Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is Abby Martin. This is the audio version of each episode of the Empire Files hosted on Telesaur English. You can watch every episode at the Empire Files. TV.

One month ago, Hurricane Harvey tore through Houston, Texas, with an intensity scientist, say, is a one-and-one-year event.

It destroyed nearly 17,000 homes and damaged almost 160,000.

A shocking 82 people lost their lives.

Predictably, the corporate media was on the ground to bring mostly unwanted scenes of human suffering.

Y'all trying to interview people during their worst times.

Like, that's not the smartest thing to do.

So I'm so sorry.

And you're really trying to understand with the microphone still in my face,

with me shivering cold, when my kids wet, and you still putting a microphone in my face.

But almost as quickly as it came, Harvey was out of the news, a thing of the past.

One month later, long after the cameras left, I wanted to see the state of Houston and how its people have recovered.

With so many unprecedentedly strong hurricanes hitting the United States,

Houston is much bigger than just a city getting back on its feet.

It's a microcosm of the U.S. Empire's ability and willingness to deal with natural disasters.

Immediately I saw that Houston was not only far from help,

but entire neighborhoods remain

in ruins, with no sign of local or federal government doing anything whatsoever.

I spent two days in one of these neighborhoods.

We're here in the Lake Forest Park neighborhood of Houston.

This was one of the hardest hit and most neglected communities in the entire city.

As you can see, residents here lost virtually everything.

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