Flood victims from Houston arrive at SFO

SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Many of the passengers coming in from Houston still feel shocked and overwhelmed by what's happened in their city.

"Hell came to Houston," said longtime resident Mimi Del Grande as she waited to pick up her bags at SFO.

Her husband says their home was not damaged. But they had to live for days not knowing what was going to happen.

"The scary part is a flood is silent. You can fall asleep in a chair and your feet are wet. We went in shifts. I stayed up until 3 am. The she got up at 3 am just to watch the water rise. Right up to our door," said Del Grande.

One man who lives on a third floor apartment was high enough to escape the floods...But the lower floors weren't as lucky.

He described getting his car to safety.

"We lost 150 cars in our garage. I was the last one to get out. I drove through two feet of water to get it out. I went straight through water. It is extremely frightening because you don't know what's coming. And when you lose power and most of the rain comes at night.

"While passengers were arriving from Houston, a Bay Area registered nurse, was headed there.

Erik Hoagland, a nurse with Kaiser Oakland, packed his stethoscope and is volunteering to help victims of the flood.

"Excited and nervous about it," Hoagland said.

Hoagland is part of the RN response network. He says he is not sure exactly what his patients will need. But has a pretty good idea.

"It is getting hotter now. There are going to be people in need of hydration. There are people who left homes without their medications and may have chronic diseases they need help with," said Hoagland.

Still for some Houston residents, the disaster has reminded them of what is really important.

"You forget some days when you complain about this or complain about that, we're lucky to even be here," said Del Grande.