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HURRICANE HARVEY, NINE YEARS LATER
COLORADO COUNTY — Nine years ago, Hurricane Harvey came ashore on the Texas Gulf Coast and began a path of disaster whose effects would reach well beyond its landfall.
Harvey made landfall Aug. 25, 2017, as a Category 4 hurricane before producing catastrophic rainfall across Southeast Texas. In Colorado County, rising water from the Colorado River flooded homes, damaged roads and threatened public infrastructure while forcing residents from their homes.
The storm eventually left Colorado County governments facing more than $1 million in repairs. In Columbus, dozens of flooded homes required rebuilding; portions of the city infrastructure were damaged, and erosion along the Colorado River created serious concerns near the city’s sewage treatment facilities.
But the numbers were only part of Harvey’s impact.
Residents opened their homes. Volunteers helped gut and rebuild houses. Churches raised money and collected supplies. Weimar, spared the flooding experienced elsewhere in the county, opened Veterans Hall as a shelter and became a collection point for food, clothing, toiletries and other necessities.
A year later in 2018, local governments were still waiting for federal reimbursements and repairing what Harvey left behind.
Nine years later, much of that work is completed in Colorado County.
But for those who lived through Harvey, the storm remains a dividing line between what Colorado County knew about flooding before August 2017 — and what it learned afterward.
Looking back at The Citizen’s coverage following the storm, the county reported $1.14 million in repairs, primarily involving roads in Precincts 1, 2, and 4, plus another $148,458 for debris removal, evacuations, flood fighting, security and generators.
Columbus estimated $300,000 to $400,000 in hurricane damage, while residential areas south toward the railroad tracks and U.S. 90 experienced severe flooding.
