Recently, it has been almost impossible to miss in both the local and national news that a tropical storm transformed into a category 4 hurricane in a matter of days and has completely destroyed parts of the coastal bend. Voluntary and mandatory evacuations were issued through different cities and counties before the storm developed this far.

So let’s talk about where I’m from. My hometown is a small little town barely on the map a little north of San Antonio, Texas. So no, I did not grow up in the coastal bend, for me, growing up I had to drive 2-3 hours to visit the beach.

I decided to pack up my life here in this rural small town to move to the coastal bend to attend Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and I could not be happier with my decision. I currently live in a house and attend the coastal university as a biomedical science major, graduating with the Islander class of 2020.

With this hurricane coming toward Corpus Christi and TAMU-CC, the university issued a Code Blue, which means an alert sent to all students. The Code Blue alert was a mandatory evacuation of all resident students. Every single resident student and any faculty were ordered to leave the campus and the campus became closed at noon on Thursday, August 24.

The city of Corpus Christi did issue a voluntary evacuation. But the mayor did state they were on “the threshold of mandatory.” Not as many citizens and residents evacuated as they should have.

Now, with this voluntary evacuation, I got out of Corpus Christi Thursday late afternoon/early evening and have made it back to my small town to wait out the storm and wait to hear back from TAMU-CC to see when my classes will begin, as they have been canceled until further notice.

I was at a Target today, casually shopping and getting supplies for my cat I brought back with me when I overheard a conversation being exchanged down the aisle. I overheard two individuals speaking about how if it floods in San Antonio they would not be able to go to their yoga class, or they would miss lunch with their friend/relative/whoever. They were so concerned that their life would be majorly affected if they missed these minor activities. Usually, I would say something, I am a very outspoken person, but I kept it to myself this time.

Here are my thoughts – You may not be able to attend your yoga class, or go to your favorite restaurant for a few days, maybe a week or two max. You may be stuck at home if your street floods from the rainfall bands of Hurricane Harvey. That sucks for you, but please open your extremely narrow mind to the idea that with this hurricane, I may not have a home to return to in Corpus. I may not have a place to live. It may not just be flooded when I return.

It may be completely destroyed. It could have no roof; it could have collapsed. The brunt of the storm has not hit my location in Corpus but these are still possibilities. I could have no university to attend. The university could be gone, no buildings, nothing to return to. It is currently a waiting game to find out what we get to return to when it calms down.

Rockport has nearly been destroyed. Shelters have collapsed, the high school is in ruins. They have it so much worse than Corpus Christi, but Corpus is definitely not out of the woods. I just hope residents listened when they were told to evacuate.

So please, tell me how you can’t go to your yoga class. Tell me how you can’t eat at your favorite restaurant or you may be stuck in your house for you a few days. Open that tiny little tunnel you’re looking through and realize that some people have bigger things to worry about and have actual things to worry about.

Thoughts with those who will be affected by this disaster. This hurricane has made history with being the first hurricane stronger than a category 3 that has hit the Texas coast since 1961.