was a long-term process, we got a rental property. But the landlord tried to change the amount of the lease after we moved in. So we moved on.
Jennifer Coulter: Then, a friend whose mother’s house had been vacant in Oakhurst for five years invited us to move in and just pay the utilities. But after two months, the family trust decided to sell the home.
That’s when we bought the trailer. We knew we needed to be in control of our living situation. The only way we could do that affordably was with a trailer. But we had to buy a new one; there were no used ones available. And so, yeah, we went to Oklahoma, bought a trailer and lived in it for almost a year in our driveway. Two adults. Two kids. Two cats. And one dog. That actually turned out to be the right decision. We wish we had made that choice first.
Birthday party in the driveway with the new trailer.
Fruitless Search for SBA Help
Bob Rehak: So this whole time you’re working on your house?
Jennifer Coulter: We were gutting it. But we had no means to finance the rebuild. We were trying to figure that part out. So, we applied for an SBA loan. People told us that was our only option, since we didn’t have flood insurance and there was no way to get a home equity loan.
The Coulters ran out of room in their garage and started storing carts and construction materials in their living room.
Bob Rehak: Why didn’t you have flood insurance?
Jennifer Coulter: We live more than two miles from the West Fork in the 500-year flood plain. It was a bad miscalculation.
Bob Rehak: So you started the process of getting an SBA loan?
Jennifer Coulter: Yes,we filled out the application. And because we started a small business just six months before the flood, we were not eligible. We didn’t have two years of tax returns on the business. And we were not receiving paychecks from an employer. They denied us for “inability to repay the loan.” Even though we had great credit and assets well in excess of the amount we were asking for, the SBA denied us.
Drawing Down 401Ks to Afford Repairs
Bob Rehak: Where did you go next?
Jennifer Coulter: To our 401Ks. I had two small retirement accounts and Chris had a sizable one. Taking money out of those would later prove to be yet another fateful decision.
Bob Rehak: You were your own general contractor.
Jennifer Coulter: Yes, we did not have money to pay one. But that meant we had to figure out how to do it ourselves. That created extra stress while we were trying to grow a new business.
Chris and Jennifer Coulter in their front yardworkshop during the rebuild.
Bob Rehak: Back to the search for aid. You eventually applied for a homeowner assistance grant.
Jennifer Coulter: I applied the first day you could back in February 2019.
Bob Rehak: Tell me about that process. Did you start online and then go downtown to finish?
Jennifer Coulter: They never invited us to go that far. The first step was to fill out a survey that screens people. You just give general information about damage to your home, your income level, and that sort of stuff.
Tapping 401Ks Counts Against Them
Jennifer Coulter: So when asked about income, I put what was on our 2018 tax return because I thought that was what they required. But we were cleaning out retirement funds to repair the home, because the business had not yet taken off. I was told that within days or maybe two weeks that someone would reach out to us. And at that point, we would fill out a formal application. Then we would receive whatever funds we may or may not be eligible for. No one ever called back.
So I called them back. At least six times. But every time, I was told, “Well, you’re in priority group six; we’re still working on priority groups one and two.”
We never even made it to the application phase to be considered for anything.
City Won’t Let Them Undo Mistake
Bob Rehak: You said at one point that you reported the withdrawal from your 401Ks as income and you eventually came to realize that was a mistake. Did you try to undo that?
Jennifer Coulter: Yes, I called and said “I’ve made a mistake. I think I put something as income that really shouldn’t be income. How can I amend my survey?”
She said, “Well, we’re addressing them in the order of receipt. So if you changed it, that puts you at the back of the line.”
Bob Rehak: Really?
Jennifer Coulter: I was told not to change a thing, that I had a better chance of moving down the line if I left it as it was. And when I got further into the process and got to speak with an agent, I could work out details then.
Bob Rehak: Who were you talking to at this point?
Jennifer Coulter: The people that answer the phone at the Homeowner’s Assistance Program website.
I haven’t called in several months. It was a total waste of time. This money was allocated to help people like us. But the Small Business Administration denied us a loan, because we had just started a small business. The logic or lack thereof is just mind boggling!
Bob Rehak: So sad!
Turning Corner With Community Support
Jennifer Coulter: We’re not alone. But at least our business is growing. We have great community support. Most of our customers are in the Kingwood and Lake Houston area. And the business is growing by word of mouth. We feel so very fortunate.
We know that our recovery will be a long one. But we’ll get there, whether we receive aid or not.
First Christmas back in the house, even if it didn’t yet have all the comforts of home.
Bob Rehak: Where do you go from here? Are you just going to gut it out or do you still have hope for the loan or the grant?
Jennifer Coulter: I’ll probably see if I can get through to the GLO and give it one last ditch effort. But I assume it’s never gonna happen.
Where’d The Money Go?
Jennifer Coulter: It hurts. We saved so hard and vowed we would never touch that money until retirement. The City of Houston got hundreds of millions to help people like us. And then, according to Channel 13, they’ve managed to rebuild less that four dozen homes in more than a year.
It just makes college for the kids and things like that a big question mark. But we’ll figure it out. We will. We believe in our business and we believe we’ll be successful.
Someday this will all be a distant memory. We’ll work it out. That’s what we do. We put our heads down, work, and move forward.
The Silver Lining
Bob Rehak: How would you characterize this whole experience in a phrase?
Jennifer Coulter: Both a blessing and a curse. At the time, it was dark and scary and heartbreaking.
But then, you know, you pick your head up and you realize that you are surrounded by amazing people. They are willing to share blood, sweat and tears…literally. They helped us tear our house apart and put it back together. They’ve supported our kids. They’ve shared what they can. And that’s more valuable than money.
Chris and I truly feel blessed. Our kids have learned amazing lessons about what is important in life. And we now have this beautiful home that we’ve been able to remake just the way we wanted. As a family, we all had input. We all got to pick things out we wanted.
But we are no happier than when we were living in that trailer together.
Making Us Stronger
Jennifer Coulter: I have no doubt we can handle anything that comes our way, because we have, and we’ve come out ahead. And we would again. It was hard and it was sad, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Chris kept it in perspective by saying, “This is not a tragedy. This is a major inconvenience.” He maintained that as long as we were healthy and together, we would get through it and come out on the other side. Hearing us say those things and watching us live them enabled all of us to come out of it together – both stronger and happier.
Bob Rehak: Your experience would have torn many families apart. What kept you together?
Jennifer Coulter: Laughter. We laugh together. And we love one another. And we allowed ourselves to have our bad moments and gave each other space when we needed it. But we were always there for each other.
Children made the experience harder because we were aware that everything we said and did was being taken in by them. But we were very honest with them. When we were having a bad day, we let them see us cry. We let them see us be angry and frustrated.
We’d say something like, “We’re having a bad day. But it’s OK. You know, tomorrow will be better.” And it was. And so they got to see that light. That’s real life. You get down. You pick your head up and get up the next day and move forward.
You just do it. You don’t belabor the point that somebody is not giving you something. Make it happen yourself.
Bob Rehak: Would you like to share anything else with people?
“Home is Where Your People Are”
Jennifer Coulter: We lived that motto. We made the best of every place we lived and at every point throughout the process.
The power of people is just really remarkable. And this is a really special place. A lot of people say that. But the love and the support that just came at us from so many people was just really, really remarkable. We’re just very lucky to live in this community.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/25/2020 with input from Jennifer and Chris Coulter
1000 Days after Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Cart-in-Living-Room.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=19001200adminadmin2020-05-25 06:00:002020-05-25 06:05:571000 Days After Hurricane Harvey, Jennifer and Chris Coulter Feel Blessed in Many Ways
Houston After Harvey: Stories from Inside the Hurricane is an encyclopedic, almost kaleidoscopic collection of interviews with flood victims about their Hurricane Harvey experiences. The new Amazon eBook by two Houston authors, Jacqueline Havelka and Jill Bullard Almaguer, has a “you are there” quality to it. The interviews fall into roughly three categories: before, during and after the storm.
WhataBurger in Kingwood’s new HEB shopping center during flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
Story of a Natural Disaster Told Through Victims’ Eyes
They recount the stories of people watching in terror as water crept inexorably toward their homes and businesses, praying it would not reach their front doors. They speak of the chaos of emergency evacuations, when people suddenly realized they had waited too long. And finally, they reveal the shock and sadness of returning to often uninsured homes and the struggle to repair them without the financial means to do so.
Floods like Harvey affect every nook and cranny of the community and local economy.
Entire Range of Human Emotions
Readers of this book will experience the entire range of the human emotions. Helplessness in the face of nature’s rage. Numbness in shelters. Kindness of strangers. Tears of loss. Rage at looters. Bewilderment when navigating the government bureaucracy. The struggle to return to normalcy. And more. Much more.
The book is not all seen through the eyes of flood victims. A narrative section for the statistically inclined puts Harvey in historical perspective. The storm dumped more rain on the continental US than any other storm in history. Including a whopping 4 feet on Houston, a metropolitan area of seven million people.
One of the untold stories of Harvey, until now, is how Houston, a sprawling metropolis of diverse interests, came together in one of its darkest moments.
Half the community needed help. And the other half gave it.
Parts of this book will make you smile. Parts will make you cry.
A Cautionary Tale for the World
If you read the book in one sitting, it feels like a time-lapse video, as if you’re reliving the whole Harvey experience in fast forward. It literally took me back to those terrible days in August and September of 2017.
You never forget an experience, such as Harvey. And you shouldn’t. Even if you want to. Harvey is a cautionary tale for the world about the need to prepare for flooding. Even if you think you live on high ground. Most of Harvey’s victims lived and worked outside of any recognized flood zone.
Recommended For…
I recommend this book to anyone who thinks s/he is immune to flooding. I also recommend it to Harvey victims who want to learn about others who shared their plight.
Many flood victims may also want to give the book to friends and family in other parts of the country. It will help them understand what it was really like to go through a major flood. And more importantly, what it takes to come out whole on the other side.
Ms. Havelka and Ms. Bullard have made a huge contribution to the understanding of America’s most common natural disaster – flooding.
By Jacqueline Havelka and Jill Bullard Almaguer PE/MBA/PMP
$5.99
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/14/2020
989 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Note: I have known Jacque Havelka for many years and respect her contributions to the community. She is a talented writer/reporter. Even though I consulted with her when she was planning the book, I have no financial interest in it and will not profit from it.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG_0619.jpg?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=17681024adminadmin2020-05-14 13:03:022020-05-14 13:03:12Book Review: Houston After Harvey: Stories from Inside the Hurricane by Jacqueline Havelka and Jill Bullard Almaguer
I have known Bruce Sprague for 30 years. He has always been a contributor. He flew cargo planes in Vietnam back in the 1970s and was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a Major. Then he captained commercial planes for Continental Airlines. Most recently, he taught military pilots how to transition to commercial aircraft. Like most pilots who live to the age of 73, Bruce follows procedures religiously and always has backup plans to his backup plans. But lately, life has dealt him a series of blows that have left him flying on fumes with only one engine.
While in the US Air Force and USAF Reserves from 1970 thru 1984, Sprague flew C5s all over the world.Bruce Sprague flew for Continental Airlines from 1978 thru 2006. Here is his most famous passenger in 2001, right after the terrorist attacks.Bruce is the pilot standing next to George Bush.
In 2006, at age 60, FAA regulations forced him to retire from flying. Then in 2008, the financial crisis wiped out a large part of his retirement savings. Next, in 2017, he flooded from Hurricane Harvey. Then the Texas General Land Office (GLO) denied him a grant under the Homeowner Assistance Program (HoAP) because he had already taken out an SBA loan. And most recently, he lost his teaching gig when the airline industry went into a tailspin due to the corona virus; no new pilots needed!
So now, Bruce is trying to regain altitude by appealing the grant rejection, but the GLO is still stalling him.
This is the story of a man who has been 1) forced out, 2) wiped out, 3) flooded out, 4) ruled out and 5) “virused” out.
Despite all that, Bruce has maintained a positive attitude. I’m writing this because he symbolizes, according to a GLO estimate, a thousand other Texans caught in a similar bind.
Waking Up on August 29, 2017, to a Changed Life
Rehak: What happened to you and your home during Harvey?
Sprague: Like most people, we went to bed on the night of August 28th thinking we were safe. But on the morning of the 29th we woke up to find an army of insects marching in front of a what felt like a tidal wave headed toward our house. Soon, the water started creeping in. It eventually reached 25 inches in the house and 30 inches in the garage.
The Sprague Kitchen on the morning of August 29, 2017 during Harvey
Rehak: Did you have flood insurance?
Sprague: No. We are in the 500-year flood plain.
Rehak: What happened next?
Reconstruction, Loans and Grant: Start of Even Bigger Problem
Sprague: Luckily, our son in law is in a business that regularly uses lots of contractors. He got people repairing our home right away. And they only charged us cost. No markup. That was the good news. But because of financial losses in 2008, we still had a mortgage and less in our retirement fund than I planned. So we applied for an SBA loan. And they loaned us about $90,000. We also got about $30,000 of individual assistance from FEMA. But the repairs cost $130,000 and that didn’t include contents and replacement of two cars. At any rate, we were able to get back in our house by Christmas, which was close to a record.
Tearing out wallboard, insulation, cabinets and flooring.
Rehak: Some time later, HUD Homeowner Assistance grants became available and you applied for one. Did you see anything in the fine print to cause you concern?
Sprague: Yes, there was a clause called “Duplication of Benefits.” It said that if we had taken an SBA loan, we would not be eligible for the grant.
Rehak: Did you ask about that?
Sprague: Yes, the person at the City who processed our application for the General Land Office said that would not be a problem. “Not to worry about it,” she said.
Rehak: So you applied?
Sprague: Yes. We went thru a year long process to fill out forms. We made multiple visits to the HoAP offices, and many, many phone calls and emails.
Loan With Interest Classified Like Grant
Rehak: What happened?
Sprague: They denied us.
Rehak: Why?
Sprague: Duplication of benefits.
Rehak: How is a loan that you have to pay back with interest a “benefit”?
Sprague: Those are their rules. But that wasn’t our only problem. Even though we had receipts totaling $130,000 for repairs, and even though most other people in the neighborhood paid more than $200,000 to repair their homes, the City inspector estimated we only had about $105,000 worth of damage. That reduced the amount of any potential grant.
Not Following Katrina Model
Rehak: When people hear the words “duplication of benefits,” it conjures up images of double dipping and fraud.
Sprague: Right. Had we applied for GRANTS that totaled more than we paid, I would agree with that. But a loan is not a grant. You have to pay it back…with interest. So you’re not defrauding the government unless you default on the loan. Look at it this way.
We had way more in repair costs than the total of our loans and grant. And they’re not even considering a homeowner assistance grant.
The belongings of a lifetime on the curb for looters and garbage men to take. Sprague lives in a one-story house.
Appropriations Bill Stalled In Senate Due to Virus
Sprague: It stalled in the Senate because everyone is focusing on corona virus now. The GLO has not changed its position. They say that even though Congress and the President have clarified their position, “the rules came too late.”
Rehak: That leaves you in limbo. And you’re dealing with two disasters now: Harvey and the virus.
Sprague: I understand that people are just doing their jobs, that they have rules to deal with, and they’re trying to prevent fraud. But it sure is frustrating when the President tells someone in his chain of command, “This is how I and Congress want this to work,” and then people down the line don’t follow instructions.
Rehak: Are you holding out much hope for a grant at this point?
Sprague: No time soon. It’s been more than two and a half years since Harvey. When natural disasters destroy people’s lives and homes, they need help right away, not three or four years later.
Hoping Appeals Last Long Enough
Rehak: Have you appealed?
Sprague: Yes. We’re on our second appeal. Three appeals are possible. We’re hoping we can keep this going long enough for Crenshaw’s appropriations bill to get some traction in the Senate and for the GLO to revise its rules.
Rehak: Is there any hope in the Senate? Have you approached Cruz or Cornyn?
Sprague: I’ve gotten some nice form letters back from them saying they are “working for all Texans.”
Rehak: What do you hope for at this point?
Sprague: I just hope we survive corona so our heirs don’t inherit a mountain of debt with our house. Until now, I’ve never asked anything from my government. I hope just this once they come through.
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_8048.jpeg?fit=1280%2C960&ssl=19601280adminadmin2020-04-04 19:54:202020-04-05 10:16:20Bruce Sprague’s Hurricane Harvey Story, Part VI
1000 Days After Hurricane Harvey, Jennifer and Chris Coulter Feel Blessed in Many Ways
The latest interview in my Impact series: Just months before Hurricane Harvey, Jennifer Coulter and her husband, Chris, decided to start a new company called Texas Power Agents. The SBA used the timing of that decision to deny them a loan. And because they were then forced to liquidate their 401Ks to repair their home (a move which Jennifer thought counted as income), the City then denied them a Homeowner Assistance Grant. Through it all, they managed to rebuild their home, grow their company, and grow closer as a family. Long ago, they stopped expecting help from the bureaucracy and rebuilt their home with their own hands and the help of friends. Now, one thousand days after Harvey, they look back at the whole experience as a blessing in many ways.
Bob Rehak: Harvey flooded your home. How badly?
Jennifer Coulter: Almost two-feet. But we gutted up to four feet. The house was unusable for a long time because it’s a one story house.
The Great Post-Harvey, Year-Long Camp Out
Bob Rehak: You lived in a camper in your driveway for about a year.
Jennifer Coulter: That was our best move! We went to a friend’s house for a week. And then another friend’s. Once we figured out this was a long-term process, we got a rental property. But the landlord tried to change the amount of the lease after we moved in. So we moved on.
Jennifer Coulter: Then, a friend whose mother’s house had been vacant in Oakhurst for five years invited us to move in and just pay the utilities. But after two months, the family trust decided to sell the home.
That’s when we bought the trailer. We knew we needed to be in control of our living situation. The only way we could do that affordably was with a trailer. But we had to buy a new one; there were no used ones available. And so, yeah, we went to Oklahoma, bought a trailer and lived in it for almost a year in our driveway. Two adults. Two kids. Two cats. And one dog. That actually turned out to be the right decision. We wish we had made that choice first.
Fruitless Search for SBA Help
Bob Rehak: So this whole time you’re working on your house?
Jennifer Coulter: We were gutting it. But we had no means to finance the rebuild. We were trying to figure that part out. So, we applied for an SBA loan. People told us that was our only option, since we didn’t have flood insurance and there was no way to get a home equity loan.
Bob Rehak: Why didn’t you have flood insurance?
Jennifer Coulter: We live more than two miles from the West Fork in the 500-year flood plain. It was a bad miscalculation.
Bob Rehak: So you started the process of getting an SBA loan?
Jennifer Coulter: Yes, we filled out the application. And because we started a small business just six months before the flood, we were not eligible. We didn’t have two years of tax returns on the business. And we were not receiving paychecks from an employer. They denied us for “inability to repay the loan.” Even though we had great credit and assets well in excess of the amount we were asking for, the SBA denied us.
Drawing Down 401Ks to Afford Repairs
Bob Rehak: Where did you go next?
Jennifer Coulter: To our 401Ks. I had two small retirement accounts and Chris had a sizable one. Taking money out of those would later prove to be yet another fateful decision.
Bob Rehak: You were your own general contractor.
Jennifer Coulter: Yes, we did not have money to pay one. But that meant we had to figure out how to do it ourselves. That created extra stress while we were trying to grow a new business.
Bob Rehak: Back to the search for aid. You eventually applied for a homeowner assistance grant.
Jennifer Coulter: I applied the first day you could back in February 2019.
Bob Rehak: Tell me about that process. Did you start online and then go downtown to finish?
Jennifer Coulter: They never invited us to go that far. The first step was to fill out a survey that screens people. You just give general information about damage to your home, your income level, and that sort of stuff.
Tapping 401Ks Counts Against Them
Jennifer Coulter: So when asked about income, I put what was on our 2018 tax return because I thought that was what they required. But we were cleaning out retirement funds to repair the home, because the business had not yet taken off. I was told that within days or maybe two weeks that someone would reach out to us. And at that point, we would fill out a formal application. Then we would receive whatever funds we may or may not be eligible for. No one ever called back.
So I called them back. At least six times. But every time, I was told, “Well, you’re in priority group six; we’re still working on priority groups one and two.”
We never even made it to the application phase to be considered for anything.
City Won’t Let Them Undo Mistake
Bob Rehak: You said at one point that you reported the withdrawal from your 401Ks as income and you eventually came to realize that was a mistake. Did you try to undo that?
Jennifer Coulter: Yes, I called and said “I’ve made a mistake. I think I put something as income that really shouldn’t be income. How can I amend my survey?”
She said, “Well, we’re addressing them in the order of receipt. So if you changed it, that puts you at the back of the line.”
Bob Rehak: Really?
Jennifer Coulter: I was told not to change a thing, that I had a better chance of moving down the line if I left it as it was. And when I got further into the process and got to speak with an agent, I could work out details then.
Bob Rehak: Who were you talking to at this point?
Jennifer Coulter: The people that answer the phone at the Homeowner’s Assistance Program website.
I haven’t called in several months. It was a total waste of time. This money was allocated to help people like us. But the Small Business Administration denied us a loan, because we had just started a small business. The logic or lack thereof is just mind boggling!
Bob Rehak: So sad!
Turning Corner With Community Support
Jennifer Coulter: We’re not alone. But at least our business is growing. We have great community support. Most of our customers are in the Kingwood and Lake Houston area. And the business is growing by word of mouth. We feel so very fortunate.
We know that our recovery will be a long one. But we’ll get there, whether we receive aid or not.
Bob Rehak: Where do you go from here? Are you just going to gut it out or do you still have hope for the loan or the grant?
Jennifer Coulter: I’ll probably see if I can get through to the GLO and give it one last ditch effort. But I assume it’s never gonna happen.
Where’d The Money Go?
Jennifer Coulter: It hurts. We saved so hard and vowed we would never touch that money until retirement. The City of Houston got hundreds of millions to help people like us. And then, according to Channel 13, they’ve managed to rebuild less that four dozen homes in more than a year.
It just makes college for the kids and things like that a big question mark. But we’ll figure it out. We will. We believe in our business and we believe we’ll be successful.
The Silver Lining
Bob Rehak: How would you characterize this whole experience in a phrase?
Jennifer Coulter: Both a blessing and a curse. At the time, it was dark and scary and heartbreaking.
But then, you know, you pick your head up and you realize that you are surrounded by amazing people. They are willing to share blood, sweat and tears…literally. They helped us tear our house apart and put it back together. They’ve supported our kids. They’ve shared what they can. And that’s more valuable than money.
Chris and I truly feel blessed. Our kids have learned amazing lessons about what is important in life. And we now have this beautiful home that we’ve been able to remake just the way we wanted. As a family, we all had input. We all got to pick things out we wanted.
Making Us Stronger
Jennifer Coulter: I have no doubt we can handle anything that comes our way, because we have, and we’ve come out ahead. And we would again. It was hard and it was sad, but it wasn’t the end of the world.
Chris kept it in perspective by saying, “This is not a tragedy. This is a major inconvenience.” He maintained that as long as we were healthy and together, we would get through it and come out on the other side. Hearing us say those things and watching us live them enabled all of us to come out of it together – both stronger and happier.
Bob Rehak: Your experience would have torn many families apart. What kept you together?
Jennifer Coulter: Laughter. We laugh together. And we love one another. And we allowed ourselves to have our bad moments and gave each other space when we needed it. But we were always there for each other.
Children made the experience harder because we were aware that everything we said and did was being taken in by them. But we were very honest with them. When we were having a bad day, we let them see us cry. We let them see us be angry and frustrated.
We’d say something like, “We’re having a bad day. But it’s OK. You know, tomorrow will be better.” And it was. And so they got to see that light. That’s real life. You get down. You pick your head up and get up the next day and move forward.
Bob Rehak: Would you like to share anything else with people?
“Home is Where Your People Are”
Jennifer Coulter: We lived that motto. We made the best of every place we lived and at every point throughout the process.
The power of people is just really remarkable. And this is a really special place. A lot of people say that. But the love and the support that just came at us from so many people was just really, really remarkable. We’re just very lucky to live in this community.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/25/2020 with input from Jennifer and Chris Coulter
1000 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Book Review: Houston After Harvey: Stories from Inside the Hurricane by Jacqueline Havelka and Jill Bullard Almaguer
Houston After Harvey: Stories from Inside the Hurricane is an encyclopedic, almost kaleidoscopic collection of interviews with flood victims about their Hurricane Harvey experiences. The new Amazon eBook by two Houston authors, Jacqueline Havelka and Jill Bullard Almaguer, has a “you are there” quality to it. The interviews fall into roughly three categories: before, during and after the storm.
Story of a Natural Disaster Told Through Victims’ Eyes
They recount the stories of people watching in terror as water crept inexorably toward their homes and businesses, praying it would not reach their front doors. They speak of the chaos of emergency evacuations, when people suddenly realized they had waited too long. And finally, they reveal the shock and sadness of returning to often uninsured homes and the struggle to repair them without the financial means to do so.
Floods like Harvey affect every nook and cranny of the community and local economy.
Entire Range of Human Emotions
Readers of this book will experience the entire range of the human emotions. Helplessness in the face of nature’s rage. Numbness in shelters. Kindness of strangers. Tears of loss. Rage at looters. Bewilderment when navigating the government bureaucracy. The struggle to return to normalcy. And more. Much more.
The book is not all seen through the eyes of flood victims. A narrative section for the statistically inclined puts Harvey in historical perspective. The storm dumped more rain on the continental US than any other storm in history. Including a whopping 4 feet on Houston, a metropolitan area of seven million people.
One of the untold stories of Harvey, until now, is how Houston, a sprawling metropolis of diverse interests, came together in one of its darkest moments.
Parts of this book will make you smile. Parts will make you cry.
A Cautionary Tale for the World
If you read the book in one sitting, it feels like a time-lapse video, as if you’re reliving the whole Harvey experience in fast forward. It literally took me back to those terrible days in August and September of 2017.
You never forget an experience, such as Harvey. And you shouldn’t. Even if you want to. Harvey is a cautionary tale for the world about the need to prepare for flooding. Even if you think you live on high ground. Most of Harvey’s victims lived and worked outside of any recognized flood zone.
Recommended For…
I recommend this book to anyone who thinks s/he is immune to flooding. I also recommend it to Harvey victims who want to learn about others who shared their plight.
Many flood victims may also want to give the book to friends and family in other parts of the country. It will help them understand what it was really like to go through a major flood. And more importantly, what it takes to come out whole on the other side.
Ms. Havelka and Ms. Bullard have made a huge contribution to the understanding of America’s most common natural disaster – flooding.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/14/2020
989 Days after Hurricane Harvey
Note: I have known Jacque Havelka for many years and respect her contributions to the community. She is a talented writer/reporter. Even though I consulted with her when she was planning the book, I have no financial interest in it and will not profit from it.
Bruce Sprague’s Hurricane Harvey Story, Part VI
I have known Bruce Sprague for 30 years. He has always been a contributor. He flew cargo planes in Vietnam back in the 1970s and was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a Major. Then he captained commercial planes for Continental Airlines. Most recently, he taught military pilots how to transition to commercial aircraft. Like most pilots who live to the age of 73, Bruce follows procedures religiously and always has backup plans to his backup plans. But lately, life has dealt him a series of blows that have left him flying on fumes with only one engine.
In 2006, at age 60, FAA regulations forced him to retire from flying. Then in 2008, the financial crisis wiped out a large part of his retirement savings. Next, in 2017, he flooded from Hurricane Harvey. Then the Texas General Land Office (GLO) denied him a grant under the Homeowner Assistance Program (HoAP) because he had already taken out an SBA loan. And most recently, he lost his teaching gig when the airline industry went into a tailspin due to the corona virus; no new pilots needed!
So now, Bruce is trying to regain altitude by appealing the grant rejection, but the GLO is still stalling him.
Despite all that, Bruce has maintained a positive attitude. I’m writing this because he symbolizes, according to a GLO estimate, a thousand other Texans caught in a similar bind.
Waking Up on August 29, 2017, to a Changed Life
Rehak: What happened to you and your home during Harvey?
Sprague: Like most people, we went to bed on the night of August 28th thinking we were safe. But on the morning of the 29th we woke up to find an army of insects marching in front of a what felt like a tidal wave headed toward our house. Soon, the water started creeping in. It eventually reached 25 inches in the house and 30 inches in the garage.
Rehak: Did you have flood insurance?
Sprague: No. We are in the 500-year flood plain.
Rehak: What happened next?
Reconstruction, Loans and Grant: Start of Even Bigger Problem
Sprague: Luckily, our son in law is in a business that regularly uses lots of contractors. He got people repairing our home right away. And they only charged us cost. No markup. That was the good news. But because of financial losses in 2008, we still had a mortgage and less in our retirement fund than I planned. So we applied for an SBA loan. And they loaned us about $90,000. We also got about $30,000 of individual assistance from FEMA. But the repairs cost $130,000 and that didn’t include contents and replacement of two cars. At any rate, we were able to get back in our house by Christmas, which was close to a record.
Rehak: Some time later, HUD Homeowner Assistance grants became available and you applied for one. Did you see anything in the fine print to cause you concern?
Sprague: Yes, there was a clause called “Duplication of Benefits.” It said that if we had taken an SBA loan, we would not be eligible for the grant.
Rehak: Did you ask about that?
Sprague: Yes, the person at the City who processed our application for the General Land Office said that would not be a problem. “Not to worry about it,” she said.
Rehak: So you applied?
Sprague: Yes. We went thru a year long process to fill out forms. We made multiple visits to the HoAP offices, and many, many phone calls and emails.
Loan With Interest Classified Like Grant
Rehak: What happened?
Sprague: They denied us.
Rehak: Why?
Sprague: Duplication of benefits.
Rehak: How is a loan that you have to pay back with interest a “benefit”?
Sprague: Those are their rules. But that wasn’t our only problem. Even though we had receipts totaling $130,000 for repairs, and even though most other people in the neighborhood paid more than $200,000 to repair their homes, the City inspector estimated we only had about $105,000 worth of damage. That reduced the amount of any potential grant.
Not Following Katrina Model
Rehak: When people hear the words “duplication of benefits,” it conjures up images of double dipping and fraud.
Sprague: Right. Had we applied for GRANTS that totaled more than we paid, I would agree with that. But a loan is not a grant. You have to pay it back…with interest. So you’re not defrauding the government unless you default on the loan. Look at it this way.
That’s just not fair. A lot of people think that, not just me. After Katrina, they allowed people in New Orleans to pay down their SBA loans with homeowner assistance grants. It was NOT considered a duplication of benefits then!
Rehak: So, what did you do next? You’ve worked in and around government for decades.
Crenshaw Rallies Support in Congress and With Trump
Sprague: I went to Congressman Dan Crenshaw. He and his staff have been terrific. He got ten other members of Congress to send a letter to President Trump explaining that SBA loans should not be considered a duplication of benefits. That was not Congress’ intent. Trump agreed and had HUD-leader Ben Carson publish new guidance for duplication of benefits for Harvey. [See Section VB2 on page 28841 of Federal Register.]
But the Texas General Land Office, which was overseeing the distribution of these funds in Texas, still has not changed their rules. They said the new guidance came “too late.” They also said they didn’t have enough money to make grants to people who also had loans. So, Crenshaw pushed an additional $45 million appropriation through Congress.
Rehak: Where does that stand now?
Appropriations Bill Stalled In Senate Due to Virus
Sprague: It stalled in the Senate because everyone is focusing on corona virus now. The GLO has not changed its position. They say that even though Congress and the President have clarified their position, “the rules came too late.”
Rehak: That leaves you in limbo. And you’re dealing with two disasters now: Harvey and the virus.
Sprague: I understand that people are just doing their jobs, that they have rules to deal with, and they’re trying to prevent fraud. But it sure is frustrating when the President tells someone in his chain of command, “This is how I and Congress want this to work,” and then people down the line don’t follow instructions.
Rehak: Are you holding out much hope for a grant at this point?
Sprague: No time soon. It’s been more than two and a half years since Harvey. When natural disasters destroy people’s lives and homes, they need help right away, not three or four years later.
Hoping Appeals Last Long Enough
Rehak: Have you appealed?
Sprague: Yes. We’re on our second appeal. Three appeals are possible. We’re hoping we can keep this going long enough for Crenshaw’s appropriations bill to get some traction in the Senate and for the GLO to revise its rules.
Rehak: Is there any hope in the Senate? Have you approached Cruz or Cornyn?
Sprague: I’ve gotten some nice form letters back from them saying they are “working for all Texans.”
Rehak: What do you hope for at this point?
Sprague: I just hope we survive corona so our heirs don’t inherit a mountain of debt with our house. Until now, I’ve never asked anything from my government. I hope just this once they come through.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 4/4/2020
949 days after Hurricane Harvey
Note: This report for the Congressional Research Service describes issues with the Duplication of Benefits provision.