The Power of One Family’s Story, More Than a Year After Hurricane Harvey

I think the story illustrates the tremendous disconnect between what is possible and what is reality. This country has the most sophisticated technology but for some mysterious reason is not brought to bear on situations like this one. For example, it is possible to model and analyse how a city such as Houston would react in a scenario such as Hurricane Harvey or some other natural catastrophe. This capability is a template that could be used to study reaction time across different classes of cities / towns. I don't know if such as system exists, but believe it is possible to develop one. Imagine if this system could be booted with how a city is structured from various perspectives - geography, communication, transport and medical, etc and use that data to see how various resources react (medical, fire, etc) to events as they progress. Developing such a system would be a good way to begin to honor those who have been lost in various natural calamities.

This did not end in a tragedy. But it is a true story about unintended consequences, when a “disaster” occurs. My husband is on Oxygen 24/7. One weekend morning, when I woke up early and was reading beside him as he slept, he woke up saying: “I have no oxygen!” His machine was not working. But neither was anything else. The electricity was off. In the retirement community where we live, as it turned out. (From a car that had run into something, leaving a 3-5 mile radius without electricity.” I thought quickly and hooked him up to an oxygen tank. We had 3 (big, little and tiny) which wouldn’t last long. But via long hallways, we had a “health/rehab center” which I knew had an oxygen concentrator - and hopefully a working generator. So I hiked over there. Yes, they did! And sent a nurse back with me. Just a week before I’d ordered a transport chair for him. And the nurse wheeled him over. And we sat there for a few hours till the electric company got everything back up and running again. But during the outage, many problems came to light: People who tried to leave the parking garage found there was no way to get out - once the electricty wouldn’t open the door! No manual way to do it! (Had we needed to take him to the hospital, we couldn’t have done so! And we had no way to call out for an ambulance. With no electricity, no internet and we’d recently had to change our phone service along with an internet change, so no phone either.) End of space...

I love that you ran this follow up piece as it was fascinating to continue to the journey with the Dailey's. What I also loved is that Sheri showed the utmost compassion and respect for the family as she shared her story as a writer and what made this story so unique through her lens as a journalist. When the moons and stars align, I would love to see more of this in the NYT.

I know this boy. He is so sweet and loving. My heart goes out to him. It really does. He is one of my daughters best friends. Nothing can take that pain away. He still cries for his mom all the time. It hurts me to see him hurt so bad.

(Strong sarcasm might occur) The most important thing in the world is, that we as a nation have a strong presence in Afghanistan/Iraq/Mali/South Korea/.../ "to implement democracy" while spending 900 million dollars annually, over rescuing some silly citizens with water up to their necks in Texas. Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Thank you for this story. I worked on Hurricane Harvey death tracking for the state. I can assure you WE counted Casey Dills-Dailey as an indirect Harvey-related death, whether the Harris County ME did or not. We worked with an epidemiologist from the CDC, who basically went from disaster to disaster to ensure there was consistency. I can also say that if we were dependent on data from the state's office of vital statistics, i.e., people checking a box when electronic death data were entered, we would have failed to identify many deaths. A former colleague worked on death tracking for New York City after Sandy. She was co-author of a study that combed medical records to provide a complete count of deaths. She and her co-authors identified 52 deaths, substantially higher than the official count of 43, which was determined by vital records and has never been revised.

Thank you so much for your thorough coverage of this story. I remember reading the article when it came out and it brought me to tears. I grew up in a neighboring small town outside Houston and was so worried about my family during Harvey. Thanks to your excellent journalism I hope that Houston will be able to correct such problems and this tragedy won’t happy again. Stories like this remind us of all those struggling out there long after the storms have past. Keep up the great work!!

Every journalist should read this piece. Excellent advice from lessons learned.

“ Lost in the Storm “ was magnificent, and well worth reading, repeatedly. We are all vulnerable to disasters, both natural and man made. But this story showed us in a heartbreaking fashion that the poor and working class are the most vulnerable, due to many factors. Living in substandard housing, in a neighborhood extremely vulnerable to flooding, lack of planning and sufficient response by local officials, inability to self evacuate, etc.. I send my best wishes to Casey’s Family. You did NOTHING wrong, you did the best you could. The Hospital is at fault, the Storm added an insurmountable complication to any possibility of saving Her. I’m NOT an Attorney, but please seek Legal Advice. Her Children deserve compassion and compensation, and help with their future education and lives. Thank you.

"Lost in the Storm" was the riveting and profound story of a family that was failed by a combination of medical error and an inadequate rescue response system. These design failures were triggered by a massive storm hitting a community not designed to withstand huge amounts of water. As our communities continue to undergo weather events made extreme by climate change, more of these design flaws in emergency support systems and municipal design will be exposed. But when the journalist takes the initiative to circle back around, understand the system flaws, connect the dots, and report on the steps taken to fix the flaws, thereby spreading knowledge of solutions, she has not only performed the journalist's job admirably well, she should be credited as having a role in saving future lives at risk. Bravo on a tragic story well-reported and continuing to stick with the story.

What a great way to start the New Year if every major city installed a 911 online system. I challenge the Hawaiian Islands (most distant state from any other for help) to do so. And kudos for the overwhelming courage and selflessness this family has shown in allowing such a detailed sharing of a personal tragedy. May they one day take comfort in the fact that they have saved many lives. What a beautiful legacy from their mother whose spirit shows in the acts of her family.

"Lost in the Storm" was one of the most intense and moving things I've ever read in media. I urge anyone who has not read the original story to read it. A true tragedy that happened to these people, and that, unlike in the common trend of blaming people for their own problems, was not in any way caused or contributed to by them.

Having just endured a mass shooting and wildfire in our community, this perspective really resonates. Community engagement makes us safer. I think we need to figure out how to reclaim stewardship. We all need to take responsibility for the gaps and work to close them.

Keep up the coverage! Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Michael - all of us affected by these terrible storms need to keep hearing about them. Don't let these tragedies disappear - help is still needed in these areas. Michael's impact on Panama City and the surrounding area is less than 3 months old - we are still without cell, internet and in some cases, reliable power. Debris clogs the side of many roads and people are is still in need of basics in the outer areas and in Mexico Beach. But we are #850 strong and we will make it!