By All Appearances, They Overcame Hurricane Harvey. Appearances Are Deceiving.

"HOUSTON — Her house is dry now. The flood is long gone from her living room. But several times a month, Kris Ford-Amofa’s phone sounds a warning that her family is still underwater.

Ding: An alert to pay the mortgage on their beige-brick house, whose value sank by $10,000 after it was wrecked during Hurricane Harvey. Ding: An alert to pay the credit cards that paid to replace their floors, furniture and appliances. She and her husband never used to carry debt like this, but since Harvey, they have been caught in a riptide of bills for the house and a personal loan that Ms. Ford-Amofa took out when the family could no longer keep up with other expenses. Ding. Ding. Ding.

“We’re paycheck to paycheck now,” she said. “Swimming.”

This is the hidden financial storm that lingers for thousands of middle-class families across southeast Texas, long after they pounded in the last new floorboard and rolled on the last coat of paint to reclaim flood-scarred homes.

On the surface, it looks like they’ve recovered. Inside, nothing is the same..."

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