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HOUSTON — Before he was evacuated from washed-out Houston earlier this week, Utah native Taylor Hendershot said the city looked incredible.
Hendershot’s apartment building was totally surrounded by water after Hurricane Harvey dumped unprecedented amounts of rain on the city earlier this week.
“It was like they just dropped apartment buildings in a lake,” Hendershot told KSL.com on Wednesday. “You couldn’t see anything other than just the building, and then everything around it was just water.”
Hendershot is originally from St. George but lived in Utah County for many years before moving to Houston, where he’s been for about four years. He was evacuated from his apartment on Tuesday before being driven to San Antonio to catch a one-way flight to Salt Lake City. He arrived in Utah late Wednesday afternoon.
In his area of Houston, voluntary evacuations started on Sunday, and mandatory evacuations were in place on Monday.
But Hendershot stuck around, shutting off his lights and hiding so he wouldn’t be forced to evacuate. His apartment is on the second floor, so he didn’t think the water would get to him, and he had enough food and water to last a while.
“The complex had a lot of water in it, but once you got to the front road, that’s where it was really deep,” Hendershot said. “You’d never know it was a neighborhood or roads or anything, there were just boats everywhere just cruising around.”
By Tuesday, Hendershot was the only person left in his apartment complex. Later that day, he heard horns blaring outside, so he went onto his balcony.
People in rescue boats were surprised to see him, as they thought all the apartments had been evacuated already, Hendershot said. They told him the water had breached levees at some nearby reservoirs, and the water levels were going to rise another four feet and be at that level for two weeks.
Not wanting to be stuck in his apartment for that long, he got into the rescuers’ boat.
The rescue and evacuation efforts were extremely well-organized, Hendershot said.
“I was so impressed with the community and the people,” he said. “There were boats everywhere. People just came in and volunteered. I was just super impressed by all the people coming together. It was really, really cool.”
Hendershot’s rescuers — some duck hunters dressed in camo who had traveled from Georgetown, Texas, to help out — transported him to an elementary school that had been set up as a shelter for flooding victims.
There, Hendershot met a friend from his church who happened to also be there. He stayed at the friend’s house, in a different part of Houston, on Tuesday night and then caught his flight from San Antonio on Wednesday.
“The complex had a lot of water in it, but once you got to the front road, that’s where it was really deep. You’d never know it was a neighborhood or roads or anything, there were just boats everywhere just cruising around.” — Taylor Hendershot
Hendershot said he never really felt in danger during the hurricane. In the first few days, there were constant tornado warnings, and several twisters touched down nearby, he said.
“I was a little worried about that, but other than that I wasn’t too concerned,” he said.
Hendershot said his future is completely up in the air. Both his cars in Houston had damage, so he will have to deal with insurance companies whenever he returns.
“I have no clue when I'll be able to get back,” Hendershot said. “I don’t know what it’s gonna be like. … I don’t have a return flight yet. I just bought a one-way ticket here and I’ll just play it by ear and hopefully get back there in a week or two weeks.”
