On Monday, Dannicia Grays woke with her family of five to Hurricane Beryl hitting her community along the Gulf Coast of Texas. Inside her home, she could hear wind and rain whipping through Rosenberg, a Houston suburb. Her lights flashed a few times, and then the electricity abruptly stopped!
Grays looked for the best, hoping power would be restored. As a veteran of tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Grays was able to sleep through the first night without power. She knew there was a better answer for her family, so she searched and found the American Red Cross shelter.
Four-year-old Serenity is more than just a ray of sunshine for her family. She greets passersby with “Hi, I’m Serenity!” With a spark of energy, Serenity dances and plays with the other children in the shelter and finds a way to bring a smile to anyone she meets. Seeing her high spirits is heartwarming to shelter residents who have been displaced from their homes.
One of Gray’s older daughters was visiting family in Austin and was supposed to be picked up on Sunday, but due to flooding from Hurricane Beryl, she can spend a little extra time away.
“I call my daughter every day to check on her and assure her that we’re okay down here,” said Grays. “She says she misses us, and I tell her that it is for the best she stays with our family up north until we get our power back on.”
Again, finding the positive, Grays was relieved to know that a “huge dead tree” was removed from her backyard on Friday. With power lines on one side and her home on the other, the tree was a disaster waiting to happen.
“As winds picked up speed that tree would have easily been pushed over in either direction and it would have fallen on our home or hit the power lines,” said Grays.
Story By: Alexis Gonzalez
Texas Gulf Coast American Red Cross 