“We went to bed around 10 p.m. like we usually do, and all was well. It was raining but not much.” That is what Jose Gonzalez remembers the night before his life was turned upside down.

“My wife was about to travel back to Cuba, so she woke up at 1 a.m. to get ready to leave for the airport, but to her horror, when she looked outside, she saw water halfway up our cargo truck’s tires, and we could no longer see the car’s windows,” said Jose.

This is when terror hit the Gonzalez family. Jose and his family have lives in a two-story home in Conroe Texas for two years.

“We moved here because it was peaceful and nice. There is a creek bed in the back, but we have never had any problems with flooding,” said Jose.

The water rose fast. Within three hours, from the time the family went to sleep until the time when Mrs. Gonzalez got up, the water level had flooded half of the downstairs floor where the garage was.

“I don’t understand it,” said Jose. “It wasn’t raining that much, and I heard on the news that water would rise further out not here, there really wasn’t enough time to react before we began to flood.”

Although their bedroom is on the second floor of the house, the water started to rise so fast that they were stuck and could not get out of their neighborhood without help.

“Soon, the firefighters came in a boat and asked if we needed help. We said no, and they went on to rescue other people. Then they came back to get us. The water was up almost to the second floor. It was already above the front door. You couldn’t even see one of the two cars. The other was much taller, and you could barely see the roof. We grabbed a few clothes, our passports, and home documents and left our home,” said Jose.

The family was rescued by boat by the fire department and taken to a home outside the flooded area. “It was an awful experience,” Jose said. “We were lucky one of my neighbors offered to drive us to the Red Cross shelter.”

Gonzalez family at the shelter, Photo Credit Matthew Pena / American Red Cross

He added that they had no home insurance. The family had purchased their home from owner to owner. He had put a down payment on it and took over the payments, but they have not been able to buy insurance.

“The people at the shelter have been wonderful,” said Jose. “They fed us and gave us a place to stay. We’ve lost everything. The only people we know also seems to have been affected. We don’t know what we’re going to do next. We just hope the water didn’t rise to the second floor. We have a few savings, but that’s it. For now, this is our home. They are helping us when we need it most. I am very grateful for what they have done for my family.”

You can help people affected by disasters like the Gonzalez family and countless others by making a donation to support Red Cross Disaster Relief. Your gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for, respond to and help people recover from disasters big and small. Visit redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Story By: Francisco Philibert