“It’s not a question of if but when.”
Over the years, Leah and I have lived in four different towns on or near the Texas coast. In each, we dealt with some degree of a hurricane or tropical storm, though it was never “the big one” everyone talked about with the above line of coastal wisdom.
“It’s not a question of ‘if’ the town is ever hit by a major hurricane; it’s a question of ‘when’ it will happen.”
- That’s when it happened.
Headlining the Hurricane Harvey stories of the past 24 hours have been Port Aransas, where we lived 2000-2005, and Rockport, where we lived 1984-1986.
Both were hit hard. The damage was enough that information has been slow to come out. Emergency services are dealing with a string of emergencies.
A friend of a friend who apparently rode out the storm in Port Aransas posted a bunch of photos taken around the town. Scrolling through them, I recognized many places, some of which seemed quite damaged, and found myself grieving for the people who love these charming little towns.
You see, most of them understood that one day it would happen, but all of us are happy to assume it won’t be today or this year.
And then it is.
The people who are the roots of these communities will rise above the rubble. While many of the fair-weather fans who have gathered over the years predictably slip away, the hardy souls who made these towns amazing in the first place will rebuild.
And they will do so knowing that … possibly … the next major hurricane could come in 2018 or 2019.
Because … still …
It’s not a question of if but when.
Steve Martaindale 
We were in the area last spring and it is so sad to see how destroyed those pretty little towns are now. That beautiful new high school!
When Carla hit in 1961, she took all of my mama’s baby stuff, she had just lent them to a cousin. We used to go down and say they were in the Gulf taking care of the fish and their babies!
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