Triangle residents fret over friends and family in Texas

WAKE FOREST, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Sondra Triblehorn of Wake Forest gets choked up while talking about the historic flooding in southeastern Texas.

"I just can't imagine what it's like for all those people trying to rebuild all that and continue their daily responsibilities. That's got to be really difficult," Triblehorn told ABC11 with tears in her eyes.

The devastation of Hurricane Harvey hits close to home for Triblehorn, whose sister, brother-in-law, and two young nieces have been forced to evacuate from their home in Houston.

She's glad they have some place to go saying, "I'm relieved that they are with their other family members, that they have power, you know, they're all together. But, you know, I can't imagine what it must be like for them. It's got to be unnerving to not know what you're going to come back to. And having two small children."

While visiting Triblehorn's home in Wake Forest, an ABC11 crew was able to make a video call to her brother-in-law.

"I've lived in Houston since 1985, and I've been through a couple of hurricanes and a couple of tropical storms, and I've never seen the entire city flood like this," Triblehorn's brother-in-law, Chris Cheves, said.

Cheves and his family are staying with his brother northwest of Houston.

Triblehorn was so worried Friday night as the storm moved on shore she couldn't sleep.

So she started surfing social media.

"I saw that the Sienna Plantation had had a tornado and that's their neighborhood. And it had struck like 50 homes. And so that's when I really freaked out," she said. "And so then I was trying to contact her and texting and just trying to keep up, find out what was going on."

The tornado began a lucky streak for the Cheves family in Texas.

Chris Cheves explained saying, "There were 50 homes damaged. Our house was unscathed. The next night a house about a mile away was hit by lightning and caught on fire. Again, we were unscathed. We've been watching the water rescues around town on our TV and just sitting in amazement."

Cheves says although his house hasn't yet flooded, his family was forced to evacuate Saturday.

And if his house does flood, well, he says he'll be lucky once again.

He has flood insurance.

"It's just one of those things that I felt was worth the money and didn't want to take the risk. And now I'm so thankful that I did. And my heart goes out to those who don't have it," Cheves said.

Cheves' spirits are also boosted by seeing the waves of volunteers coming to Texas.

"Pretty much everywhere around the country people are pouring in to help," he said.

And his sister-in-law was proud that many North Carolinians are leading the way in the relief effort.

"The people here are just wonderful and neighborly, and they inspire other people to go. If I didn't have my own responsibilities I would be there in a heartbeat to see what I could do and how I could help," Triblehorn said.