12 Houston Pictures That Have Broken Our Hearts (And Restored Them)

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Harvey's record-breaking rainfall is being called one of the worst disasters in United States history. With potentially years of recovery ahead for Houston, it's hard to consider the storm anything less than devastating.

But some of the heartbreaking photos and videos coming out of the tragedy in Texas also offer up hope. They capture Houstonians making heroic efforts to help those around them, proving the world may not be as terrible as it often seems in our 24/7 news cycle. Take a look at the images below, which are all helping to restore our faith in humanity.

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Facebook user Chance Ward and his 17-year-old son have been freeing animals trapped in the flooding. "This is what we do," he says in this video he posted, in which his son saves a horse. "We help livestock, we try to help people."

On Twitter, Abby Fogarty shared a picture of her mother pick up strangers in her boat to bring them to dry land.

This poodle sat protectively next to its senior companion, as they waited to be rescued from a floating air mattress by an approaching helicopter.

Local chain Gallery Furniture opened its doors to Harvey victims, providing shelter and food. Owner Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale is well known in the area for regularly helping his community, TIME reported.

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Little Aiden is just 13 months old. He and mom Catherine Pham were rescued from their home by Houston Police SWAT officer Daryl Hudeck.

After an upsetting photo of nursing home residents trapped in a flooded room went viral, the seniors were rescued. Their new accommodations make us more than a little misty-eyed.

This photo of a deputy from the Houston County Sheriff's Office carrying two small children also went viral. Rick Johnson was going door-to-door in Cypress, Texas, when he found this family. "In order to keep the kids focused on happy thoughts given the seriousness of what was going on around us, I told them a couple of light jokes," Johnson told TIME.

Another touching tweet from the Houston County Sheriff's Office shows men working together to free a car from floodwater.