PORT ARTHUR, Tex. — On a winding street of older brick homes in the center of town, only one house is without a mountain of debris on the front yard. The house, a two-story at the end of the cul-de-sac, had not been spared by the recent storm, which submerged three-quarters of this coastal industrial city.

The homeowner, Derrick Ford Freeman, has just not had time to worry about his own affairs. He is the mayor of Port Arthur.

Normally the job of mayor is part-time, requiring only one white button-down shirt bearing his name and the city logo. Lately, his mother has been washing that shirt every morning. Mr. Freeman has spent his days racing around the city, lobbying a visiting senator for federal aid one moment, sitting next to a woman sobbing onto his shoulder the next. He has focused on practical matters like restoring trash pickup, reopening schools and finding homes for displaced families.

The mayor knows what residents have endured from Hurricane Harvey because he has gone through it himself. But he has set aside his troubles to look after his city’s much larger ones.