ROCKPORT, Texas � This coastal Texas community took the hardest initial beating from hurricane Harvey, whose 130 mph winds bent steel beams, foundered industrial buildings and destroyed countless homes.
But for all its fury, rescue workers confirmed only one death, the details of which have yet to be disclosed.
The National Guard, Texas Task Forces 1 and 2, and rescue workers from across Texas and other states descended on the beach town Sunday as flooded roads that had cut residents off began to clear.
Search and rescue missions were expected to continue for at least the next two days.
It will likely be several weeks before residents regain running water, electricity and a full communication infrastructure, though there was intermittent cellphone coverage Sunday.
Rockport residents who heeded emergency officials' urging to evacuate should not return, said Bill Terry, a spokesman for the Texas A&M Forest Service Emergency Management task force, which is assisting in rescue efforts.
Until services are restored, people who return would only worsen the strain on services, he said.
"The emphasis right now is search and rescue," Terry said.
There were separate efforts to rescue trapped or thirsty and hungry people across the water in Aransas Pass, where Terry said there were reports of 10 people trapped in a home.
In the neighborhood grief and disbelief abound as residents crawl over and under limbs to get into their homes, or return to find the home completely wiped away.
Rick Roman and Elyse Deleon were scrounging for soap and toothpaste for their two children Sunday.
Roman, 34, and his family had tried to weather Harvey in their recreational vehicle miles from the coast, but when it began to feel like the roof was about to tear off, the family packed into his Chevy Suburban and rushed to the highway. They waited the storm out from an underpass on Highway 188.
When they returned, it was all gone.
"We lost everything," Roman said. "I just don't know what we're going to do. I don't know where to start."
Such stories fill the air, as people stop their trucks on the main drag to tally the wreckage.
Of particular interest is the harrowing tale of how Bobby Rowe and Steve Felty, both 53, who hunkered down in a 34-foot sailboat in the marina, were nearly swept to sea as Harvey made landfall.
Their boat broke from its ties to the dock and rushed into the Gulf of Mexico.
"I turned to Bobby and said, well this is it, buddy," Felty said. "I've got kids back home, and my mama's still alive, and I'm thinking they're never gonna see me again, and it will be weeks before they find my body."
Had the tides pushed them 100 yards to the right, they'd likely be among the dead. Instead, their rig slammed into a sea wall. They walked out into the wind, back to the marina, and waited out the storm in a friend's car and lived to tell the tale.
