Hurricane Harvey and J.J. Watt’s Unforgettable Efforts

NFL

It is almost exactly one year after the devastating Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area at the beginning of September in 2017. This means it has also been one year since Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt began his tremendous relief efforts. Hurricane Harvey is tied with Hurricane Katrina, which hit the New Orleans area in 2005, as the costliest hurricane to ever strike the United States. The category four hurricane caused over $125 billion in damage, as well as catastrophic flooding.

Watt played for the University of Wisconsin and was picked no. 11 overall in the 2011 draft to the Houston Texans. Ever since that, he has been a stand out player. He has accumulated 76.0 sacks, one interception, almost 400 tackles and scored two defensive touchdowns. All of those stats include Watt missing most of the 2016 and 2017 season due to injury. The 6’5″ player has a long list of awards on his résumé including four-time all-pro and four-time pro bowler. As well as three-time defensive player of the year and one of the highest honors in football- the 2017 Walter Peyton Award.

Hurricane Harvey Relief

Ever since the hurricane hit, Watt used his foundation (J.J. Watt Foundation) to raise money to help rebuild the city he has played for since 2011. Yesterday, Watt posted on his twitter all the tremendous achievements that his foundation made in the past year since the hurricane hit Houston.

The tweet explains that in the 12 months since the relief efforts began Watt’s foundation raised $41.6 million. The foundation was also able to:

• distribute over 26 million meals to those affected
• help clean up and rebuild over 600 homes
• recover over 400 child care centers that will serve over 16,000 children
• distribute medicine to over 10,000 patients
• send physical and mental health services to over 6,500 individuals

Watt goes on to explain the plan for the next 12 months to further help the people in Houston that suffered from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Watt will make his return to the field week one vs the New England Patriots as one of the top defensive ends in the NFL after playing only eight of the last 32 games.