In Harvey's Wake: Business Slowly Returns To Normal In Kingwood

KINGWOOD, TX — Businesses and homes in the northeast Houston community of Kingwood saw some of the worst of Hurricane Harvey, as floodwaters from Cypress Creek, Lake Houston, and the San Jacinto River overwhelmed the region.

In the months that followed, many of the more than 260 businesses impacted by the flooding have slowly returned and began reopening their doors.

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On Tuesday, La Madeleine on Kingwood Drive became the latest business to host a grand re-opening, giving away a year’s worth of free bread to the first 50 customers in line.

Some of the other businesses that have returned, or will reopen soon include:

• Cedar Landing
• Raffa’s Waterfront Grill
• Alspaugh’s Ace Hardware
• HEB (Kingwood Drive)
• Mod’s Pizza
• Cyrese & Co.
• Gigi's Cupcakes
• Gnome Sweet Gnome Gifts
• Kingwood Bagel
• Kingwood Library
• Northeast Family Medicine

Many of those businesses commemorated the devastation of Harvey with water lines that show just home high the water rose during the storm’s four-day onslaught.

However some didn’t need a water line.

Kingwood High School has photos that showed the filth from a nearby sewer treatment facility that filled the school with five feet of floodwaters and raw sewage, and ruined furniture and equipment.

The initial assessment was that Kingwood High School would be closed for the 2017-18 school year.

In March, Kingwood High School students who were sharing a campus with Summer Creek High School, returned to their home campus, which many initially didn’t anticipating happening until the fall semester.

This summer, sections of Kingwood Medical Center that were flooded will reopen, but other businesses could take a little longer.

Many businesses in King’s Harbor along Lake Houston are still a long way from back to normal, with nearly a dozen businesses along the waterway taking on as much as six feet of water.

But more help could soon be on the way for those impacted by Harvey.

Earlier this month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a disaster recovery grant to the state, to the tune of $5 billion to help homeowners and businesses in their recovery, and help with infrastructure repairs.

The grant funding comes from the department’s Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery Program, and is a supplement to the disaster relief package approved by Congress, and the block grant awarded by HUD in 2017.

“The additional Community Development Block Grant funds announced today will inject billions of dollars that are desperately needed to help restore our communities," Governor Greg Abbott said in a press release.

Image: Shutterstock

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