Eric Lyon gives an update on how his family is doing

Eric Lyon provided an update on how things are going one month after Hurricane Harvey. Eric’s fundraising goal on GoFundMe was surpassed and Eric has also received direct donations through Paypal. I was just getting ready to pm for an update when I saw he posted.

Update: I just wanted to provide another update so everyone knows how things are going.

The last 3 1/2 weeks looking for another vehicle (Since ours were totaled in the flood) was pretty nerve-racking. We ran into the following issues:

• The first week, all rental companies were sold out and we were price gouged when we finally found one available.
• In week 2, we finally got a rental car at a normal rate and went car shopping.
• The majority of cash cars in our budget range were already sold by then to the other 90% of Houstonians affected by the hurricane.
• The cars we did find in our budget being sold by dealerships (Because we thought they could be trusted more than individual listings) were flooded vehicles being sold as is. Many of them went to great lengths to clean the vehicles up to avoid flood damage detection.
• 2 Days ago we finally found a reputable dealer and invested in a 2008 Mazda 6. It was a good cash deal, even though it may need new motor mounts and a strut. With repairs, for what we paid, it will still be below blue book value.
• The rental was returned and we are now moving forward with the next phase of recovery now that we have our own transportation again.
• Our auto insurance company gave us a hard time because we canceled our flooded vehicle policies, so we switched to a better company (AAA auto ins. and AAA roadside assistance).
• Red Cross was a Joke, we applied for assistance from them and it’s been nothing but tail chasing ever since.
• We are still staying temporarily with my brother-inlaw since we can’t really afford a rental at the moment on our budget. We want to make sure that we can stretch our funds as far as we can and make smart choices when spending.
• FEMA has helped a little along with the Domain community (Huge thanks to everyone that sprung into action to help), however, while the assistance is helping us get through this, the funds still don’t come close to what rebuilding the house, vehicle, belongings, etc. would cost. Because of this, we are looking into alternative recovery and living options.

I’ll update again once we hammer out which of the options we decide to push forward with that will determine our future and living situation.