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In Photos: First Responders in Memorial

These good Samaritans came from all over Texas and Oklahoma to help Memorial residents after Harvey.

Photography by Jeff Balke September 13, 2017

From left: Thomas Wines (Captain, Calera Fire Department), Bill Cross (Paramedic/Captain, Bryan County EMS) and Nathan Price (Rescue Tech, Bryan County EMS) from Oklahoma had already made a number of water rescues in west Houston. Their vehicles, including an ambulance, were packed with 14 days-worth of supplies including diving gear.

Photography by Jeff Balke

From left: Rescue specialist Randy Brown and firefighters Matt McCombs and Brett Wright from Chickasha Fire Department southwest of Oklahoma City had just arrived. They were waiting to go out on their first call.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Large airboats from across the country descended on Houston and gathered at Memorial City Mall just after Harvey’s rains finally came to an end.

Photography by Jeff Balke

This semitrailer was filled with supplies and equipment, from hoses and water to computers and first aid; enough for at least two weeks of fighting flood waters.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Grant Wood, a firefighter, paramedic and medical specialist for the Urban Search and Rescue Group in Tulsa, normally battles tornadoes like the one that cut a seven-mile swath of destruction through Tulsa’s midtown in recent months. “My dad taught me to use the Farmer’s Almanac for weather,” he said. “It’s going to be a long winter.”

Photography by Jeff Balke

Huge camouflage trucks parked along Interstate 10 in the Memorial City Mall parking lot, the staging area for many first responders.

Photography by Jeff Balke

A group of first responders from the Cherokee Nation Marshall Service in Oklahoma took a breather. They had already performed dozens of rescues over the last 48 hours.

Photography by Jeff Balke

A familiar sight: wetsuits and water shoes hung out to dry alongside all-terrain vehicles in the hot summer sun.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Members of the Travis County Sheriff’s Department were preparing for yet another rescue mission in the waterlogged west Houston area.

Photography by Jeff Balke

From left: Gary Craven, Mike Black and Mark Evans arrived at 9:30 a.m. and spent much of the day barbecuing for first responders in the mall parking lot. Craven discovered a fellow Texas A&M alum on an Aggie message board wanting to help. “I’ve got a huge smoker and 200 pounds of meat in my truck,” the message said according to Craven. He and his buddies, who lived nearby, agreed to man the pit under the awning of a bank. Restaurants had been dropping off additional supplies all day long.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Dozens of volunteers showed up looking to help as donations poured into the makeshift drop-off area in the mall parking lot.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Volunteers helped good Samaritans unload bags of clothing, baby supplies and palettes of water to put under nearby pop up tents.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Even the volunteers received meals of Mexican food and Chick-fil-A sandwiches.

Photography by Jeff Balke

Gerardo Gutierrez, an evangelist from Katy, set up a donation area when he heard first responders were gathering at Memorial City mall. It quickly grew to over a dozen pop up tents and filled with donations. “Everybody’s working with their hearts,” he said. Even though there were numerous languages spoken among volunteers, “we are speaking with one language: help.”

Photography by Jeff Balke

Help came in many forms, both big and small.

Photography by Jeff Balke

First responders came from all over Texas and Oklahoma to help rescue Memorial residents after floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, and then the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, deluged the area, leaving it underwater for weeks after the storm hit. Above, a few of their stories.

Hurricane Harvey, Memorial, Flooding, Memorial City Mall

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Houstonia Magazine

In Photos: First Responders in Memorial

These good Samaritans came from all over Texas and Oklahoma to help Memorial residents after Harvey.

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