For Clarence, looking back to that day five years ago in the midst of Hurricane Harvey's widespread devastation, seeing the neighborhood around him covered in water more or less zonked him out to the point that he didn't notice an Eyewitness News crew on board the boat that rescued him.
"So you knew a boat was coming, but you didn't know the TV guys were going to be on the boat? And you were surprised to see us?" reporter Jeff Ehling, who, along with photojournalist Mario Segura, was on the vessel, asked.
"Yes, I was. I really didn't recognize you and know who you were, because like I said, I was half braindead. You just go numb in something like that. Then my wife told me who you were afterward," Clarence said with a chuckle.
According to him, a neighbor who is in law enforcement coordinated their rescue that day, but he had no idea Ehling and Segura were on board.
The Fosters' Pinecrest neighborhood home, like many others, needed repairs after that day, but for that moment, which opened ABC's World News Tonight that day, the devastation was unforgettable.
"We were just in water. Twenty inches deep all night ... all night and part of the morning. It was a scary time," Clarence said.
More ABC13 stories on Hurricane Harvey, 5 years later:
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- Meyerland residents who stayed to rebuild after Harvey find hope 5 years later
- 5 years after Hurricane Harvey, some Houstonians are still recovering, UH report says
Richard Biddle lives across the street from the Fosters. He got on a rescue boat that same day. Five years after the water receded, it's still difficult for him to put into words what Harvey did to his neighborhood.
"It's a hard thing to describe," Biddle said. "If you (weren't) in it, you will probably never know. And you don't really want to know, because you do not want to be in one."
It took two years for the Fosters to get their house back to normal. Almost all the homes are repaired, and while there are few obvious signs of the disaster from five years ago, those living here will never forget the water and the people who came here to help.
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