ROCKPORT, Texas – Trying to hold back tears, Amanda Evans struggled to find words to describe what it was like surviving Hurricane Harvey.
The Category 4 storm made landfall along the Texas coast Friday night, and Evans’ home was directly in the path of the massive storm.
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“We thought it was over at 10 o’clock because it got really calm,” Evans said. “We thought it hit land, but we didn’t know because we were out of power out of everything.”
But without power and with cellphone service knocked out by the 130-plus mph winds, little did she know what was still to come.
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“Then the next thing you know, it started all (over again) and it was 10 times worse. It was just horrible. I was praying and I was thankful I sent our kids away,” Evans said.
A lifetime resident of the small town, Evans, 42, and her husband spent the morning picking up what little was not destroyed. Most of it fit into the bed of a pickup truck.
Her mind, however, was hundreds of miles away.
While she did not evacuate, her children and grandchildren did.
READ MORE: Harvey leaves trail of death, damage along Texas coast
“We just did not have the funds to go and take everybody. A vehicle to take us all,” she said. “So we loaded our kids up with our grandchildren and we told them to go.”
And with all forms of communication knocked out, she worries that her children think the worse.
“They don’t know if we are alive, dead or anything,” she said.
Evan said she will never stay if another hurricane threatens the Texas Coastal Bend.