"Just after Hurricane Harvey’s rains subsided and the storm blew through Houston, Sylvia Casares went to her Mexican restaurant Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen to survey the damage. Fortunately, the Eldridge Parkway location of the popular Tex-Mex spot was mostly unscathed right after the rain stopped. Still, the waters continued to rise. Casares and her team had enough time to wade through the water outside the building to come inside and do a little damage control. They moved furniture and equipment to higher ground so that it would not become water-logged, and disposed of food ruined by several days without electricity. Still, the water that eventually poured into the building meant that sheet rock, insulation and wood had to be ripped out and replaced. Over $62,000 in remediation costs later, including multiple treatments to eradicate any potential mold growth, Casares still knew that she was one of the lucky ones. Sylvia’s Enchilada Kitchen reopened just two weeks after Harvey made landfall, and its dining room has been buzzing ever since." - Amy McCarthy
