A Central Texas man is now a Harvey victim after he went south to help people affected by the storm.
On Sept. 28, Douglas Gollihar hitched up his boat, loaded up his car and headed to Houston. He got back to Hewitt that Friday but had to leave one of his belongings behind.
"It's just material things, but my Jeep. I got in too deep of water so I think the engine took on water and just blew up. I left it on the side of the of the road," said Gollihar.
South Texan's vehicles were no match for the flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey and visitors like Gollihar were no exception to its wrath. Gollihar's car broke down on Sept. 30, right in the middle of his rescue mission. He rented a 15-passenger van to pull him to the next few towns to avoid having to call it quits.
"I got a call last night saying they finally towed it," said Golliar.
The boat he's owned for just three months also took a beating for his good deed. Gollihar said he popped a hole in the pontoon, shredded his propeller and damaged the canopy. He has yet to get it looked at by a mechanic, but he estimates the damage will be well over $10,000 if the motor ends up being broken.
"It was just crazy because we were driving through neighborhoods and through cities on a boat," said Gollihar. "We're running over cars, running over mailboxes, got stuck on a bridge in a current."
Gollihar said he feels a "calling on his heart" during these types of situations, which is why he acted fast when he saw the destruction caused by Harvey.
"It was tragic, it's hard to explain," said Gollihar. "Just seeing everybody lose everything. To be able to go in the boat and go get them just felt like what was supposed to happen."
A quick, selfless decision he said he would easily make again.
"Even if I knew for sure the same things would happen, we actually saved lives down there. Even if we only saved one, it would've made it worth it," said Gollihar.
Golliar's car is still in Houston and he's waiting to find out if it's totaled. Until then, he'll be using a rental car that he picked up earlier today.
Gollihar works in construction and is planning to get a small business loan in order to bring a crew down to the Houston area for the rebuilding stage. He said he will continue to help the folks affected by the storm in any way that he can.
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