NEW ORLEANS — When New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the city of Houston stepped up in a big way.
Now, it’s our turn to help our neighbors in need, and local retail giant Fleurty Girl is doing just that with a new T-shirt design.
The new shirt, “Hou Dat,” is being sold for $20, online only.
According to Fleurty Girl’s Facebook page, 100 percent of the proceeds from the sales of the shirt will be donated to Feeding Texas, a nonprofit that serves food banks in Southeast Texas, and to the Cajun Navy, a group of South Louisiana residents who have banded together to help flood victims, both last year in Louisiana and this week in Houston.
Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Gulf Coast Friday night as a Category 4 storm. It quickly downgraded to a tropical storm, but it has been dumping record-level rainfall over Houston and Southeast Texas ever since.
There is no indication the water will stop rising anytime soon. Swollen rivers in east Texas aren’t expected to crest until later this week, but federal officials are already predicting Tropical Storm Harvey will drive 30,000 people into shelters and spur 450,000 victims to seek some sort of disaster assistance.
The average annual rainfall in Houston is 50 inches. The city has seen 25 inches of rain in two days. Another 25 could fall by Saturday.
Early tallies indicate at least 5,500 people have arrived at shelters in Houston and another 1,000 in Friendswood.
Several cities, including Katy, Alvin, Friendswood, League City, Pasadena, Pearland, Seabrook and Webster, have instituted curfews.
