GALVESTON, Texas – After almost a week of pounding rain, widespread flooding, power outages and water rescues, the people of Galveston woke up Saturday morning bracing for the worst.
Luckily, the storm, which hit hard at 11:30 a.m., was short-lived and blew through the coastal community relatively fast.
Still, just the threat of more heavy weather was enough to send Samuel Daniels and his girlfriend, Amy, both of whom are homeless and living on the street, to begin searching for shelter.
“I heard it’s going to be really bad. So, come the rain and the wind, we’ll find somewhere around here to get sheltered. Up under the bridge is usually where we can go. I mean, it’s strong. Where else we going to go?” Daniels said.
On the beach, at the Galveston seawall, another big concern was a large surfing contest that was being held. The La Izquierda Surf and Music Festival put hundreds of surfers and spectators directly in the path of the forecast storm.
“I imagine if there is a lot of lightning storms right here, they will have certain precautions, and they won’t do it,” said Margarey Valdez, a local surfing instructor and competitive surfer.
As for beachgoers in Galveston like Erin Garza and her husband, they are keeping a close eye on the skies and checking their cellphones for Doppler radar reports. Erin Garza knows exactly where she will take her family if the weather turns ugly again.
“I’ll definitely take them inland and try and hunker down in one of these hotels,” Garza said.