Bun B On Hurricane Harvey: We Need Boats & We Need Prayer

Since Friday night, the world has looked on while Hurricane Harvey has wreaked devastation on the city of Houston, TX, other areas of the the state, and parts of Louisiana. The hurricane, which was downgraded to a tropical storm, brought with it unprecedented levels of precipitation–some experts are estimating it has already dumped 12 trillion gallons of rain–and much more is expected to come over the next several days. The death toll is now at 8 people, with it certain to rise, and federal officials are predicting as many as 450,000 people will need to seek some sort of disaster-related assistance.

Houston native Bun B chose to evacuate during the storm, but he stayed close, heading to Dallas in order to raise awareness and help solicit resources for the battered city. Early today, in an exclusive interview with Mass Appeal, Bun spoke about the chaos that has ensued since the storm and the dire needs of the city and its residents. “We need shallow water boats that can get into these communities and get people out. There are hundreds of families right now as we’re talking, stuck in the attics of their homes and on the roofs of their houses and on the top floors of their buildings right now. They’re stuck right now. Phones are dead. Finally the sun is up, so they can get on the roof and get out somewhere and start waving to make people aware. But it’s all about if somebody’s got a boat in your neighborhood. All the money in the world can’t help these people. We need boats. It’s insane what’s happening…Right now we need boats, and we need prayer,” said the UGK co-founder.

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Even with the boats that are currently in the community, CNN reports that their scarcity has made them subject to attack during rescue efforts. “They’re making it difficult for us to rescue them. You have people rushing the boat. Everyone wants to get in at the same time. They’re panicking. Water is rising,” said Clyde Cain of Louisiana rescue agency, The Cajun Navy. “We have boats being shot at if we’re not picking everybody up. We’re having to pull out for a minute. We’re dropping an air boat right now to go rescue a couple of our boats that broke, and they’re kind of under attack,” he continued.

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While Bun insisted that priority number one for Houston was boats, he did acknowledge that the city would need extensive funding over time, in order to re-build. “Our biggest problem is that Houston is going to be rebuilding this city, rebuilding these highways and these roads that are caving in due to the water. We have sinkholes popping up all over the city. We’re going to have highway damage with this. Not to mention all the homes for people. We’re going to have to figure out how to house tens of thousands of people now that had homes yesterday. It’s going to take massive amounts of money to fix the situation, but today, right now at 11:02 a.m. CST, we need shallow water boats and kayaks and anything that floats, to go and get people out of their homes. We need huge dump trucks, we need to get people out of those neighborhoods into shelters. Get people safe. Because we still have three more days, at least, to hunker down. At least three or four more days.”

In a press conference this afternoon, President Trump addressed the issue of monetary resources for Texas, saying “You’re going to see very rapid action from Congress. You’re going to get your funding. It’s a terrible tragedy. You’ll have what you want very quickly.”

For those who would like to donate to help victims of Harvey, CNN has compiled a list of vetted organizations.