The Hidden Horrors of Hurricane Harvey

Over the past several days, America's vast collective of national media sources have bombarded the viewing public with an overwhelming volume of reports about the travesties currently going on in Southeast Texas.

When Hurricane Harvey (Category 4) reached the U.S. mainland around August 26, 2017, the storm was producing punishing winds, which were clocked at a strength of 130 mph. According to the National Weather Service, Harvey's atmospheric pressure was also calculated to be 938 millibars. Once the hurricane's status was demoted to a tropical storm, Southeast Texas was pounded with torrential rainfall totals.

This caused massive flooding, which created an emergency situation in cities all along the Texas Gulf Coast, including Houston, Beaumont, Rockport, and San Augustine. Homes were ruined and residents had to leave their personal belongings behind in order to survive. Power was knocked out and people had no access to public utilities. Estimates of financial damage have reached as high as $160 billion dollars.

Disaster relief experts have said that like Hurricane Katrina, rebuilding and stabilization efforts undertaken after Harvey could take many years. Katrina was the name given to the devastating August 2005 hurricane that destroyed a number of Louisiana's Gulf Coast cities, including New Orleans. However, the human toll of any natural disaster is obviously the worst adversity. Humans are only granted one life.

Approximately 20 people have died from the wrath of Hurricane Harvey since it invaded the U.S. mainland. One of those deaths was reported by the Associated Press on August 30, 2017. In the absolutely heartbreaking literary newsreel, an 18-month-old girl was reportedly found in Beaumont, Texas cold, trembling, and clinging in bewilderment to her dying mother who drowned in a flooded parking lot near an exit off U.S. Interstate 10.

Captain Brad Penisson of the Beaumont Fire and Rescue Department told the Associated Press that a witness at the scene recalled seeing the mother alive on Tuesday afternoon (August 29th). The mother retrieved her daughter from the vehicle she was driving and attempted to get to higher ground away from the flooded parking lot. However, the strong current of a flooded drainage canal whisked the mother and her tiny daughter away.

The helpless tot was seen hanging on to her lifeless, floating mother when police and fire rescue workers approached her in a boat. The girl was picked up and held as first responders on the boat attempted to revive the mother. The boat then sailed safely to higher ground where resuscitation efforts on the mother continued. Attempts to save her life had failed and the mother was soon pronounced dead.

The terrified 18-month-old girl survived and was transported to a local hospital where her condition was stabilized. This innocent little girl's life will never be the same. Stories like this invoke feelings of despair for other people who have been directly affected by the horrors of Hurricane Harvey. However, can people who live hundreds or thousands of miles away also become severely traumatized by the realities of any tragedy?

After the fatal June 2016 nightclub shooting that left dozens dead in Orlando, Florida, AJ Willingham, a columnist for CNN Digital wrote an article titled When Bad News Gets to be Too Much. In her sobering report, Willingham wrote about the interviewee opinions that were shared with her, which came from noted psychology professionals, such as Dr. Pam Ramsden, a lecturer at the University of Bradford in the UK.

"This constant churn of harrowing news is physically and psychologically unhealthy, and you don't need to be directly involved in a tragedy to feel its effects," Willingham wrote.

"To the concerned viewer, this pain can feel unavoidable or even necessary. It might be a little bit of both. The truth is, in an age of unfettered access to the worst of humanity, we have to act as our own gatekeepers if we want to stay sane," she continued. Willingham describes the feelings people experience after witnessing tragic scenarios that do not directly affect them as "vicarious trauma."

Seeking professional help after experiencing such trauma is a legitimate option. However, the overwhelmingly negative stigma attached to mental illness often keeps people from dealing reasonably with life situations that wreak havoc on their psychological stability. "With some of these individuals requiring professional help, I doubt they will get it," Dr. Ramsden told CNN.

"Because how do you go to a mental health provider and tell them that YouTube videos have left you traumatized so that you can't sleep and have nightmares?" she continued.

In a new and emerging world of information overload, man-made despair, and tragedy that nobody can control (such as natural disasters), people can definitely experience over-saturation. This reality is augmented by the rising prevalence and usage of social media. People have a right to express their views about any issue that is troubling the collective human condition.

However, productively channeling the energies, thoughts, and emotions brought upon by "vicarious trauma" is essential. Writers can do this by producing and distributing content that raises awareness and offers steps toward healing. Celebrities with money and influence can organize independent relief efforts to console distraught families. Leaders and members of the clergy have various options for a role to play as well.

The bottom line is that everyone must make a difference; no matter how big or small.