A couple strolls along the beach at McFaddin Beach as storm clouds build on the horizon the day after Hurricane Harvey made land, battering the Gulf communities surrounding Corpus Christi. Heavier rains and wind are expected to impact the Southeast Texas region within the coming days, increasing the risk for severe flooding. Photo taken Saturday, August 26, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Port Arthur residents gather round a large pile of sand and busily work to fill free bags that were brought to the Bob Bowers Civic Center Thursday. As Harvey's status changed to Hurricane strength earlier in the day, many residents throughout the region began taking more serious precautionary measures to prepare for the approaching storm. Photo taken Thursday, August 24, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Jimmy Goodman of Port Arthur fills 5 of his 5-gallon gas cans at a Shell station in Groves Friday. Goodman, who grew up in Alabama and has lived in Port Arthur for 12 years, says he has gone through 15 hurricanes in his leftism. "When those lights go out, it ain't no joke," he says. The extra fuel will keep his generator powered up for several days. Residents throughout mid and south Jefferson County continued to brace for Hurricane Harvey, stocking up on extra sandbags, supplies and fuel before the system makes its way into the area this weekend. Photo taken Friday, August 25, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Park Street is completely submerged, nearly reaching the bottom of the Martin Luther King, Jr. overpass in Beaumont Wednesday. Photo taken Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Evacuees make their way through the flood waters that surrounded part of the Max Bowl, which was converted to a shelter for those displaced by flooding in Port Arthur. Photo taken Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Evacuees fill every nook and cranny of the Max Bowl, as others continue to pour in for shelter at the business in Port Arthur. Photo taken Wednesday, August 30, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Sisters Jetta Green (left) and Nisha Stevens wave goodbye after being dropped off outside Academy in Port Arthur after being airlifted away from their flooded apartment on Gulfway by the Coast Guard as military crews join in search and rescue and supply efforts in Port Arthur Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, August 31, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Port Arthur residents traverse a flooded lot along Memorial Blvd. Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, August 31, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
National Guard troops get ready to move out on a supply mission by humvee as military crews with the Army National Guard and Coast Guard join in search and rescue and supply efforts in Port Arthur Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, August 31, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Fernando Martinez surveys the flood damaged structure, furniture and other items inside his father Santiago Martinez's home on Procter Street as residents throughout Port Arthur begin the daunting task of cleaning and salvaging their flood damaged homes Monday. Photo taken Monday, September 4, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Grady Carroll gets a ride to his home as residents throughout Bevil Oaks begin the task of gutting and trying to restore their homes. The community was cleared for entry Wednesday morning as flood waters have receded to safer levels throughout the majority of the community. Photo taken Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Dolores Polnick shows the label inside the hand-sewn quilt made by her mother and older sister as she looks through belongings laid out in the back yard of her and husband Ervin's home in Lumberton's Rolling Hills subdivision Wednesday. Recovery efforts are underway in flood-ravaged communities throughout the region. Many residents are getting much needed help from church groups and other non-profits pouring in from across the state and nation. Photo taken Wednesday, September 13, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
A flood damaged truck becomes a temporary plaquard for a Trump sign at Dale Trove's home on FM 418 in Silsbee Wednesday. Trove says he has a new sign on the way. "I have to support my president," he says. The home was one of several on FM 418 west of town that sustained flooding. Trove and is wife Pat, who is battling stage 4 brain cancer, moved to the home 3 years ago and just finished remodeling it. Now, they face starting all over. The couple weren't expecting their farm property to flood, and were surprised to get out of bed August 29th or 30th to step into 6 inches of water inside. They flagged down a neighbor passing by on their boat and evacuated their home as water quickly rose. At its peak, the home took on nearly 5 feet of water, and a shed filled with tools and ATV's, a well shed, and chicken coop, as well as 2 vehicles which sat lower on the property was destroyed beneath 8 feet of flood water. Trove has photos of the flooded home and vehicles, and has been traversing back and forth from Zavalla to deal with insurance and renovations. Photo taken Wednesday, September 13, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Flood damaged family photos fill the driveway of the Goebel's home as residents throughout Bevil Oaks begin the task of gutting and trying to restore their homes. The community was cleared for entry Wednesday morning as flood waters have receded enough to no longer pose a threat to the majority in the community. Photo taken Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Beatrice Sanders and her grandson Dylan Broussard, 16, react as she describes the family's ordeal escaping from her sister's home on stilts in Port Acres, where she and over a dozen daily members sought refuge from their own flooded neighborhoods earlier this week in the wake of Tropical Storm Harvey. All of the family, including her dog "Jake," were airlifted to safety by a Coast Guard helicopter as the west side quickly flooded Tuesday. While other members of her family departed their shelter at the Montagne Center for Dallas, she chose to remain behind with Dylan. She plans to relocate to the Red Cross shelter at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Port Arthur now that the Montagne Center facility is closing due to the City of Beaumont's water system outage. Photo taken Friday, September 1, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Gwendolyn Donahue is emotional as she hugs Isaac Smith, 11, after an afternoon prayer over the loudspeaker at the Red Cross shelter in Thomas Jefferson Middle School Friday. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz made a stop at the shelter, whose residents had begun packing their belongings for transportation that night to the tent city shelter quickly built at the Bomb A. Bowers Civic Center. They are the first of the Tropical Storm Harvey displaced residents to be brought to the new shelter site. Photo taken Friday, September 15, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Che'yanne Walker of Port Arthur watches out the window as a Coast Guard plane, which is transporting evacuees displaced by the flooding to Dallas, gets ready to take off from the Jack Brooks Airport Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, August 31, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
A dead horse lies next to a fence in a pasture off of TX 105 Wednesday. Photo taken Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
LCM school bus driver Carrie Richard hugs Jenni Anderson, the mom of several of her students as Anderson's mother Jennifer Miller looks on as they run into one another to get supplies at First Baptist Church in Mauriceville Tuesday. Businesses, churches and residents were all impacted by flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey, and are deep in the early stages of recovery from their losses. Photo taken Saturday, September 9, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Clothes pack the inside of a pick-up outside a home in the El Vista neighborhood of West Port Arthur. Thousands of homes in Port Arthur may be required to elevate to rebuild according to new flood plane elevation requirements set by FEMA. A meeting was held Friday night to discuss the issue and inform residents who will be affected. Photo taken Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Hair extensions are laid out to dry on the fence surrounding a flood damaged home in Port Arthur Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, September 7, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
A sign warns lookers and looters at a subdivision in Mauriceville Tuesday. Businesses, churches and residents were all impacted by flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey, and are deep in the early stages of recovery from their losses. Photo taken Saturday, September 9, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Sandra Langham, a member of First Baptist Church in Mauriceville, talks with Jerry Lecouteure of Vidor about assistance while helping fellow church members distribute donated supplies to those in need Tuesday. Businesses, churches and residents were all impacted by flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey, and are deep in the early stages of recovery from their losses. Photo taken Saturday, September 9, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Deja Watts, 16, rests against her father Aaron Watts as they wait in line at the FEMA unit in Port Arthur Thursday. Deja lives with her mother Sherry Watts, and the pair were evacuated by boat from their home in the El Vista community as Tropical Storm Harvey quickly swallowed neighborhoods throughout the city last week. Aaron was also flooded out of his home on 19th Street, but with nowhere to go and hotels full, he has been sleeping at his home, which is quickly developing mold problems. He says he is already feeling the health effects. Photo taken Thursday, September 7, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Chad Campbell wipes his eyes as his father R. C. Campbell hugs daughter-in-law Anne Campbell during the Sunday morning service at Cowboy Church of Orange County. Pastor Dale Lee addressed the storm and hardship that his hit so many throughout the region. He called upon faith and trust in God to help the community face the long road to recovery that lies ahead. Supplies for home and farm were available for those in need following the service. Photo taken Sunday, September 3, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Martha Vautrot reacts as she gets her first look at the family's Cajun restaurant with daughter Nichole Vautrot Wednesday. Photo taken Wednesday, September 6, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Ibe McDaniel tosses a piece of molded drywall onto the pile as family chip in to begin the demolition on the home of Wilbert Charles Sells and wife Sarah in Silsbee Wednesday. The men began the work in the morning and are working to quickly remove the walls, which have quickly begun to mold, and damaged flooring. The home was one of several on FM 327 west of town that sustained flooding. Photo taken Wednesday, September 13, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Renovations are underway at Adams Elementary School in Port Arthur Friday. The 9th Avenue site sustained flood damage in Tropical Storm Harvey and is in the process of repairs and renovation. School officials expect students to be be back in the building after Thanksgiving and plans are in place to place them within other district schools in the meanwhile. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz paid a visit to the school and met with city and school officials Friday on a recent tour of his flood-affected district. Photo taken Friday, September 15, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Anslee Barbosa, 8, pauses from clean-up at her family's Verde Street home in Groves Friday. Photo taken Friday, September 15, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Tuffy's employees Cameron and Caylin Choate set off to deliver food to residents of a small, flood ravaged trailer park community in Mauriceville Saturday. The neighborhood was among those to whom owner Van Choate, family, and employees delivered whole seasoned, cooked rotisserie chickens. Choate was contacted to help cook and deliver the chickens, which were donated by Ayrshire Farms in Virginia and arrived in Southeast Texas last week. The donation totaled 1200 whole organic chickens, 600 of which were delivered to Hardin County, and the remaining 600 to Orange County. Delivery began Friday, with his crew going door to door in flood affected neighborhoods, handing out the chickens, along with drinks and links, to residents. The work continued Saturday with stops at additional neighborhoods, including a heavily damaged trailer park, and the Iglesia Evangelica Church. Photo taken Saturday, September 16, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
A Lumberton school bus makes its way past a pile of flood damage debris lining its route Wednesday. Photo taken Wednesday, September 13, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
The foundation for a new chemical injection room is poured and leveled as crews with Jet Aeration of Texas work on getting the Rose City water treatment plant back in full operation Friday. The company was contracted by the city to do the project, which includes sanitizing the existing storage units and pipes, fixing pumps, compressors, and building the new chemical injection room for water purification. Workers pulled their first water from the Neches River Thursday night and have been doing preliminary bacterial testing at an on site mobil lab. In conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers and state workers with TCEQ, Jet's project general manager Rusty Robinson says they will begin a temporary purification as soon as possible while permanent construction is finalized. They hope to start pulling water samples Monday, with the goal of lifting the boil notice by Tuesday. Photo taken Friday, September 29, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Nicholas Vautrot talks with customer Hannah Fontenot as he works out of a food truck serving up Vautrot's Cajun favorites Wednesday. The family managed to borrow a cousin's food truck, which is only used during crawfish season, and re-opened for business in the lot behind the flood ravaged restaurant on US 105. Martha Vautrot and son Nicholas and employees had a huge turn out for Tuesday's opening, as word quickly spread on social media. "People just kept coming, and by evening the place was full," Martha said. "People were laughing, talking, sharing their own stories of loss. And they were seeing people they know," many of which they hadn't seen in a long time. Nicholas added, "everyone's sense of community is so fractured, that it's nice to have a place you know and where you can hang out." "My heart is full today," Martha said, after seeing so many of the community coming together again. "I slept well for the first time last night." Photo taken Wednesday, October 4, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman finishes a beer after stepping into the restroom to smoke at their hotel room in the Beaumont Lodge. The family have been staying there on a FEMA voucher after evacuating their flooded home 3 weeks ago.
Photo taken Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Jennifer and Steven Kaufman's home is filled with flood damaged items that floated throughout the residence as it took on water when Tropical Storm Harvey hit. The several of feet of water has since receded, leaving behind ayers of dirt and quickly growing mold. Photo taken Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman tosses another flood damaged item onto a growing pile in the bed of his pickup truck as Corey Mendes heads back in to pull out more debris from the Kaufman's residence on Mitchell Road in north Beaumont Wednesday. Mendes and wife Christy worked with the Cajun Navy and citizen rescuers helping dispatch and rescue those in the heavily flooded area when Tropical Storm Harvey hit. They have since turned their efforts to helping residents gut and clean their damaged homes, as well as offering clothes and opening their own home to those in need of shelter. Photo taken Wednesday, September 20, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Jennifer Kaufman reviews son Stevie's completed homework in their hotel room in the Beaumont Lodge. The family have been staying there on a FEMA voucher after evacuating their flooded home 3 weeks ago. Photo taken Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman checks to see if it is still light outside from the window of their room in the Beaumont Lodge. Kaufman says he tries to avoid walking to a nearby grocery store too late for safety reasons.The family have been staying there on a FEMA voucher after evacuating their flooded home 3 weeks ago. Photo taken Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman watches television while his son Stevie does homework at their hotel room in the Beaumont Lodge. The family have been staying there on a FEMA voucher after evacuating their flooded home 3 weeks ago. Photo taken Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman shows the monthly mortgage bill the family received in the mail that day. The family have been staying at the Beaumont Lodge on a FEMA voucher after evacuating their flooded home 3 weeks ago. Kaufman says they won't be able to continue paying for the house they can't afford to repair and are facing foreclosure. Photo taken Wednesday, September 27, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman stops at the front desk of the Beaumont Lodge Monday, October 9, after learning that FEMA has extended the hotel vouchers for families displaced by Harvey. The advanced deadline means the family won't have to rush to be out that night and can use the time to try and get some furnishings for the apartment they just secured. Photo taken Monday, October 9, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven and Jennifer Kaufman are stressed as they await the arrival of an apartment complex manager to tour an open apartment in Beaumont Thursday, Sept. 28. Displaced from their home by Harvey's flooding, they have been living in a hotel for nearly a month and are desperately seeking a new home before their FEMA hotel voucher ends. Photo taken Thursday, September 28, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven and Steven Kaufman, Jr., stare out the window of an upstairs bedroom as they make a stop at their soon-to-be new home in Old Town. With their FEMA hotel voucher extension due to expire, the Kaufman's were able to find and secure an apartment in Beaumont and have begun moving in while awaiting lease agreement finalization. Steven says having somewhere to go offers glimmers of normalcy on the horizon, though they are all still struggling to cope with the trauma and stress of their loss. Photo taken Saturday, October 7, 2017 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman, Jr, now 12, pets the family's new cat Po as his father Steven looks on at their home in Old Town. Tuesday, August 28, 2018 Kim Brent/The Enterprise
Steven Kaufman packs the last of his belongings before leaving the Beaumont Lodge. Saturday, September 01, 2018 Kim Brent/The Enterprise