Couple rides out Harvey in Rockport; thankful to be alive After harrowing night, duo take inventory of loss, keep chins up

Janie Newcomer of San Antonio stands on the deck of her severely damaged retirement home in Rockport, near where then-Hurricane Harvey made landfall. Rockport was among the hardest-hit communities. Janie Newcomer of San Antonio stands on the deck of her severely damaged retirement home in Rockport, near where then-Hurricane Harvey made landfall. Rockport was among the hardest-hit communities. Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Couple rides out Harvey in Rockport; thankful to be alive 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

ROCKPORT - On Sunday morning, Houston plumber Danny Brown and his companion, Alita Miller, were literally picking up the pieces of the battered house that sheltered them through 14 hours of Hurricane Harvey.

The 108 mph winds that smashed this bayside community when Harvey came ashore Friday night had ripped off a large section of their living-room roof, forcing Brown and Miller to flee from the home set on pilings 12 feet above the ground.

The force of the wind prevented them from opening the front door, so they made their escape from the rear deck of the house, down a ladder and into one of their trucks.

"Everything was crashing, the house next door was getting blown off its foundation, the trees were cracking. The rain was torrential, for hours, and it was still in my head last night when I was trying to sleep," Brown said. "I was just so scared; that noise was 14 hours nonstop, with wind, rain, stuff blowing, metal flying everywhere."

The couple climbed into the back of a Chevy Suburban parked next to the shop behind the house and held on to each other.

At one point, they saw the chimney pipe fly by, ripped from the wood-burning stove they used to heat the home. Then, a thick limb snapped off from one of the trees lining the driveway and out the rear window.

"The scariest moment was looking at Danny's face, and I could see he was scared. I knew we were in trouble," Miller said Sunday.

So they moved again, this time into the sturdy workshop behind the house, where Brown rested in the front seat of the 1938 Ford Coupe he has restored. It, and the more than 600 bobble-head dolls he has displayed on the wall, were unscathed.

On Sunday morning, Brown, Miller and a friend were taking inventory of the damage.

The metal roofing on the deck was gone. Water was still pooled in the living room beneath the gaping holes in the roof. Outside, a carport next to the workshop had collapsed, and a storage shed had been blown open by the winds.

Three years ago, Brown, who owns Pure Plumbing in Houston, bought the house and the 3-acre tract on which it sat after he was told about a "quirky" trailer home that had been installed high on pilings and had a deck wrapped around it.

He and Miller decorated their home with eclectic Mexican folk art and sculptures, and enlarged a room in the carport beneath the deck where Miller - a chef and caterer - dished up smoked meats prepared on a trio of barbecue pits.

Brown, who did not carry insurance on the home, says he will find the money to get the house back in shape.

"We'll be all right," he said. "It is what it is, and we'll rebuild. We lost a little bit, compared to others."

Brown knows the decision to stay will be questioned, but he wasn't overly worried about a storm that for days struggled to become organized. Harvey, in little more than two days, built from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane. Instead of leaving, they bought beer and meat to grill.

"Next time I'll get more beer and steaks," Miller joked before turning serious. "The words thankful and grateful don't come close."