By Josh Bergeron

josh.bergeron@salisburypost.com

Told many times, the story of people who selflessly traveled to southeast Texas to provide humanitarian aid following Harvey deserves to be amplified.

Outside of Port Arthur, it seems people generally know the basics — Tropical Storm Harvey dropped an unprecedented amount of rain on the area, cities flooded, people came from other communities to provide aid and the storm upended people’s lives. For people not affected — directly or indirectly — by Harvey, the story ends there.

Within weeks, the nation’s attention turned to Hurricane Irma, which would ravage multiple Caribbean islands and the state of Florida.

More recently, Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico as a category four storm. Reporting from the island indicates a lack of electricity, limited communication to the outside world, and a shortage of food, clean water and fuel.

Remembering that many communities still need help, we should focus for a moment on the tremendous outpouring of outside help that followed Tropical Storm Harvey. Many people launched boats into flood water while the storm pounded Port Arthur. Some were affiliated with the Cajun Navy. Other simply hitched their boat to the back of a truck and set a course for Texas.

Tony Petro, a Mississippi car dealer, was among the many people who drove into the area to rescue people. Petro, who lived through Hurricane Katrina, recalled the size of the rain drops being larger than anything he’d experienced. With a boat in the flood water, Petro recalled watching lighting explode rapidly through the sky.

Petro traveled to the area with a Biloxi, Mississippi man named Stephen Barbini and a Brandon, Mississippi man named Scott Lee. They rescued dozens of people and a number of pets but were just a small number of the many people who used their own boats and equipment to rescue complete strangers.

A story published Tuesday in the Port Arthur News details their story. Humble about their efforts, Petro and Barbini said the title “hero” isn’t appropriate.

“It’s not like we went into a burning building,” Petro said. “That’s real heroism.”

He’s right. The crew didn’t run into a burning building, but their actions saved many lives. If they won’t accept the title of hero, perhaps heroic is a more appropriate.

Barbini waded into water so deep that he couldn’t stand while lightning flashed around him. He remembers smelling gasoline mixed with floodwater. Exhausted after hours of walking through water and swimming, he continued rescuing people and animals. Barbini said he’s even contemplated coming back to help a man he rescued rebuild his home.

Petro and Lee perilously piloted a boat between mailboxes and cars as a storm raged around them. At one point, one of the crew’s two boats was damaged when it struck a mailbox hidden by flood water.

The trio’s story is one that occurred an unknown amount of times across Texas — people traveling to an unfamiliar place to rescue complete strangers. Unfortunately, we’ll never know the names of every person who saved a life as Harvey’s floodwaters rose. Without them, Harvey’s death toll would have been notably higher.

The volunteers were ordinary Americans with a boat, a truck or simply a generous spirit who selflessly gave their time and risked their lives. In the din of our daily lives, we should not forget their efforts.

Josh Bergeron is the associate editor of the Salisbury Post, located in Salisbury, North Carolina. For two weeks, he’s reporting on the recovery from Tropical Storm Harvey for the Port Arthur News.