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The Houston Texans started to work out at the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility on Monday morning after being displaced due to the catastrophic flooding from Tropical Storm Harvey on the Houston area. The Texans will practice at The Star, a 91-acre sports and entertainment facility in Frisco that also houses the Cowboys' corporate offices. The facility includes an indoor football stadium.
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The remnants of Hurricane Harvey continued dumping historic levels of rainfall on the Houston area Monday morning. The National Weather Service said flooding isn't expected to peak until Wednesday or Thursday. Some areas of southeast Texas around Houston have already seen more than 30 inches of rain.
The tropical storm was set to re-enter the Gulf of Mexico later Monday and make another landfall closer to Houston around two days later, prolonging the flooding disaster.
"It is what it is," Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus told the Houston Chronicle when asked about the team being forced to relocate temporarily to Dallas following the Texans' game in New Orleans against Saints on Saturday night. "Now we aren't too happy about that. We want to get home, been on the road and all that but it is what it is. Houston got hit hard with a lot of flooding, so just taking it a day at a time. We adjust all the time. That's part of being in this business. Our schedules adjust. Things get adjusted, especially with weather things like that. So we will just ride it out and see what happens."
The Texans traveled to Dallas after Saturday night's preseason loss instead of returning home to wait out the storm. No announcement has been made about the Texans-Cowboys' preseason game Thursday night that is scheduled to be held at NRG Stadium. The Cowboys have offered to host the game at AT&T Stadium.
"A lot of the guys want to be back with our families, praying everyone is safe back home," Texans quarterback Tom Savage told the newspaper. "Unfortunate thing, but we are thinking about the people back home more than us. We have people back home to worry about."
Defensive end J.J. Watt posted a video message on social media and donated $100,000 to an online fundraiser that he started Sunday while Houston was being hit hard by the flooding.
"I'm sitting here watching the news and checking the internet and seeing everything that's going on with Hurricane Harvey and the damage it's causing back home," Watt said on the video. "It's very difficult. It's very difficult not only because we have family and friends back there, some guys have young kids, some guys have wives and families.
"But that's our city. It's very tough to watch your city get hit by such a bad storm and not be there to help. Not be there to help with the recovery. Not be there to help with the process. It's very tough. ... Everybody in Houston stay safe. We're thinking about you. We're going to come back. We're going to help you out."
Watt set up a page on YouCaring.com and upped his goal of $500,000 in funds for flood relief after raising $200,000 in two hours.
Watt personally gave $100,000 to the fundraiser, tweeting the message: "Your support is phenomenal!"
