'I was so scared': Former Calgarian recounts water rising 10 metres to edge of balcony during Hurricane Harvey

When Hurricane Harvey swamped the Houston area on the weekend, former Calgarian Michelle Peavy and husband Ralph Hamilton thought their condo with its balcony sitting 10 metres above a lake behind their complex would be somewhat safe from the deluge.

It took onlyfive hours for the water to reach them.

"It started to pound rain and wind and it was harder and harder and harder," she told the Calgary Eyeopener on Wednesday.

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"I kept watching the TV, kept looking at Facebook and kept looking out the window watching the water rise, rise rise. I finally fell asleep around 4 a.m. [Sunday]. I was so nervous, I woke up at 6 a.m. and the water had overflown and hit our balcony."

Video posted to Peavy's Facebook page shows water above a cement wall directly behind their unit, which should be a 10-metre drop.

Flooding in Houston from Hurricane Harvey

7 years ago

Duration 0:31

Former Calgarian Michelle Peavy recorded flooding at her Houston home in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.

The couple forced to cancel plans to travel to Los Angeles to celebrate their first wedding anniversary were hoping for a bit of a reprieve when the rain finally stopped Tuesday evening, but that was not to be.

"Went back to our place to assess damage, and now we are watching the water on our lake and bayou rise from the release of water levies," she wrote on her Facebook page. "Just because the sun is out does not mean it's over."

Officials said Wednesday that20 people had been killed and more than 17,000 displaced by the storm, considered the heaviest tropical downpour in U.S. history. Someparts of Houston saw 1.3 metres of rain fall.

To put that in perspective, it's roughly 17 times the amount of rain that fell on Calgary over a period of three days during the 2013 flood.

Peavy and Hamilton are among the displaced, evacuating their unit in favour of a nearby hotel on higher ground.

"I was so scared," said Peavy. "I was scared more for the reason that the water was coming in so fast. We live in a three-storey condo and I just finished reading a friend of mine who was stuck in the attic and the water had risen to her attic and she had no way out. I thought the same thing was going to happen to us."

The bottom floor of their unit was damaged but they are taking that in stride.

"My situation is not anywhere near as bad as anybody else out there who has lost everything," said Peavy.

"I'm grateful for where I am and being grateful just for the small things."

Looking ahead, Peavy says the city will recover, but it will take some time.

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"It's a day-by-day thing," she said. "Everybody has their own way of surviving this and dealing with the stress. We will pull together as a city. I want to go volunteer and see where I can help when the water goes down."