UPDATED: Aug. 29, 2017 at 2:20 a.m.

The devastation brought by Tropical Storm Harvey has a heightened meaning for Syracuse head coach Dino Babers. Both his mother and father attended high school in the Houston area. His father is buried there. As the storm leaves an untold number of people displaced in the greater Houston area, Babers offered Monday his prayers to the victims.

“My heart goes out to them,” Babers said. “I hope they’re all OK. The rest of the country rallies, like we always do, to make it easy on them and get the city of Houston back on its feet.”

Tropical Storm Harvey, which made landfall in Texas Friday as a Category 4 hurricane, has so far left eight people reported dead, according to The New York Times, and many others injured. Homes and businesses have been flooded, damaged or destroyed. The United States’ fourth-largest city, Houston has about 6.6 million people living in its metropolitan area who have been affected.

Babers, SU’s second-year head coach, said all of the friends and family he has been able to contact in the Houston area are OK.

“This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced,” the National Weather Service said on Twitter on Sunday. “Follow orders from officials to ensure safety.”

Last fall, Babers was a preliminary candidate for Houston’s head coach opening, per the Houston Chronicle. Art Briles, who created Babers’ offense, coached at Houston from 2003 to 2007. He turned around the program during his tenure there. Then he was hired at Baylor, where he hired Babers as his wide receivers coach.

Baylor, located in Waco, Texas, is about 180 miles north of Houston. Babers left the program in 2011 to become Eastern Illinois’ head coach.

In 2001 and 2002, Babers coached at Texas A&M, in College Station, Texas, about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

“It’s interesting because so many times you hear about those hurricanes rolling through there, it’s supposed to be really bad,” Babers said Monday. “That’s a lot of water (from Harvey). I’ve spent a lot of summers down there as a kid and there’s nowhere for that water to go.

“My prayers are out to them.”

The story has been updated with appropriate style.

Published on August 28, 2017 at 1:20 pm

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21