For the tens of thousands of people displaced by surging floodwaters in Texas, the path to recovery will test them physically, mentally and financially. They will need to be resilient and inventive, disaster experts say, and must resign themselves to having to make innumerable decisions.
"Unfortunately, there's a very long road ahead for the people who have been impacted by this disaster," said Tricia Wachtendorf, a professor of sociology at the University of Delaware and director of the school's Disaster Research Center. While the response and rescue stage is traumatic, "the recovery phase can be equally stressful," she said.