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    The Houston Navy - WSJ
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  <h1 class="wsj-article-headline" itemprop="headline">The Houston Navy</h1>
  <h2 class="sub-head" itemprop="description">Volunteers respond to an historic flood.</h2>

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  <p>As Americans devote their thoughts and prayers to the people of Houston, it’s inspiring to see some brave volunteers offering so much more. They are surely needed, as local officials have been overwhelmed by emergency calls amid the rising waters. The Journal reports on Harris County Judge Ed Emmett:</p> He urged Houstonians to help rescue their neighbors. “Those of you who have boats and high-water vehicles that can be used to help people out of harm’s way, we need your help,” he said. In a Houston neighborhood near Buffalo Bayou, Tim Dodson, who runs a disaster and recovery service, drove through water 3- to...
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       <p>As Americans devote their thoughts and prayers to the people of Houston, it’s inspiring to see some brave volunteers offering so much more. They are surely needed, as local officials have been overwhelmed by emergency calls amid the rising waters. The Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/rescue-efforts-tax-houston-area-emergency-resources-1503880588" class="icon none" >reports</a> on Harris County Judge Ed Emmett:</p> <blockquote>He urged Houstonians to help rescue their neighbors. “Those of you who have boats and high-water vehicles that can be used to help people out of harm’s way, we need your help,” he said.</blockquote> <blockquote>In a Houston neighborhood near Buffalo Bayou, Tim Dodson, who runs a disaster and recovery service, drove through water 3- to 4-feet deep in his large truck Sunday afternoon. He was preparing to rescue seven elderly Catholic nuns who were stuck in the Cenacle Retreat House.</blockquote> <blockquote>A while later, Ryan Oakley arrived in the area carrying a yellow kayak. He said he was heading to a friend’s house to rescue a family, including 6- and 9-year-old children, trapped on their roof. As he prepared to paddle away, he gathered a yellow rope.</blockquote> <blockquote>“We can tie it up and support it on the roof and have the kids climb down,” Mr. Oakley said. “Because there’s no way to get a ladder out there.”</blockquote> <p>The Journal reports on one father and son who gave their boat to a neighbor in need:</p> <blockquote>Robert Parker, a Houston doctor and his son, Sean, were unloading a row boat in waist-high water in the Memorial Thicket area of Houston early evening Sunday to bring to a neighbor who was recovering from recent cancer surgery and was trapped at her house by floodwaters.</blockquote> <blockquote>Dr. Parker’s son rowed to a black wrought-iron fence where he was met by a relative of the sick woman, who waded out from the house in chest-high water. The son jumped out of the boat, and pushed it through the gate and waded back to where his father was waiting.</blockquote> 
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       <p>Along with a volunteer navy, it seems that Houston is also blessed with a volunteer army. ABC News <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/houston-convention-center-refuge-harveys-survivors-49462745" target="_blank" class="icon none" >reports</a> on a family that, after benefiting from federal and local rescue efforts, was still in need of food and shelter: </p> <blockquote>Patricia Cain entered the George R. Brown Convention Center barefoot and carrying two oxygen tanks. The first was empty. The second was given to her by the Houston Fire Department after the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her from her flooded home.</blockquote> <blockquote>She suffers from congestive heart failure, among other illnesses. Her son, William, and 9-year-old grandson were waiting for her inside. Both were barefoot as well. “I live in a lake where there was once dry land,” William Cain said.</blockquote> <blockquote>The Cains were among hundreds of people who arrived Sunday by boat, by bus, and by foot to Houston’s showcase convention center downtown, transformed by volunteers with few hours’ notice into a shelter as Harvey ravaged Houston.</blockquote> <blockquote>Weary and carrying little more than what was in their pockets, they prepared for what could be several days inside the convention center. Many of the roads and major highways nearby were impassable. The American Red Cross was expanding the shelter by the hour as more people arrived, including dozens of volunteers and local residents who saw reports on the news or social media and brought bags of donations.</blockquote> <blockquote>Inside a cavernous hall humming with the sound of hundreds of conversations, volunteers served food, handed out towels and set up tables with donated clothes for a long line of evacuees.</blockquote> <p>Baton Rouge Louisiana’s WAFB has been<a href="http://www.wafb.com/story/36227295/cajun-navy-to-texas-were-coming-as-quick-as-we-can" target="_blank" class="icon none" > reporting on the progress </a>of the “Cajun Navy” as volunteers from that state bring boats to Texas to assist in rescue efforts:</p> <blockquote>One year after the Cajun Navy fleet deployed to pluck stranded families from the flood waters that overwhelmed southeast Louisiana, the volunteer rescuers have mobilized again to help in the Houston area after heavy flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey. </blockquote> 
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       <p>More volunteers are expected today after some had difficulty reaching Houston yesterday. A leader of the volunteer effort, Jon Bridgers Sr., had described the challenge to WAFB:</p> <blockquote>Bridgers said he and others set out with boats towards Houston on Sunday but did not make it far. He said about 40 miles outside the city, the roads are impassable and that most of their volunteers can’t get through. However, he said some have made it and are doing their best to help.</blockquote> <p>Houston is going to need more help as rains continue. Early this morning the Associated Press reported:</p> <blockquote>Officials in Fort Bend County, in Houston's southwestern suburbs, have issued widespread mandatory evacuation orders along the Brazos River levee districts.</blockquote> <blockquote>County officials were preparing for the river to reach major flood stages late Sunday. County Judge Robert Herbert, the county's top elected official, said at a news conference that the National Weather Service predicted that Brazos waters could rise to 59 feet, three feet above 2016 records and what Herbert called an &quot;800-year flood level.&quot;</blockquote> <p>The Journal<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/harvey-to-hit-houston-again-1503927231" class="icon none" > reports</a> that “as much as 20 more inches of rain could fall on the Houston area. The region has seen as much as 30 inches in recent days, turning roads into rivers, inundating homes and requiring rescues for thousands of stranded people.”</p> <p>The AP <a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/news/fema-administrator-brock-long-asks-for-volunteers-to-help-in/article_c423fc72-8be8-11e7-acc5-372d4ce291d1.html" target="_blank" class="icon none" >reports</a>:</p> <blockquote>The Federal Emergency Management Agency is asking for volunteers to help Texas recover from Harvey.</blockquote> <blockquote>William “Brock” Long, FEMA administrator, told a news conference in Washington Monday that “we need citizens to be involved,” because the storm and resulting flooding is greater than the government can handle.</blockquote> <p>***</p> <p> <em>This column regrets to report that Bottom Stories of the Day will return tomorrow, not today as promised.</em> </p> <p>***</p> <p> <em></em> <em> <a href="https://twitter.com/freemanwsj" target="_blank" class="icon none" >Follow James Freeman on Twitter.</a> </em> </p> <p> <em> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=best_of_the_web_today" class="icon none" >Subscribe to the Best of the Web email with one click.</a> </em> </p> <p> <em>To suggest items, please email <a href="mailto:best@wsj.com" target="_blank" class="icon none" >best@wsj.com</a>.</em> </p> <p>(Carol Muller helps compile Best of the Web.)</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p>


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