Eight months after Hurricane Beryl, sophomore Karis McKinney waits after school until 4 p.m. for her mom to be able to pick her up. 

Eight months after Hurricane Beryl, sophomore Bella Barrett struggles to see her friends after school since she temporarily lives in Porter.

In two months hurricane season starts back up, and both the Barretts and the McKinneys are still in rental homes. They still await construction to be completed on their regular homes, which were damaged by Hurricane Beryl.

Barrett’s home was hit by a tree right over her sister’s room. The tree broke to cover the house and bend into the backyard. This caused structural damage to the home, with cracks creeping up walls. The hole in the roof led to flooding and let animals in. Mold was found all through the house from the heat and water damage.

“The very first moment happened and my sister still being in her room sleeping was very, very scary because we heard it and we have this big window at the back of our house into the backyard,” Barrett said. “And you saw this big part of the tree just fall, and we really didn’t know what had happened to her.”

The family evacuated to their neighbor’s house. After the hurricane blew over, the Barretts went to salvage whatever they could from their home. They got some of their clothes, some personal belongings, but most things were lost to water damage. 

“You know that feeling like we lost something, that was very important,” Barrett said. 

They moved into a hotel for three weeks. Her whole family was sharing one room, with two beds. Bella and her sister, freshman Sophia Barrett, were responsible for looking over their 11-month-old foster brother Ewan when their parents were at work.

The Barretts were also struggling to maintain the requirements to keep their foster child, who is also Barrett’s cousin. They had a limited amount of time to move into a new home that meets all the checks to be able to keep Ewan in their care. 

Right before the school year started, Barrett and her family moved into a rental home, where everyone could have their own space and belongings. This came with bittersweet memories of getting new beds, backpacks and other essentials for the school year. 

“[It] kind of sucks,” Barrett said. “I mean, I wouldn’t have to do this if it didn’t happen. But I found enjoyment in the fact that I could start something.”

The Barretts are now waiting on the floors to be finished, walls painted and fixtures installed.

Back in July, McKinney ran downstairs to check on her family with the sounds of wind and rain, but had to run back upstairs to get the cat. When she came back downstairs, a loud crash echoed through the house. A tree lay through a wall to the home office, letting water in from the storm and burst pipes. 

Her cousins helped their family get their belongings out of the house, and stayed with them until they found a rental house to stay in.

“That was stressful,” McKinney said. “My cousins made it way, way easier. Me and my cousins are really close, so like they were always super nice to me during the whole thing. We’re all really close. We grew up together.” 

The house was torn down to the studs, and built back up. 

During the process, McKinney is thankful for her mom’s support.

“It would be my mom [who helped me most],” McKinney said.  “Well, my mom’s actually one of my best friends. She’s just a really good person. I mean, I feel like I can tell her anything. We just have a good relationship.”

One issue Barrett and McKinney came across after relocating to rental homes was the increase of time required for travel. 

“It’s also kind of difficult going to school sometimes too, because now we live in Porter,” Barrett said. “It’s not super far, but it’s still on the border. So like it changes going to school, how I do stuff or like going to friends’ houses and for projects or anything.” 

McKinney leaves her home earlier to get to school, and waits here until around 4 p.m., when her mom can pick her up and head to pick up her sister in middle school.

Both students are expecting to move back into their homes in the next few months, almost a year after Beryl. 

“It sounds kind of funny thinking like we’re just grieving about the house,” Barrett said. “We did lose a lot of memories that were very, very important to all of us. And so I feel like a lot of us are grieving those now. We had to deal with that together and now we have each other. That was something we had to learn to have the realization.”