HOUSTON -- After a disappointing showing in Friday night’s nationally televised 4-1 loss to the LA Galaxy, the Houston Dynamo needed Monday’s practice to start eradicating their in-game mistakes, mother nature, however, had other plans.
Early Monday morning showers pummeled Houston, causing the Dynamo to cancel that day’s practice. Some Houston areas received up to 16 inches of rain. The impending floods and damage propelled Harris County Judge Ed Emmett to sign a disaster declaration at 10 am as the storm were still passing through.
Dynamo players, like most Houstonians, stayed home and watched the news, videos, and pictures of Houston being inundated with water.
To understand how much water fell on Houston, Jeff Linder, a Meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District, tweeted the following at 12:57 p.m. on Monday.
“Rainfall across Harris County today averaged 7.75 inches or 240 billion gallons. Could run Niagara Falls for over 88 hrs.”
The rain has lessened over the days but the damage has been done. Homes have been destroyed and many families have been affected by the historic rainfall. On the practice pitch, the Dynamo are back to training, but in the past couple of days, after training, some players and members of the organization have assisted the community.
On Wednesday, Dynamo players Rob Lovejoy, Calle Brown, and Houston Dash players, Lydia Williams, Bianca Henninger and Cami Privett joined front office Dynamo staff at the Houston Food Bank to help prepare and package Disaster Boxes.
The boxes, packed with ready-to-eat non perishable items, will go to families affected by this week’s floods. In total, the group packed over 400 boxes totalling 5,600 pounds of food. Houston Food Bank estimates the boxes will provide 4,700 meals for the community.
For Brown, a first year goalkeeper for the Dynamo, helping out was a question of when, not if.
“I knew that there would be opportunities to help volunteer through the Dynamo,” said Brown during a break in training this past Thursday. “In the news you watch people’s houses destroyed and I’m fortunate enough where my house didn’t get hit, so I wanted to help out.”
Lovejoy saw it as a perfect way to pay back the community for what they have done for the Dynamo. “They do so much for us week in and week out at our games so to be able to help in any way meant a lot,” said the second-year midfielder.
Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric—who could be making his season debut against Columbus on Saturday (7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE)—grew up in Klein, Texas, some 30 miles outside Houston, and the small city wasn’t immune to the storms.
“There was a tornado in my mom’s neighborhood so I went the next day [Tuesday] to make sure she was all right and check up on the house,” he said. “There was some wind damage, trees fallen over, and leaky roof but she’s fine and healthy so that’s good.”
The storms that plagued Houston this week have dispersed and the work of getting Houston back up and running is next. Lovejoy is confident in its residents. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about the people of Houston since I’ve been here," he said, "is they’re resilient.”
