Thicker Than Water Documentary

[Ogier Dudley]

Asmonster storms Harvey and Irma devastated parts of the American South, there are stories that were told and those that remain untold. As with every natural disaster, the scope of the national media often focuses on the major cities hit hardest -- New Orleans, Houston, Miami -- but what of the small towns in between? In the CBSN Originals documentary, "Thicker Than Water," we share the story of one of those small towns too often forgotten in the wake of hurricanes like Harvey -- a small farming community of 3,200 people, known as Winnie, Texas.

Truth be told, we didn't intend to be there either. Harvey had begun dumping historic amounts of rain and causing catastrophic flooding in Houston, the hub of the nation's oil and gas industries. So we flew into New Orleans with the intention of driving west to Houston to cover it. Just past Beaumont, Texas, however, Mother Nature intervened and left us stranded in Winnie, essentially shifting our attention to the tragedies experienced by people who normally fall outside the purview of national attention.

As the fields of crops around us transformed into raging oceans, dead cows and deer quite literally bobbed like buoys in the murky water. And we quickly realized that those "buoys" were more than just horrifying images of nature's fury. They represented the literal death of this farming community's livelihood.

Local rancher Steve Devillier owned 250 cows before Harvey. And as he drove us around Winnie on August 30th with his cousin, Yale, he was unsure of how many of those cows, if any, had made it to higher ground.

"There are rules and regulations," he explained. Ranchers can't simply open their gates and let the cows escape over the roads and highways. Your only hope is to herd them toward the highest ground on your land. And in the rush to escape with all of your family's human lives intact, there's often no time to do that.

So what does that mean exactly? Well, if every cow is worth about $800, then a loss of 250 cows means a loss of $200,000 right off the bat. But that doesn't even take into account the future income that could have been made off of those cows' calves.

In fact, even if cows survive the actual flood, their value is significantly depleted because they'll get sick more easily afterward. What's more, ranchers will likely have to abort any calves on the way because of the stress on the cows carrying them.

If your home in an average American city or suburb were to ever catch fire, for example, it would be a terrible personal and financial loss, but you would go to back work the following Monday in the hope of making the money needed to rebuild it. The farming community in Winnie, however, isn't so lucky. Harvey essentially robbed them of their homes and their livelihood in one fell swoop.

To make matters worse, Winnie is considered outside the floodplain, so almost none of the residents had flood insurance. Why would they, when their houses overlook the Interstate and I-10 was specifically designed never to flood?

On FEMA's map of the floodplain in Chambers County, Texas, seen below, Winnie is located roughly above the words "Chambers County," in the upper right. The lowest level of flood risk is designated by pale yellow on the map. Winnie is in the gray area because its risk for flooding was considered almost nil.

And now, as the residents of Winnie take stock of the homes, crops and livestock lost, they're hoping that their experience with hurricane relief after 2008's comparatively less damaging hurricane, Ike, doesn't repeat itself.

When asked if he's seen any coverage of Winnie or its neighboring towns on the news, Huff scoffed, "No! And that's what we keep looking for. It's just like during Hurricane Ike. You know, when Katrina hit, everybody went to New Orleans and was worried about New Orleans... [During Ike], it was just as bad here, but you didn't have nobody on the news. You know, you had cows in the tops of trees because they floated off."

According to Brad Vratis, the co-owner of Winnie's Cajun seafood gem, Al-T's, it took Winnie all of eight years to return to some level of normalcy after Ike, and the destruction left by Hurricane Harvey is far worse.

"We're not playing gangsters. We play it smart." Netflix has revealed the official trailer for a new French crime thriller series titled Thicker Than Water, arriving for streaming in early April. A journalist's life devolves into chaos when she shields her brother from the law, inadvertently entangling her family in a drug lord's merciless scheme. Belgian humorist Nawell Madani (C'est tout pour moi, Stuck Together) leads this dramatic crime series, alongside Djebril Zonga and Paola Locatelli. The title, which is a reference to the phrase "blood is thicker than water," defines this series that's about the importance of sisterhood & family. The cast includes Kahina Carina, Carima Amarouche, Ada Guechoud, Mayane Sarah El Baze, Paul Hamy, Vincent Rottiers, and Walid Afkir. This seems like a legit series, though a bit campy with the drug plot. It has a good setup and a clever cast bringing levity to this drug lord story. Take a look below.

Right when she's about to get the professional opportunity of her life, journalist Fara must reunite with her sisters to rescue their troublesome brother. The sisters end up in an unexpected spiral as they get entangled in their brother's big drug business... while keeping up a faade. Thicker Than Water, originally known as Jusqu'ici tout va bien in French, is created and written and produced by Belgian-Algerian actress / comedian Nawell Madani, director of C'est tout pour moi and her own doc One, Two, Three, Nawell Madani! previously. It's also produced by Djebril Zonga, and co-created by Simon Jablonka. Developed by Netflix France. Featuring episodes directed by Lionel Smila and Nawell Madani. Netflix will debut Madani's Thicker Than Water series streaming on Netflix worldwide starting April 7th, 2023 this spring. Intrigued?

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