Transcript for Family weathered the Category 4 hurricane in Texas home

We want to turn now to a resident of rockport. Of course that is the area where hurricane Harvey came across, washed ashore, and we heard from Matt Gutman's reports that 40% of people decided to stay put, not to evacuate. We have Carl Hatman who lives in rockport. He chose to do that with six members of his family. He is now joining us on the phone. Carl, first of all, I want to find out how you're doing and what you're seeing. Good morning, yeah, thank you. Well, we're doing okay all things considered. Everyone's healthy. That's the important part. Everyone's a little concerned about our friends in town here because it's been tough to get news on how everyone's doing. Ultimately everyone's a little shaken up by how much devastation there was. Last night it was so dark. All you could hear was wind howling all night. Then you wake up and day break comes and you just -- it's hard to soak in what you're seeing outside right now. What are you sneeg seeing? Well, I would say more than half the trees are down in front of the home where we are now. There's not a single leaf left on any of those trees that are still standing. So instead of this lush green beautiful place we live in, it looks like a war zone. There's a pier that was also here at this house, a big long pier that's completely been destroyed by the surge last night and the waves. It's completely washed up on the lawn. I walked around outside this morning and there's jelly fish all over the lawn. Just things that you just never think you would see, except for unfortunately when you're watching it happen to someone else. Carl, I got to ask you and I suspect a lot of people are wondering the same thing, why did you decide to stay? That's a great question. Well, we put a lot of thought into it. The home we're staying in is my parents' home actually. We live here in rockport as well. My wife and kids and our pets, for us to leave we would have had to leave and not take anything with us. We all sat down and talked to my parents. Their home is built to withstand up to a category three which it was projected to be lower than that when we initially decided to stay here. Then we actually got in the car and were ready to leave in the middle of the night the night before it hit, but we changed our minds because we had a plan. My folks do have a back-up generator which has been useful. It switches on whenever the power goes off, so we're able to keep our phones charged. We're able to have comfort, air conditioning for the kids. Everyone's comfortable in that regard. Also, like I said, the home is built to withstand the winds that we were receiving. When it did get broadcast as a category four, we really were nervous. Unfortunately, at that point it was too late to do anything. Everyone made it through safe and we're definitely grateful for that. We are certainly happy to hear that you all are doing well and we certainly hope you hear word from your friends and family. I know that concern is real and shared by so many people in that area. Thank you for joining us this morning, Carl. Thank you.

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