These Photos of Families Returning to Their Destroyed Homes After Hurricane Harvey Will Devastate You

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the Houston area of Texas over the weekend and caused extreme amounts of damage, leaving thousands of people displaced from their homes after unprecedented flooding.

Now that the storm is over, evacuees can return to their homes, although many won’t have much, or anything, to return to. Officials have said that recovery efforts will take years, and that an estimated 1,000 home were destroyed while about 50,000 more are damaged. As a result, many people will have to live elsewhere until they can return home.

Keep scrolling to see more of the damage, and click here for ways to donate to relief efforts.

Maribel Garcia

CBS News followed Garcia as she visited her Crosby, Texas, house for the first time since the storm hit. She lived in the home with her husband, four adult children and one grandchild, and the family had to evacuate so quickly, food was still sitting on the counter

“My kids want to come back home, but…” Garcia said, shaking her head.”I just feel overwhelmed, you know, helpless. I don’t know what to do right now.” 

Angel Balderas

“Everything is gone,” said Balderas, who lives down the street from Garcia and returned to his home by canoe.

During the storm, he and his family woke up to three feet of water and had to evacuate, fitting what they could in the bed of Balderas’ truck.

William Weeks

Weeks returned to his Port Aransas home on Wednesday, and neighbors had to use a chainsaw to cut into the roof of his overturned trailer so he could get inside. Many of his family’s belongings were littered on the ground outside the trailer, and Weeks and his mother attempted to salvage what they could.

Weeks, whose wife gave birth after the family fled their home, said that he and his family hope to return to Port Aransas, although it is expected to take two years to rebuild. 

“It’s just hard,” he told ABC News.

Saira Jilani

Jilani and her family returned home to find water damage throughout their property. The family had stood trapped on the second floor of the home and watched the water rise, before swimming out.

Jilani said that her 9-year-old son was “inconsolable.”

“He just started crying,” she told ABC News. “And he was saying, ‘mom I’m gonna drown, we’re gonna drown in this water and I can’t handle it.’”

“It’s just something a mother should not have to tell her kids and to go through,” she added.

Photo Credit: Twitter / @ligrislaw