A New Brunswick man who is living in Greater Houston, which is experiencing catastrophic flooding as a result of the dangerous and devastating former Hurricane, now tropical storm Harvey, is safe and sound at home with his family.
Danny Martin was born and raised in Quispamsis and his home near Brookshire, about 37 miles west of the city of Houston, is on the side of a hill, so they’re in an area that is high and dry but within a few hundred yards of their house roads are impassable.
(Danny and Amy Martin)
He tells Acadia Broadcasting he’s never seen anything like this before.
“In our very own neighborhood there’s roads in the back that you can’t drive down,” says Martin.
“There’s a whole part of a subdivision at the back of my neighborhood they’re stranded now — their homes are high and dry but the roads to get back are impassable so they’re basically an island all by themselves until the storm recedes.”
(One of Danny’s horses with his hooves submerged in water)
It’s not uncommon for Houston to see a really bad storm, but this is the first time when it’s been so widespread, according to Martin. He says that locally, everyone is using the April 2016 flood from last year — which has been dubbed the Tax Day flood — as a benchmark.
“This is much, much worse. It’s more water and it’s more widespread,” says Martin. “It covers a massive area.”
Martin, who has two horses himself, was preparing to help rescue horses left fenced-in in a nearby pasture, which we were told is entirely underwater. He also told us that they have an elderly couple next door that they’re always checking in on.
“We’re constantly checking on various neighbours and letting everybody know what’s going on and giving everybody updates,” says Martin.
“You can’t go anywhere, even major, major roads that have never flooded before are closed. So they’re just telling everybody to stay home.”
