welcome back one year ago hurricane
Harvey wreaked havoc along the Texas
coastline dumping trillions of gallons
of water and causing more than 120
billion dollars in damage before during
and after the storm our news department
here at KPRC was busy keeping us all
connected as informed reporters on the
front lines sharing stories of rescues
recovery and rebuilding here with a look
back at some of those stories please
welcome KPRC reporters Robert Arnold
Ryan course guard welcome guys people of
course know you from watching you on
television behind the scenes I think
sometimes people forget that reporters
they get hungry and thirsty and they
need to be faster and they have to sleep
at some point and you guys were out
there I mean you were on the air for so
many hours sleeping here Robert I want
to start with you what do you remember
most about these few days well initially
it's kind of a blur because we were in
rockport you know we started out we were
kind of following it and then finally I
think about 12 hours before it's like
okay I this is gonna hit Rockport so we
went to Rockport and it started early in
the afternoon and just did not stop I
remember by 6 o'clock that night it was
already that that wind that's stinging
because it picks up the little bits of
debris starts hitting your skin it was
like that and just kept getting more
intense and more intense and more
intense and more intense and finally was
until the next morning that it finally
started to die down a little bit and you
know for you guys let's be honest you're
veterans when it comes to hurricane
tropical storms the two of you are the
ones to go I mean you're going into it
when everybody's getting out and so it
was nothing new to get this assignment
but you know as we're looking at the
devastation you're in Rockport Ryan
where were you right here in the Houston
okay so when when it all kind of came
down to it when did that emotion come in
for you guys cuz those reporters were
all supposed to say take that part of it
out that was so difficult for for
anybody to be in it you live here your
children are here so this is home I mean
when did that that reporters sort of
never kickoff but the emotion clearly
was visible on both of you you're also
worn down because yes sleep deprivation
and all those things and I think that at
the time it really bothered me is when
you started to see kids coming in on
boats yeah and you're like you know that
their families went to sleep the night
before thinking we're high and dry
there was more water and more water and
at that moment I was thinking about a
reporter down to George art Browne scene
literally thousands of children I'm
thinking how is she holding it together
because that to me was the most
bothersome thing yet for me it was it
was right before the I made landfall we
were at this hotel in the rock quarry it
was the newest building in town they
were kind enough let people kind of
hunker down in the lobby because it
figured the newest building most current
standards should be finding you're
talking to people and you know these are
people of meager means and they're like
how's your home's you like we don't know
we just kind of came here and we just
have to hope for the but we know we
couldn't ride it out there we're just
kind of hope and I was like wow what an
awful feeling to have to leave your home
and really just kind of leave it up to
chance as to whether not you're going to
have a home to go back to and then it
got worse because we were in that new
hotel well the back side of the hotel
started ripping off so then they kicked
everybody out so then nobody really had
anywhere to go after that were the the
random acts of kindness that you were
saying is that what kept you going
because again just to go back to the
comfort factor obviously nobody was
comfortable during harvey people were
wet and muddy you guys were out there on
the air working 13 15 16 hour days what
was it that kept you going cuz that just
seems exhausting and that just kind of
popped up and I know Robert got these
messages as did I from friends saying
what can I do what can I do yeah I got a
text one day from a friend of mine
saying I've got a flat-bottomed johnboat
I want to go help somebody how can I
help him he ended up rescuing eight
police officers who were on a boat that
overturned in Kingwood oh my gosh so
it's in that case we're literally using
a light that you would find at the
checkout stand at Walmart to keep our
shot lit because the regular television
lights had gone out like Blair Witch
Project
pretty much was the thing you know it's
like water when in electronics these are
three things they should not go together
yeah exactly
well for me I was a similar deal for
Ryan I was I'd kind of hit the wall at
one point I was sent to one of the Red
Cross shelters at B F Terry high school
in Rosenberg and I was tired and I
walked in and the first thing I went up
to is one of the Red Cross volunteers I
said okay what do you guys short on you
know we're gonna go on TV so that's
always my first question what are you
short on you know will we not be
people have nothing to sleep they're
sleeping on the floor so we need pillows
blankets comforter whatever people can
do so I went on and I said okay this is
where we are this is what they're really
short on 20 minutes later people started
showing up Wow pillows blankets
everything and it didn't stop for three
hours by the time we left that shelter
they literally had piles of bedding in
linens more than enough for everybody in
that shelter and I think that to me I
was no longer tired I was like okay I
got to keep going this is this is this
is you know this is why we are here it's
not to tell you that's raining it's to
try and get you know the word out is to
what people really need and that I
wasn't tired anymore it was good for
another 15 hours after that because it
was so amazing to see that just just
anything they just started bringing all
this in the energy and I think the
adrenaline that went along with that
something else that stands out to us
Ryan of course probably to you is a
viral video who knew I was in the floods
I had no idea somebody texted me and my
cell phone signal was so bad I couldn't
even open it I have no idea what this is
I'll look later we have a clip we're not
even gonna intro it just take a look at
what we're talking about it's gonna look
familiar to you they just need help and
you gotta you gotta do it you either
make a choice and laugh about it or you
do do something about it or you can
complain and we just chose to do
something so
that's it I mean you're awesome yeah
Thank You Man thank you hey thanks for
what you're doing we appreciate that was
it that was the video that ended up
going viral the gentleman shaking your
hand in that video Ryan is here with us
today Jamal come on out welcome to
Houston life very well now your motto is
that it doesn't matter who you are what
you are where you come from if your home
is ok you go out into the community and
you help other people yes sir well
that's my father's a mother's model and
I adopted it that's very cool and I
thought that was the most poignant thing
I mean it was like the writing and you
wouldn't take credit for this but it was
like this poignant statement that really
summarized how you would hope people
would react if you didn't flood there's
somebody out there that needs help
that's good well an compassion didn't
just start it sounds like for you it
didn't just start with hurricane Harvey
it sounds like this just underscores
what a strong community Houston is yes
sir I haven't have a family originally
from Louisiana it's something I've been
dealing with for a long time but before
Katrina in the 90s the eighties the
early 2000s you know when your family
has been affected and you've been
affected you do know how I feel I'll be
stranded well it's a wonderful thing to
pay it forward and to have that video
and it was just sort of that uplifting
moment I think that we all needed at
that time
yeah it's true yeah well guys thank you
so much I feel like we could talk about
this all afternoon Jamal and people
recognize him everywhere now there was
even a company from Uganda was tree I
was his follower today they make clothes
storage shoes they gave me a thousand a
hats a thousand outfits and they had me
pass it out to people that I would meet
in the streets and these were his fans
who needed calling there's this company
from Uganda they followed him not me on
Instagram they saw him call and they
gave me these hats from star rich and
they gave me the shoes the clothing
they're even socks and I
I had over a thousand pairs thousand
units and I gave them out that's one
pair at a time Jamal thank you so much
for coming in definitely great to see
you Robert thank you so much great work
keep it up