#specialneedsfamily #harvey2017
My Name is Stephanie WIlliams, I live in Colorado. Paul and Alex are my brothers. They are nonverbal and 17. They have DownSyndrom and Additional Medical issues including thyroid problems. They are in an shelter in Dickinson Texas. Their house flooded due to Hurricane Harvey.
My mom and dad will need extra help. "
Per mom>>>>
September 4, 2017
Hurricane Harvey
Statement: Surviving a Hurricane and a flood is no picnic, but when 2 of your children have Down ’s syndrome and Autism it only makes it more exciting. Sunday morning August 27th, we had water up to the top of the beds and we walked out of our house with what we could carry and eventually made it to the Dickinson City Hall Building. Dickinson was not expecting as much water so our first shelter had a bathroom and was dry. Eventually food was donated and we all tried to survive the day and night. On Monday, we were moved to the George R Brown Convention Center which in in downtown Houston. Dickinson was now on a mandatory evacuation. At the shelter, we had no beds or cots, but I had gone back to the house to get a few things and our pets. On Tuesday, we found Autism specialists from Texas Children’s Hospital. One of the Social Workers, Jessica Smith, started networking and found someone, Lindsey B, who offered to put us up in an Airbnb until Friday morning.
We are currently in Brenham not too far from one of our daughters. The boys had their first hot breakfast in a week here at the Best Western who has been wonderful to us. Our house back in Dickinson now has mold and mildew growing inside and the contractor who came by says it is too dangerous to be in. So now we wait and then we will need to tear the house down and will need to rebuild. One more challenge. Three of our cars had water up to the roof, the fourth we don’t know about since it was in the shop at the time.
The boys go back to School on Sept 11 as do I. Prayer is the only thing that seems to be working and all of our wonderful friends. Our realtor Colleen Pye has been a port in the storm for us and we will be moving into our temporary home on Friday. Years from now, we all will be talking about that crazy Hurricane Harvey and the flood in years to come. We will survive and things will be better.
Items Lost:
All my JAFRA business supplies and samples
4 rooms of bedroom furniture, 2 King Beds, 2 Queen Beds, dressers, night stands
2 couches – 1 leather, 1 non-leather
2 rockers – 1 wood, 1 fabric
3 recliners
2 wood secretaries
3 wooden end tables
Piano
Refrigerator
Freezer
Books
Cookbooks
Christmas
Dining room table
China Cabinet
Kitchen table
8 chairs
4 book cases
3 desks
Electric fireplace
Washer & dryer
$5000+ of computer equipment (2 gaming systems)
2 TVs
Stereo system
Coffee Pot, Kitchen Aid Mixer, toaster, microwave, bread machine, air fryer, pots and pans, canning items, rolling pin, cookie sheets, pizza stone, stone casseroles, cast iron pans, knifes, spices,
3 cars
Cost to replace house:
Demolish house- 20,000
New house – 120,000
Permits ?
Pilings – 12,000
Reconnecting utilities – 1000
Misc. 10,000
How we are doing:
Robbie seems to be doing fairly well. Once we can replace is car, he will be able to go back to work. Hopefully next week.
Michael is trying to be strong but has moments when he is angry. Now that we have to find homes for the dogs it is even worse. Hopefully seeing his friends today helped him some.
Paul still starts to panic when we are out of sight. He is a cross right now of a 17 year old/ 4 year old. Hard to explain, but we are all trying to make it work and reassure him that all is ok.
Alex is acting out as well. He doesn’t seem to have trouble sleeping, but he is having some problems and since he is non-verbal it just makes it harder.
