'It breaks my heart to see what's going on in Baytown'

“We have a 1-month-old son, and we were scared of losing power. So we left last Thursday before Harvey made landfall. We loaded up with my mother and sister-in-law, and we came to Tyler since my wife has family up here about 30 minutes away. When we left, we thought we’d only be gone until Tuesday. We are still in Tyler, but we don’t know what we will be returning to. From what we understand, our apartments were flooded pretty badly. But we will make it through whatever we have to with our son. We are just taking it day by day.

“While we’ve been in a hotel room, we’ve been watching the news and Facebook, and seeing all the devastation. It’s killed us. It breaks my heart to see what’s going on in Baytown especially. I feel helpless. We’ve been living in Pasadena, but Baytown is still my home. I want to be able to help. When we get back, after assessing our own damage, I will be searching for cleanup crews to help the people affected. That’s all I want right now, is to help my friends and family in the Baytown/Houston area.”

How has your son handled the situation?
“Actually, the hardest part for him was the four-hour car ride to get here. He’s not a big fan of car seats. But while we’ve been up here, I think having his mommy, daddy, Nana and Pawpa here all together has made him very comfy. He’s been laughing and smiling a lot. He does miss his own bed, though. He’s making the best of it.”

— Louis Gnagy

Louis, his wife, Taylor, and their son, Jude, have been treated well while in Tyler. “The hospitality and support of the local people has been overwhelming.”

Hurricane Harvey is having a major impact on the lives of people in Baytown and surrounding communities. If you would like to share your thoughts or experiences related to this historic weather event, send us a message on our Facebook or Instagram pages or email baytownproject@gmail.com.