What Got Me Through Hurricane Harvey

by Kim D.

I got by with a strong community of generous people and ketones - but more on that later.

First, let me say that living in the South, I've experienced my share of storms. I was in South Carolina when Hugo (1989) attacked. Since I've lived in Texas, I've been through the nastiness of tropical storm Allison (2001) and hurricanes Rita (2005) and Ike (2008). 

Even though Ike only landed as a category 2 storm, the eye passed right over us producing tornadoes and knocking out power to thousands. We didn't have physical damage to our home or property but were out of power for 14 days, which made running a business almost impossible. 

The storm that hit us August 25, 2017 was the worst I've ever seen. We live north of Houston in Kingwood, TX where the flood waters are hardly an issue unless you reside on the banks of Lake Houston. Those who do have flood insurance; those who are not next to the water do not. There's never been a need until Hurricane Harvey.  

This storm system hovered over the Houston area and stayed . . . and stayed . . . and stayed, dumping tons of rainfall. The effect of this was a dangerous overload on dams north of where we reside.  In order to prevent dams bursting, controlled releases were implemented and Kingwood flooded as it never has before.  Whole neighborhoods were affected - sometimes every house. A good portion of restaurants and businesses are temporarily shut down due to flood damage.

My family was lucky. We do not reside in a flood zone, our neighborhood did not flood, and power loss was minimal, sporadic during the day but never longer than an hour. What our home became was a refuge for two families who had to be rescued by the Cajun Navy the Tuesday after the storm hit. One family had other rental properties and could move into a town home within a week's time. The other family was not as lucky. Their one-story home flooded with no back-up plan. They are still with us a month later and hope to be back in their home in another 3-4 weeks. I am happy to report they are adapting well to our household.

Since my town flooded, we've all sprung into action helping when needed - making lunches to those in need, donating clothes and unused household items, helping to remove flood damaged furniture, knocking out drywall, running errands, etc.  In the aftermath of Harvey, signs of our strength as a community were displayed by American flags and #HoustonStrong signs and t-shirts. Also was our sense of humor - every once in awhile you could see a yard with all first-floor contents on the lawn with a sign that said "Yard of the Month."

GoFundMe campaigns began - I started one for our local Mexican restaurant - Chachi's - that was in a area that should have not flooded. What most people do not understand is that, yes, homeowners and businesses have insurance that helps when disaster strikes unless it is a flood.  If no flood insurance, you have to rely on limited and hard to get FEMA relief funds (the family living with us has yet to make contact with any FEMA official though multiple attempts have been made to do so - only getting recorded messages instead) or go through the red tape of personal or business bank loans.

Every day was long and a challenge that we all readily accepted as a strong community. But physically some of us needed a little more help than the spiritual boost of spreading goodwill. We needed ketones - exogenous ones that when added to water provide a host of benefits to the body: 

Exogenous ketones are now available to the public; whereas, they previously have only been available in research format which produced amazing results. I was introduced to ketones in May and they have absolutely changed my life and well being. It's simply a better fuel for the body and a bio-hack based on the research of Dr. Dominique D'Agostino, who is studying ketones and their benefit as a supplement to conquer or slow the progression of major diseases and for fitness enhancement: seizure disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic dysregulation, cancer, muscle wasting, and exercise performance. 

So that's how I've survived the wrath of Harvey despite being a mom, wife, mother of the bride to-be (Feb. 2018), refugee hostess, PTA slave, accountant, blogger, GoFundMe manager, and now ketone dealer. Gladly so and much better for it.