Harvey taught Houston both sides of the boat story. Strangers pulled people off roofs. Other strangers flipped in current or ran into a submerged fence.
If someone is trapped in rising water, official rescue is still the first call. If a neighbor with a boat is already there and 911 is stacked, that’s the ugly middle Houston knows.
Don’t launch because the chat needs a hero.
Do this now
- If you need rescue, call 911. Give the address, the water depth, and who is inside, including pets and oxygen.
- If you’re the one with a boat, don’t go at night, in fast current, or near downed lines.
- Wear a life jacket. Put one on every person you move. That’s not optional.
- Tell someone on dry land your put-in, your destination, and when you should be back.
- Don’t drive a truck into a flooded underpass to “get closer.” Turn around.
Lessons Houston already paid for
High water hides open manholes, fire ants, and the bayou bank. Exhaustion hits faster than people think. Houstonians often report that the useful civilian boats were the ones that took a dispatcher or a volunteer coordinator’s list, not the ones that wandered looking for cameras. A cooler of water in the boat is smart. A speaker blasting music is not.
Limits you don’t negotiate with
Swift water, night, industrial runoff, and medical emergencies that need a stretcher. If someone is in labor, having chest pain, or on a ventilator, that’s not a Facebook ride. Stay with them, keep calling 911, and flag the next official boat. Your job is to be found, not to invent a hospital.
After they’re on high ground
Wet clothes, missing meds, a lost dog, a phone at 1 percent. That’s the next hour. 211 and Red Cross 1-800-733-2767 for a dry place. Don’t dump a family in a random parking lot and peel off without a name and a callback. If you were the boat, write down who you moved. People get lost in the shuffle.
Verify live. Status changes hourly. 911 first when someone is trapped. Confirm put-ins and closed crossings with 311 or people who just came the other way.