Houston residents walk through a flooded highway
Nigerians living in the American city of Texas, have recounted their truly horrific experiences in the deadly disaster.
Following serious, pounding rainstorm in Houston, Texas’ largest city, United States, thousands have been rendered homeless.
Public facilities, schools and businesses have been grounded in
response to Hurricane Harvey, as the tempestuous rainstorm is called.
Said to be one of the largest disasters America has ever faced, the
rainstorm has left Houston and much of the Gulf Coast region
waterlogged.
Being a large city, Houston is a home to an estimated 2.3 million
people. It has the highest population of Nigerians living in Texas, most
of whom are affected by the ravaging flood.
According to The Nation, many believe one of three black persons in
Houston is a Nigerian, making the Nigerian population in the city as
one of the worst hit.
With roads underwater or washed out, and basic services, such as
electricity and water supply knocked out, most of the people in the city
have been homeless, and many of them still do not know if they will
have homes to return to after the disaster.
Some of the Nigerians affected by the Hurricane Harvey shared their
harrowing stories with The Nation last night, describing their
experiences as traumatic.
Funke Kesington has been forced to be indoor for six days in the
wake of the torrential rains. The expectant mother said she and her son
had no choice but to be drinking tap water since the disaster began.
She added that her host, whom she identified as Adesuwa, had not returned home.
“She has been stuck at her workplace,” she said.
Ayokunmi and Fisayo Ayodeji, two siblings living in Southwest Alief
area of Houston, have remained in their apartment for five days. The
greatest fear, they said, is the shortage of food in area. They said
most of the grocery stores around the city have closed. Many residents
searched for food in panic shopping.
According to Ayokunmi, the food items they have in reserve may not
sustain them if the hurricane persists for another three days.
Fisayo said: “We are safe in our apartment as I speak to you,
but we are running out of food and water. We bought large quantity of
food items last week before the flood got to our area. There was
stampede at the store we bought food, because there were many people
scrambling for food to store. On Friday, the emergency service warned
from going out.
“We have been indoor since them and we have almost finished the
food we bought. We cannot go out to get food again, because most of the
stores have closed. We don’t know what is going to happen when we
consume all our reserves when the flood has not subsided.”
Telecommunication services have also been grounded by the flood,
making it difficult for Nigerians living in Houston to make calls to
their loved ones and families back home. Many now depend on data service
to communicate with their family members through WhatsApp, Facebook
messenger and other instant messaging platforms in the social media.
A former Editor-in-Chief of National Mirror and former Editor of
Nigerian Tribune, Abiodun Raufu, who now lives in Texas, shared a
picture of his flooded street in Richmond, Texas yesterday morning on
Facebook.
The picture showed houses on the street being partly submerged by the flood water.
Raufu said the hurricane had kept him immobile and imposed a “forced leave” on him.
He said: “If I become fat, blame it on Hurricane Harvey.
Sequestered involuntarily by a chest-level street flood and with nothing
to do than watch TV, my only exercise has been the frequent visits to
the kitchen."
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