Although Hurricane Harvey brought out the worst in some people, it also produced some miracles too. In response to the flooding after Harvey hit, a couple canceled their wedding and stored the wedding dress away to keep it from getting damaged. The potential groom, a firefighter, returned to the flooded home and found the Wedding Gown untouched.
Planning for a wedding
ABC News reported that the couple, Kyle Parry, 35, a firefighter from Lumberton, Texas, and fiance Stephanie Hoekstra, 33, discovered the fate of the dress on August 31 when Parry returned to the house to find it almost completely flooded.
Parry put the gown in his closet a few days before with the hope that it would protect it from getting ruined. The couple had planned their wedding for September 10 and later canceled because of Hurricane Harvey. Hoekstra brought the wedding dress back with her after returning from Ontario where she lived. She asked that he not look in the closet, but later changed her mind as the flood waters rose and asked Parry to try and save it. Parry, coming home from a 100-hour shift, put the dress in his spare bedroom closet to keep it safe. Days later they returned to the home thinking the dress was gone, only to find it in the closet completely dry and undamaged.
More than just structural damage at stake
Fox News reported that Parry was busy serving his community when the storm hit and flooding began. Busy helping others to evacuate from their homes, Parry later discovered that his home was in the path of the flood. Not only was he concerned about the structural damage that would happen to his home because of the water, he worried that the dress would be lost too.
The Huffington Post reported that the couple was planning to have their wedding in Galveston, Texas. Parry lost almost everything that was in his home except for the wedding dress. On August 28 Parry grabbed the wedding gown, put it in his closet, took his dogs and evacuated. The dress went in the top of the closet in his spare bedroom.
When he returned later, he discovered that everything in his home had been destroyed except for the dress. He arrived at the house, got out of the boat he was in and found himself in water that was neck deep. Using Facebook Live, Parry, along with a relief worker, surveyed the damage in his home. When he opened the closet, he found the dress hanging a few inches above the water, still dry. Hoekstra believed that the dress being saved was a sign for her and Parry. Since Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, the community has continued to receive tons of donations including thousands in donations from "Real Housewives," adding another miracle to the list of many miracles that took place.
