My home was on the map as just one dot, bleeding red. Red for mandatory evacuation. We left our lives behind that day at the break of dawn, uncertain of our future and of what would remain of our past.

Just two days earlier, the day Hurricane Harvey was supposed to make landfall, all I thought about was rejoicing that we might miss that test or that essay the next day. But after two-and-a-half weeks of canceled school, constant rainfall, fear of losing everything, and rising flood water, all I wanted to do was return to normal. But now I realize that it’s impossible for Houston to return to the way it was before Harvey.

Hundreds of thousands of people will return to their flood-stricken homes only to tear them apart from the inside out and completely rebuild their lives. Watching once-familiar roads and neighborhoods turn into rivers and lakes is a feeling I cannot shake. My city was drowning, and I felt helpless. I couldn’t stop the water from rising. I couldn’t stop the places that I grew up in and drove through every day from disappearing under nature’s wrath. But the things that I could do and the things I saw are a testament to the power of community and the will of this city.

Never before had I seen shelters and donation centers receive so much support that they had to turn away volunteers and donations. Never before had I witnessed so many fellow Houstonians, Texans, and Americans drive their boats hundreds of miles to pull people out of the flood waters, or open up their homes, businesses, and schools to others as shelters. The power of a nation and world coming together is truly a lighthouse amid the storm.