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HOUSTON, Texas (FOX 26) - "Probably the most devastating thing that I've seen here in my lifetime and I've been here 45 years," says Officer James Broussard. He has spent the last sixteen years of his life in service to the Houston Police Department and helping people throughout the city. He and his fellow brothers and sisters in blue have worked tirelessly around the clock to help people who were forced to evacuate from their homes after the horrific Harvey floodwaters entered the structures.
"While they are doing this, they have had some devastation there in their own lives and they have put that aside and they have waited and worked with the citizens and making sure everyone was safe there before they would go and take care of their own business," says B.K. Klev, owner of Prison Break Tattoos.
A tattoo shop isn't normally a place you would find toothpaste, diapers and deodorant, but right now, it is. That's because Klev and his crew are collecting donations for fellow first responders. Klev's shop also flooded, but that didn't stop him and his staff from opening back up to help others.
Donations benefit families like Broussard's, who were affected by the storm. The Broussard family's home was flooded and Harvey was not the first time he experienced it. His family also dealt with the Tax Day flood.
"We were displaced for about seven months or so," explains Broussard. "We just finished the home back in February of this year and so here we are eight months later back out of the home again."
Broussard's message to others is that the community will pull together and that we will recover.
"No one can really really prepare for it," adds Broussard. "You can just do what you can do, make sure the family is safe, we can always replace items but you can't replace your family."