Former Winnipegger among those helping stranded Houston residents

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This article was published 29/08/2017 (2972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Former Winnipegger Breck Young was rescuing a woman and two dogs in Houston, while at the same time talking on a cell phone to the Winnipeg Free Press, and being talked to in his other ear by a local sheriff.

“The last few days I’ve been helping rescue people,” explained Young, a University of Manitoba computer science graduate from the 1990s. “A friend gave me a canoe that I put in back of the truck, and we’re going to subdivisions and helping people get out.”

Houston has been besieged by rainfall and flooding since Hurricane Harvey struck on Saturday. Young lives in Sienna Plantation, a protected part of Houston.

In addition to his rescues, Young currently has eight people removed from their homes that are staying at his house, plus two dog and three cats. He can’t take in everyone he rescues, only friends whose residences are surrounded by water.

Young left Winnipeg before the 1997 Red River flood so this is all new to him.

“I’d say 99 per cent of people in Houston have power and they’re comfortable but there are some low lying areas where the levy is compromised, where people are kind of stranded. So we’re going to get them.”

In addition to a truck and canoe, he also has an adventure-class motorcycle that can go in deep water, he said.

Young stressed it’s not as bad as it appears in news clips. “It’s not what you may see on the news as far as helicopters pulling people off roofs. It’s not Katrina.”

The majority of people don’t have water on their floors either, he said. It’s more of a mobility issue. They are stranded by flooding and can’t leave their neighbourhoods. “But they have power, they have internet,” Young said.

“The friends I’m pulling out of homes still had electricity but they said it’s going on too long, and trees were falling. One friend said a mass of trees right by his house was starting to fall.”

What stands out for him about the flood fight is the efforts by volunteers and emergency personnel, including the sheriff’s office, coast guard, even the SWAT team. “Everyone has been full-on working overtime, and not sleeping, and just committed to it,” he said.

Young left Winnipeg after getting his degree because he couldn’t find a job. He ended up in Calgary doing computer electronics in the oil sector. The head office moved to Houston and he went with it. He spent a couple years in Paris when the company was purchased by a French outfit, before returning to Houston. “Houston is home,” he said.

Young believes the worst of the water could drain off within a couple days “and 99.9 per cent of people will be OK and go back to their homes.”

For some, however, there will be a long rebuilding process to get their lives back together again.

“There are several thousand people whose houses are devastated and who don’t have insurance. It’s going to be a big issue here to help them out,” he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca