“Every nationality you could see was in the George R. Brown Convention Center,” she said. “Harvey hit everywhere. It’s not just one section of Houston where people were displaced. It’s everywhere, from southwest to northwest, southeast to northeast. It hit the lowest-income areas to the richest. It just didn’t stop. This was just different. It’s going to take years to recover from this.”

Rose returned home on Thursday. Her parlor, where she puzzled out problems she had with her students, was ravaged; her beloved antique lamps with fringed shades and ceramic statues of women in flowing robes were ruined, as were her chairs, couches, clothes, a brand new big-screen television.

Her eyes were glassy when she spotted the topper to her wedding cake in the corner, soaked through.

“Part of me wants to cry,” she said. “The other part of me knows I need to pull myself up.”