Two major hurricanes within a month, and possibly more. Starting the last week of August and continuing into September, the United States has experienced the traumatic effect of two natural disasters. All of these occurring within such a short period of time, has caused wide-spread devastation, along with panic of more to come.

Hurricane Harvey was the first to hit, starting as a category 3 storm and quickly progressing to a category 4. With an initial 20-30 inches of rain, it soon rose to 50 inches in some areas.  Harvey caused mass flooding across Houston, damaging many residents houses. This hurricane caused around 180 billion dollars of damage. For reference, the last hurricane to hit Texas was Hurricane Ike, a category 2, and caused 22 billion dollars in damage. The devastation caused by Harvey was distressing and heart-breaking, many people lost their possessions, and some have sentimental value that can never be replaced. One resident, in West Oak Village, even placed their furniture on top of canned goods to keep it high as the water began to enter their home. Overall, multiple houses in the Houston area had sheetrock, floors, and furniture ruined by the flooding, and some people still do not have access to their homes. During these troubling times, Houston has come together to help each other out by creating numerous relief centers and programs that anyone can donate to.

In addition to Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma hit Florida and many surrounding islands. Irma started off strong as a category 5, and authorities urged over 6.3 million residents to evacuate. Before the storm even hit the Miami, Florida area, strong winds caused power outages for a day, but it wasn’t until Irma came that residents lost power from 3-6 days.

Miami resident, Julie Gomez, states, “I feel that since everyone was preparing for a category 5 [we] were more than prepare. We were hit with what felt like a category three and bounced back much quicker because of it. We had all the resources we needed because we were expecting the absolute worse.”

Lucky, not many houses were damaged by the storm compared to store signs, trees, and fences. Regardless of this fact, Miami has come together to help with the damages and support. A local EcoTech Visions Warehouse in Miami has requested volunteers to go into neighborhoods to provide cookouts and go door-to-door to check on the locals. This just shows how