Cindy Saucier Dickerson, a North Pike High School graduate and an interior designer who lives near Galveston Bay, has so far escaped the flooding, and she’s counting her good fortune.
“I am in an area surrounded by water on three sides,” Dickerson said Tuesday. “I live on Clear Lake, with boat marinas on either side of me. It’s sort of like Lake Ponchartrain, brackish water. I can’t believe that I have not flooded. I attribute it to such a large body of water flowing south.”
She’s still seeing gusty winds blowing water and rain storms spinning up instead of south.
“With all the constant rain for the past five days, it’s just crazy,” she said. “I’m hunkered down at my house staying in touch with friends who are scattered all over the city.”
Dickerson is the daughter of Ann Mapp and the late Lamar Saucier.
Though Dickerson, 56, appears to have escaped the severe flooding, her former husband Phil Dickerson and her son Hunter and his family weren’t so lucky.
Both of their homes were flooded.
“Hunter lost his house right in town,” she said. “He’s a stone’s throw from downtown Houston. He had water in the first floor, but he’s not sure about the second floor. He can’t get back to it.”
Phil’s home backs up to a creek that has doubled in depth.
“It’s devastating for him,” Cindy said.
But the “can-do” attitude of her fellow Texans gives her hope.
“It’s just so amazing, the spirit of people around here,” she said. “This is Texas, where there are big trucks with big tires and a lot of boats.”
She talked with pride about people bringing in boats by the hundreds to help others out. “It looked like a boat parade,” she said.
And she spoke of a man who graduated from Mississippi State University, moved to Texas and now owns a chain of furniture stores.
“He has opened up all his locations, and has people sleeping on his beds for sale,” she said, adding that those people are also being fed and cared for. “I’m anxious to get out there and begin assisting, too.”
She said the area of town in which she primarily works got flooded, and she knows there will be a lot of volunteers coming together to get people back into livable homes.
“It’s been a fairly quiet summer for me, but I have a feeling it’s going to be getting very busy,” she said.
She and her family are thankful for the outpouring of care and concern for flood victims.
“I want to say how much I appreciate all my friends and family from Mississippi who have constantly checked on me and sent thoughts and prayers,” she said. “We all appreciate that so much and want them to know it means a lot. Our Mississippi family means so much to us.”
