Tropical Storm Allison devastated northeast Houston in June 2001, leaving lasting scars.
HOUSTON — Twenty four years ago, Tropical Storm Allison was taking aim, and about to unleash devastating rain over Houston. Decades later, the scars remain. Especially in the hardest-hit areas like northeast Houston.
Tropical storm Allison parked over Houston in June 2001. Turning neighborhoods like Lakewood into rivers. Ms. Willie Marie Burton’s elderly parents lived there at the time and Allison’s chaos left its mark.
“Mama was just getting nervous with rain, heavy rain and like we’ve been having heavy rain that did a job on her,” she said.
The night of June 8, she says started out calm. And in the middle of the night, the water began rising and seemed to never stop.
“At 3 in the morning, she called and said she was at the neighbor’s house on the corner, and all of her furniture was floating.”
That corner house where her family found safety, just happened to be my grandmother’s house. She, along with about 20 others stayed safe in a second story room for about two days. Until they were able to get on a boat and ultimately on the back of a dump truck.
“I was most appreciative that she opened her doors. Y’all come on down because she didn’t have to do that,” said Burton.
Community she says was on full display, as she and people like Parrish Murphy tried to navigate the flooding safely.
“Absolute terror. We had bunkbeds and so I put my little one on the top bunk with his brother and I was just trying to figure out what are we going to do?”
Through chest high water, packing his boys on his back Murphy and his family joined others who took shelter here in June 2001.
“He went over to get her, to bring her over to your guy’s place and I was like hey can we come and they were like yeah,” said Murphy.
He’d face another devastating flood in 2017. As for Ms. Willie, she would never have imagined in her wildest dreams a similar scenario would play out.
“Allison was something I’ve never seen that much water while I hadn’t until Harvey.”
But in Houston, history has a way of repeating itself.
“It was just something and I thank God we got through it.”