Social Media key during flood crisis in Texas: Twitter saves trapped flood survivors

Twitter was used as a resource by people trapped by Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, to get help and find missing family members. Sunday, August 27th, and Monday, August 28th, multiple people turned to Twitter to look for help for themselves as well as their family members.
A Twitter user by the username of, @akaskittlesaka, sent out a tweet Sunday afternoon stating, “My grandpa is stuck in his motor home waiting for water rescue.” The tweet also included the address of her grandfather and pictures of how high the water rose in his house.
Another Twitter user by the username of, @symoonee, posted a picture of her three week old baby, with their address stating they were stuck and in need of rescue. She also retweeted her own tweet saying they were still stuck and still in need of rescue, with the tweet reaching 30,000 retweets, and finally resulting in their rescue.
Others simultaneously took to Twitter to find missing family members.
Twitter user, @JadaAlexys, went to twitter posting a photo of her aunt, who had been missing, asking people to retweet to help find her. Almost a day later, she sent out an update tweet saying her aunt had been found and thanking everyone for the support.
Many other Twitter users like, @LogannArianna, and @RougeTeamXmen, tweeted shocking pictures and videos of their family members’ condition. Thankfully, they both sent out update tweets saying they had been saved.
Twitter has conjointly been used to send out information on shelter locations. Like, @kweenklarke, quoting a tweet, giving the address to Hightower High School in Missouri City, Texas, which was opened as a shelter.
Jim “Mattress” Mack, the founder of Gallery Furniture, in Houston, opened the doors to both of his furniture stores to anyone affected by the hurricane.
Jiggaerobics creator and Houston resident, Ladonte Lotts gave his thoughts on Hurricane Harvey and people getting saved through Twitter. “I could feel many different ways, however, stuff happens; we just got to keep God first, keep ELEV8N, keep our cheese(happiness) up. That’s most important. Even though it’s a horrible situation and a lot of negative stuff going around, we have to find a positive about everything and keep pushing. That’s my city, and I love everybody”. He defined ELEV8N as elevating yourself as well as others.
According to news site, mashable.com, the Miami International Airport used Twitter to confirm that a video showing the flooded Miami airport was totally false in the wake of Hurrance Irma.
The misinformation was even retweeted by President Trump’s director of social media, Dan Scavino Jr.
The account is a perfect example of how social media can be helpful in disaster situations.