VIDEO: Hurricane Harvey Has Left Some MSU Students Stranded In Texas

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)-A Mississippi State student is among the thousands of people stranded as Harvey continues to dump rain on Houston.

Christopher Ramirez is a senior at MSU. He went home last week to help his family prepare for the bad weather only to end up with no way out.

“I have no idea how long I will be in Houston,” said Ramirez. “There is no way in and out of town. Every major road and freeway is completely underwater, and I have no idea how long I’ll be here.”

Ramirez said its still surreal when he looks at all of the destruction Hurricane Harvey has caused.

“I mean it’s just like you’re not used to seeing your hometown underwater and the places that you know, the places that you go visit on a daily basis, a lot of those places are destroyed and flooded,” he described.

His home is just one of thousands that were damaged by the storm, forcing his family to pack up and move out.

“We were woken up at 3 AM and water started seeping in through our walls, and so when we kind of opened the door of our entire yard, our entire where we lived is pretty much completely underwater,” Ramirez recalled.

When Ramirez decided to make the trip back home to Houston, he didn’t imagine the storm would leave him stranded and not being able to get back to Mississippi State.

However, school officials are doing everything they can to assist Ramirez and other students who’ve been impacted by the storm..

“We’ve reached out to them through the University’s email system and expressed the concern and also made it clear that if they do have needs that they are encouraged to contact us and let us know how we can assist them,” said Dr. Cade Smith, assistant dean of students and director for the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement.

Smith said the university has reached out to all of the students who’ve been impacted by the storm

“We’re working with about 80 students, identifying any need they may have,” he explained. “Making sure that the student understands one, that it’s OK to need to connect with somebody and to be supported, and to also make it clear that we have resources and relationships here to support them.”

Ramirez is currently staying at a family member’s house as his family waits for the storm to die down.

MSU is working with non profit organizations and other agencies to help assist with the recovery efforts.

If anyone is interested  on how to donate and volunteer, visit https://www.mvc.msstate.edu/blog/hurricane-harvey-relief-efforts/ for more information.