Hurricane Harvey and Oak Creek Homes Face Off in The Battle of Rockport
On August 23rd, 2017, a tropical depression in the lower Gulf of Mexico reorganized and strengthened into a tropical storm. Within three days, this weather disturbance would grow into the first category IV hurricane to hit the Texas coast in twelve years. A handful of those who escaped with little damage to their property had something in common: they lived in homes built by veteran manufactured and modular home builder Oak Creek. Harvey’s wrath tested the construction and installation standards of Oak Creek houses to an unprecedented degree. Consequently, the home builder visited Rockport and its surrounding communities immediately after the storm in an effort to discover how well their construction endured a Category 4 hurricane. They attempted to reach all customers, and successfully located 13 of them—these are their stories.
Oak Creek Homes Win Battle Against Harvey’s High Winds and Storm Surge
Robert Story is a developer who bought his Oak Creek home in the Rockport area as an investment property. Mr. Story was pleased with how his home withstood the storm, and also said he would buy more homes from Oak Creek for his future real estate developments.
Ronald Head represents our second and third stories, as he is the owner of two Oak Creek homes. He owns a combination RV manufactured home park in the Rockport area that sustained a head-on blow from the fury of Hurricane Harvey. Each home survived nearly undamaged, while the rest of the park and the homes and RVs in it were badly damaged or destroyed.
Our fourth story comes from the Rodriguez family in Sinton, Texas. Once again, Hurricane Harvey did its worst and Oak Creek responded with strength, protection, and stability. Only the skirting on their home was damaged.
Our fifth story concerns the Rowe family. Of all the Oak Creek houses in Harvey’s path, none had been placed there more recently than the one for the Rowe family. It hadn’t even been completely installed when workers were ordered to evacuate. It withstood the wrath of Harvey, although it almost didn’t survive being hit by a competitor’s home that was nearly blown into it.
Our eighth story is about the Cooper family. Their once wooded land turned from summer to winter, if it were to be judged by the leaves in the trees after Harvey. Trees and houses in the neighboring community were uprooted or knocked down after taking Mother Nature’s beating. Once again though, much to the family’s delight, an Oak Creek persevered where others didn’t.
Stories nine and ten involve two sisters, Ms. Trinh and Ms. Nguyen, who owned Oak Creek homes in the general area of Rockport. Being close, they placed their homes on adjacent pieces of property and endured the storm together. When the homes finally emerged from the torrential rain and massive winds, both were in excellent condition.
The Janosky family was also an Oak Creek success story. “The house had no damage at all other than a broken window that was caused by flying debris, so the house held up great.”
Customer Hrdlicka is story number 12. Their home, placed in what used to be one of Rockport’s most heavily wooded areas, withstood the storm with few visible scars. In fact, their porch was the only part of their home that sustained damage.
One Home Floods, But Remains Standing to Protect Residents
We would love to say that every house we found came out of the storm without major damage, but in this case we cannot. Indeed, the real story to be learned from Mrs. Rehr’s experience is best told by her daughter’s Facebook post, made a few days after the storm.
“We recently battled Hurricane Harvey. I’d like to say we met him eye to eye. Neither of us backed down for what seemed like forever. Harvey threw winds at us up to 160 miles per hour. We stayed huddled in the master bedroom closet. It was like a roller coaster ride, beyond scary. Water rushed the house as it began filling quickly. We cut a hole in the roof to use as an escape if necessary. Fortunately, eventually the water started to recede, so I’m writing to say thank you for saving our lives. The house held. Not a single window broke. The roof and the walls remained intact. The tie downs never snapped. The home is a total loss due to flooding, but most importantly, we are alive. We cannot express enough our gratitude. Oak Creek is the only home we will put back on our property.”
Oak Creek Homes is a veteran builder of manufactured and modular homes, with 19 retail sales centers throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. The quality, affordability, and dependability of their homes is indicative of all manufactured and modular homes built by American Homestar, which also include Platinum Homes and Meridian Homes. If you’re feeling inspired and want to see these homes for yourself, you can view photos, floor plans, and 3D tours of 54 different Meridian manufactured and modular homes at Discover Modular Homes, a retailer of Meridian Homes in Denton, Texas.
