Two days after the hazardous Hurricane Dolly began she has now reduced herself to just some heavy rainfall that continues to drench southern Texas. As bad as a lot of the damage is, it could have been so much worse. Coming on shore as a category two hurricane, Dolly packed winds of about one hundred miles per hour. These high winds blew off rooftops, caused flooding, and knocked out power to thousands.



One of the biggest fears when Dolly began dropping inches and inches of rain was that many of the levees along the Rio Grande River would not hold up, but luckily the storm veered slightly from the path it was originally thought to take and the levees held up well. However, there were still many areas where up to a foot of rain fell and caused flooding of homes and businesses.

Actually, just because the levees along the Rio Grande River held up during the worst part of Dolly, does not means that it still can not cause flooding over the next three to five days. As the storm and the rainfall it still holds moves northward, the rain and runoff still has the potential to cause additional flooding in the aftermath.

Clean up has already begun all over the place. There is debris from the wind and floods in so many places. Trees that were blown down in yards and roadways are being removed. This has to be done before power can be restored in some places. It will probably still be days before power can be restored everywhere, maybe even longer depending on how quickly water recedes in flooded areas.

It will likely be at least several days before some people can return to homes that were flooded and see exactly how much damage they sustained. You can rest assured in the coming weeks long after the storm has disappeared, the devastation will remain. Insurance companies and home owners alike will be scrambling to restore homes and businesses. Water damage businesses will be busier than ever.

Water damage businesses always see a surge in activity after a storm such as Dolly. People have so much damage to face, the possibility of taking it on their own is nearly impossible. Water and wind damaged homes can take weeks and months to repair and be returned to a livable condition. For those home and business owners who were not covered by insurance the time line can be even longer and many may never be able to have their homes restored.