Family reunification if you get split up

Floods split families on purpose. One adult is at work inside the Loop. Kids are at a campus that dismissed early. Another adult is stuck on 290.

Local calls fail when towers are down or everyone in the zip is retrying. Texts sometimes land when voice does not.

You need one person outside the flood zone who collects locations, and one dry place you will try to meet when the water drops.

Do this now

Text one out-of-area relative your full name, address, and who is with you.
Send the same text to the people you are trying to find. Keep it short.
Call your kids’ campus or district emergency line, not the front office voicemail from August.
If someone is missing in water, call 911 with the last place they were seen.

How people actually find each other

Red Cross has a “Safe and Well” style inquiry process after big events. Use it when you have a name and a last location, not as your first move while someone is still in rising water.

Hospitals in the Medical Center and the regional trauma centers log John and Jane Does. If you think someone went by ambulance, start there after 911.

Schools typically hold students if streets are unsafe. Do not assume a normal pickup line. Check the district’s own alert, not a parent chat screenshot.

A meetup that survives dead phones

Pick a high, obvious, inland place you all know: a specific grocery on the ridge, a relative in Cypress or Pearland who stayed dry, a job site on the west side.

Write it on paper in a wallet. Phones die. Group chats desync.

If you get to a shelter, tell intake the names of the people you are missing and the out-of-area contact. Staff cannot magically reunite you, but they can post a note at the desk.

Verify live. Status changes hourly. School holds, hospital lists, and Red Cross welfare inquiries update as the event moves. Confirm with the district, the hospital, and Red Cross Gulf Coast rather than a social post.

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