Program Summary

Disaster Profile

Tropical Storm Imelda caused devastating flooding across Southeast Texas dropping near-record amounts of rainfall in areas still recovering from Hurricane Harvey. Imelda flooding rivalled Harvey in some areas; it was made worse because the majority of the rainfall happened within hours, rather than days. A state of emergency was declared for a dozen counties due to the flooding. The highest rainfall totals were within Jefferson, Chambers and Orange Counties. Overall, officials estimated several thousand homes are affected.

Our Work

Our base of operations was established in Vidor, Texas, where we were able to reach homes in Jefferson, Chambers and Orange Counties. Our response staff and volunteers focused on removing debris, mucking and gutting homes and conducting mold sanitations.

As one of the only active organizations in this area, we worked hard to reach those with the highest level of need as quickly as possible. The All Hands and Hearts model, to arrive early and stay late, enabled our team to stay on the ground until every homeowner who reached out to us, or was referred to our project, could be helped.

In just under two months, our Tropical Storm Imelda Response Team was able to complete their entire queue, reaching 85 families by cleaning out mold and debris caused by the storm.

The outpouring of support from across our volunteer community brought 76 individuals to Vidor, Texas, to serve a total of 1,080 hours in communities across Jefferson and Orange counties. Additional support of an AmeriCorps NCCC team at the end of the program was able to help us push across the finish line to ensure no family in need of assistance would be left behind.

In the News

Learn more about the impacts of Imelda in the video below!

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