Houston flood hits home for Dallas Cowboys players

Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin had an unexpected visitor this week – his brother, Nick, an offensive lineman on the Houston Texans.

The Texans flew to the Dallas—Fort Worth area after their preseason game against the New Orleans Saints with the remnants of Hurricane Harvey leaving the city of Houston and surrounding areas flooded.

Martin said it’s been a difficult time for his family, particularly with Nick’s fiancée stranded at their home in Pearland.

“It’s been tough. Obviously they’ve been away for over a week,” Martin said. “Our family, got a future sister in law stranded down there. It’s a tough situation. We’re just praying that everyone is OK down there.”

Martin said that his brother’s fiancée is safe, but unable to leave their home for now. He did enjoy spending time with his brother on Sunday, though, as both teams were off.

Quarterback Dak Prescott said his family members in Southeast Texas are doing OK, too, although one of his brothers drove up to Dallas to stay with him and avoid Hurricane Harvey.

The Texans practiced at The Star on Monday, and will do so again Tuesday. Thursday’s preseason finale against the Texans and Cowboys has been moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington after originally being scheduled for NRG Stadium in Houston.

Everyone within the Cowboys’ locker room has Houston on their mind.

Coach Jason Garrett opened his news conference, saying: “Before we get going here, just want to send our thoughts and prayers out to everybody down in Houston. Obviously, it’s a very challenging time that everyone down there is going through. Our thoughts are with them, our prayers are with them. … We’re doing everything we can as an organization to help the Houston Texans work their way through this situation. They were here this morning, they practiced. They plan to practice again　tomorrow, but I know a lot of the lives of their families are affected by this as well as all of the residents of Houston. Again, our thoughts and prayers are with them and we’re here to support them in any way that we can.”

Said tight end Jason Witten: “Thoughts are prayers are with them, all the great Texans down there in Houston and South Texas. Yesterday was the first time I got a chance to look at it. So proud of our great state for the support and the way they responded. I hope everybody can get safe. We are there to help them and pulling for them to get through it.　I continue to pray for them and help in anyway that we can. We are going to do that moving forward.”

For right tackle La’el Collins, the footage from Houston during this time reminds him of when Hurricane Katrina wrecked the New Orleans area in 2005. Collins is from Baton Rouge, La. and remembers it all too well.　

“It’s sad. I just think back to Katrina when Katrina hit Louisiana and how that just readjusted everything for everybody around,” Collins said. “It’s just sad to see our people losing homes. … But one thing I can say is stay strong.”

Added linebacker Justin Durant: “This is terrible what’s going on down there. Thoughts and prayers to everybody who has family and friends down there.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2017 at 6:56 PM with the headline "Houston flood hits home for Dallas Cowboys players."