Hurricane Harvey, the  historic storm that wreaked havoc on Houston, Texas and beyond this past week, is expected to be the most expensive natural disaster in American history with losses running as much as $160 billion. As the fourth largest city in the U.S., Houston, as you would expect, is home to a number of domain industry professionals who were caught in the middle of the disaster. Fortunately, none to our knowledge, was seriously injured in the destruction and, miraculously, most (again, that we are aware of at this stage) did not lose their homes. 

Unfortunately, most is not all, and a well-known figure in our business, Lead Community Administrator at the NamePros forum for the past 8 years, Eric Lyon, his wife and infant son lost their home, their cars and virtually all of their physical possessions in the flooding (as did close relatives who lived across the street from them).

Eric Lyon at the 2015 NamesCon 
conference in Las Vegas
(Photo courtesy of NamesCon)

This photo shows the Lyon family's home and two cars (at top left) as the water rapidly rises (it would go much higher) during the Hurricane Harvey disaster in Texas. This shot was taken from a relative's home across the street where Eric, his wife and son had sought refuge. That house would also become completely flooded with everyone in the extended family finally being rescued by friends who boated in to to take them out after overwhelmed public first responders were unable to get to them.

As I write this Eric's family has found temporary shelter in the home of Eric's brother-in-law, but they have a long road to recovery ahead of them - one that begins with no home, no cars, no furniture and very little clothing. A domain industry colleague, George Verdugo, took the bull by the horns and opened a GoFundMe page for the Lyon family Tuesday night with the goal of raising $15,000 to help the Lyon family get back on their feet.  I am proud to say that the domain industry has responded to their plight admirably with over $10,000 raised as of this writing (barely 36 hours after the campaign began).  I would encourage you to help push it over the top and beyond by making a donation of any amount you can spare. 

Many have already stepped up. One initiative I saw just as I began writing this was NamesCon offering to donate 50% of the cost of any ticket purchased today (Thursday, August 31) for the 2018 NamesCon conference coming up in January. Many of you are going anyhow, so if you haven't ought your ticket yet, doing it today will be a big help to the Lyon family. You can use this code "Back2SchoolSale" to purchase your ticket here.

Eric and Amanda Lyon with their son at the 2017 NamesCon conference in Las Vegas.

While helping anyone in this situation in whatever way we can is the right thing to do, I would just note one other thing. Eric has a well deserved reputation for going above and beyond the call of duty to help others in any way he can (he has certainly provided invaluable help to countless industry newcomers in his role at NamesPros, on both a personal and professional level). This is a time when he and his family are the ones who need help now - let's continue to give it to them and get them back on their feet!