Wednesday, January 1, 2020

People risked their lives to get to work during Hurricane Harvey

People risked their lives to get to work during Hurricane HarveyPeople risked their lives to get to work during Hurricane HarveyHurricane Harveys impact continues to cause widespread devastation, with people having lost things such as cars, homesand lives in what The Washington Post has called the most extreme rain event in U.S. history.The pictures tell the story with whitecaps on the freeways, life-threatening flooding and daily rescues, these are extremely serious circumstances that no one should brush off or overlook. Bearing that in mind, we are collecting the stories of people who went to work anyway, usually out of economic necessity and sometimes to seek safety or try to help otzu sichs. Here are a few of their stories.Bread for everyoneA group of bakers at a Mexican bakery in Texas were stuck at work for two days amid the flooding. Workers used more than 4,000 pounds of flour to make sweet bread, called pan dulce, for those affected by the storm, the mayor and versicherungsp olice in the area- and for free, according to Chicagos WGN-TV.Brian Alvarado, who manages the South Wayside Drive location, told The Independent about what happened.When they realised they were stuck, they decided to keep themselves busy and help the community and made as many loaves of bread as they couldBy the time the owner managed to get to them, they had made so much bread that we took the loaves to loads of emergency centres across the city for people affected by the floods he told the publication.The bakery even posted aboutwhat happened on its Facebook page.(function(d, s, id) var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)0 if (d.getElementById(id)) return js = d.createElement(s) js.id = id js.src = https//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.jsxfbml=1version=v3.1 fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs)(document, script, facebook-jssdk))This video on their pagealso shows people scooping up the bread.The reality of working for a newspaperJournalists at the Houston Chronicle risked dan gerous conditions to keep it running, and Poynter wrote about the details.Similarly, people in the newsroom of the Victoria Advocate in Texasreportedly brought their pets to work as they covered Hurricane Harvey.Wading through the flood watersA 60-year-old woman walked to her job at a hotel through waist-deep water because she couldnt afford to miss a day of work - a reality for many workers.A deadly commuteEspecially for those with core social functions, showing up to work during a hurricane seems like a necessity. But it can be deadly. Among those who passed away welches a 60-year-old, 34-year veteran Houston police sergeant namedSgt. Steve Perez, whoreportedly lost his life when he drowned during his commute. His body was located Tuesday.Police Chief Art Acevedo reportedly said Perez spent about 2 hours driving around trying to get to his duty station. The sergeant started his commute to work at around 4 a.m. on Sunday when it was still dark out. His car was stuck in high water and he didnt survive the trip.Daunting conditionsIts understandable that hospital workers would be called in to work during the storm, as the numbered of injured and those requiring medical attention grew. Those workers, however, faced overwhelming weather conditions.mafiatorte Hut drops off pies to those in need- by kayakShayda Willison, who manages a Pizza Hut location in Texas, got people together to make more than 120 pies, which were then delivered to people via kayak in a flooded neighborhood, according to FOX 4.She expects to do this until theres nothing left at her location.They were so happy to see us coming down their streetYou never let your family go hungry, she said. Those kayaking delivery people, however, are risking their lives as well.Chick-Fil-A to the rescueAn older couple were trying to leave their home in Texas as it flooded, and dialed their local Chick-fil-A (they are reportedly regulars). The manager sent her husband to get them in a boat, ABC News reported. As they were sorting out what to bring in the boat, people on jet skis came by to help them, and they were off.We had to get out of there so I called Chick-fil-A, now that sounds kind of funnyI ordered two grilled chicken burritos with extra egg and a boat. And can you believe that one of the managers of Chick-fil-A, she sent her husband to pick us up and we are so grateful, J.C. Spencer reportedly said in an interview on Good Morning America Wednesday.The couple got to meet their jet ski rescuers again recently, when they finally learned their names. And those Chick-Fil-A delivery people were, like the Pizza Hut kayakers, risking their lives on the job to get food delivered.Waffle HouseWaffle House is reportedly known for staying open, even in the most harrowing conditions, and The Federal Emergency Management Agency relies onthe Waffle House Index to assess how bad a storm is, NPR reports, citing Yahoo Finance.Its also worth pointing out that its hours are 24 hours a day, seven d ays a week- but even so, two Houston-area locationshad to close because of the storm, while 30 in the city stayed open. Menus were also scaled back.This is what Waffle House does in the case of a bad storm.The company, which, like many, has employees who works on tips, also promised to make up the lost tips of employees working during the storm.https//twitter.com/ewolffmann/status/903322136634421249Prioritizing safetySome Twitter users were firm that they did not appreciate being asked to get to work during the hurricane.https//twitter.com/kal_danielle/status/900849822697238530Keep your eyes openSome employers stopped endangering their workers, with UPS and FedEx reportedly stopping their delivery services to parts of Louisiana and Texas because of the hurricane.This HuffPost piece provides perspective on what it can be like when flood waters meet homes, based on interviews with people whose homes flooded during Hurricane Harvey in Houston and storms in other cities.CNN also has ti ps for those currently in flooded areas of Texas.