Lillian Hood lived in a patio home in Kingwood near Lake Houston when Harvey hit the area. She was not surprised the streets flooded in her neighborhood after hearing the rain predictions for Hurricane Harvey, but she did not expect the degree of devastation the storm brought her way: four feet of water in her home and the fear of drowning in her wheelchair as she and her caregiver hoped for a high-water vehicle to rescue them.
She and her late husband had moved to The Enclave neighborhood in 1997, a group of one-story patio homes, popular with retired people. After moving there, Lillian learned that the neighborhood had experienced high water during a flood in 1994, and that the police had warned people that they should evacuate because water would be released from Lake Conroe and flow down the San Jacinto River to her area. Only one Enclave home flooded in 1994, but with Harvey every home has water, from a few inches to several feet.
Ninety years old and wheelchair-bound, Lillian discussed moving to a new apartment at a senior living facility. She remained upbeat and positive, happy to enjoy her new life and the few treasures her family salvaged for her. Her positive attitude and joyful smile are inspirational and give new meaning to “seeing the glass as half full.” While Lillian talked about the fear she felt as the water rose and her rescue, she preferred to focus on the outpouring of generosity from the people she did not know, or barely knew, who took her and other flooded family members into their homes; and the people from her church who helped tear out houses and offer other assistance.
Below you can read the transcript of the film clip from her interview, including: Lillian’s Rescue, Lillian’s Distress Signal, and Lillian’s Memories. A full transcript will be posted when completed.
Interviewee: Lillian Hood
Interview Date: March 23, 2018
Place: Lillian’s home in Kingwood, TX
Interviewer: Debbie Z. Harwell
Transcriber: Debbie Z. Harwell (partial transcript)
Lillian’s Rescue
LH: About that time on the TV it was announced that up in Conroe the water was about to break the dam so they were going to have to release it. I thought, “Uh-oh. I’ve heard about that from 1994.” My Visiting Angel, Judy Arnold, was there. I said, “Judy, watch the street. The street was perfectly dry. Thirty minutes later she said, “Lillian, the water’s curb to curb. It’s coming up the driveway up into the yard.” W had been told to dial 9-1-1 if you felt you were in danger. This is a one-story home. There’s no way we could get up any higher. So we called 9-1-1, after about ten tries, somebody answered and said, well, the city resources were very overstrained. They could not handle the numbers of calls that came in all at once. I called my daughter and son-in-law that live over in Kings River. Was going to see if they could come and get us. No answer. I got hold of their daughter down in the Heights and she said, “Mama and Daddy are in a boat on the way to a shelter. They’ve just been rescued.” So we could not help them and they could not help us. Finally a fireman came to the door wearing a yellow raincoat. He said, “There’s a fire truck over there at Kings Crossing if you can walk over there a couple of blocks you can go in the firetruck.” They can’t come when the water’s over three feet deep in the street. The alarm goes off and they cannot rescue you. I said I saw on TV they had some trucks that had the very high wheels that could go through very deep water. He said, “Well how many do you think we have in the city? Maybe tomorrow we could find one.” I thought, well, by tomorrow…Then it was nine o’clock that evening. It was dark and by that time the lights did go out. The TV went out so we did not have any news. And nobody ever came with a warning to evacuate. There was no warning at all in our neighborhood. If we had known, we could have easily gone just a few blocks. It happened so fast, and the power went out, we couldn’t watch TV. We found a radio station but that was not very far advanced. So finally at 9:00 a dump truck arrived at our front door, right up to the porch. I don’t know where they found it but it had high wheels. And I am in a wheelchair. They finally picked me up in my wheelchair and lifted me up into the truck. My friend Judy had to climb a ladder, about 12-foot ladder, and swing herself around to get into the truck. And about twenty of the neighbors got in.
Lillian’s Distress Signal (03:33)
DH: What were you thinking all this time?
LH: I thought we were probably going to drown that night is what I thought. We hung a lantern, a battery-operated flashlight lantern, on the front gate by the front door and hung out a white towel as a signal of distress. And we just stayed right beside the front door with the door open hoping somebody would come, but if nobody came there was no way we could be saved.
Lillian’s Memories (04:03)
LH: I still did not think about the horror. In my wildest dreams, I never thought four feet. I thought tomorrow my daughter and son-in-law will go over there and get my van and come over here and get me at the shelter. I’ll go home. I didn’t know that that was the end of everything as I knew it. We lived in that home over twenty years. And not just my home, the entire neighborhood and all the shopping centers nearby. …
DH: What is your best memory of what happened?
LH: The volunteers. Just imagine opening your home to a stranger. Or getting your boat out and going into a very dangerous situation. Over in Fosters Mill a man, he was going above the mailboxes and he didn’t know when he might snag his motor on something. And then he finally go to where he couldn’t control the boat; it wouldn’t go where he wanted it to. He could be washed into the Gulf of Mexico! He decided he’d better get out of that situation. They risked their lives to save people.
