Disaster response / August – September 2017
Operation Iron Shield
When Harvey’s floodwater reached Vidor, HARP Rescue went in without waiting to be asked — rescuing residents by water and land and guarding the homes they left behind.
- Water + landrescue operations in floodwater
- Vidor EOCcoordinated with on arrival
- Medicalaid for residents in need
- Securitysupport for police and FEMA
Figures from HARP Rescue’s impact report for Operation Iron Shield.
A / The situation
A storm that would not leave.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, on August 25, 2017, as a Category 4 hurricane.1 Then it stalled. Days of rain caused catastrophic flooding across southeast Texas and Louisiana, and more than 100 people died.2
Vidor, a town on Interstate 10 between Beaumont and the Louisiana border, took some of the worst of it. Of its roughly 3,500 structures, more than 2,000 flooded.3 Across Orange County, nearly two-thirds of the land was under water.4
B / The call
No request. Just the need.
HARP Rescue launched Operation Iron Shield on its own initiative, deploying to Vidor without any formal request.
On arrival, the team checked in with the Vidor Emergency Operations Center to coordinate and to learn what was needed most. That briefing set the mission: where HARP’s skills would count, and where help had not yet reached.
C / The plan
Four jobs, one plan.
From the EOC briefing, the team built a plan around four tasks: search and rescue for people stranded in floodwater, medical aid for those who needed it, support for the evacuation effort, and security for the affected area.
Security mattered because evacuation leaves homes empty. Working with local law enforcement and FEMA, HARP helped guard against looting and unauthorized entry while residents were gone.
D / In the field
Floodwater on every street.
The team ran rescues on water and on land, navigating flooded streets to reach residents who were stranded or in distress and bringing them out safely.
Alongside the rescues, HARP provided additional security for local and state law enforcement, so that people who had lost so much to the water did not also lose what remained to theft.
E / The outcome
Rescued, and protected.
By the end of the mission, HARP Rescue had provided emergency rescue support on water and land, helped evacuate residents in distress, and supported law enforcement in keeping the community’s empty homes secure.
For the families of Vidor, that meant two kinds of safety: getting out, and having something to come back to.
Sources
HARP Rescue’s actions and figures come from its own impact report for this operation. Background on the event comes from the public sources below.
When the water rises, there is no time to wait for an invitation.
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