Human Interest Hilary Duff Says Goddaughter Escaped Texas Floods in a Canoe: 'It's Really Terrible' Houston native Duff says she looks forward to heading back to her home town to help rebuild after Hurricane Harvey By Brianne Tracy Brianne Tracy Instagram Twitter Brianne Tracy is a staff writer on the PEOPLE music team. She has been with the brand since starting as an intern nearly six years ago, covering all things entertainment across print and digital platforms. She earned her Bachelors in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Southern California and has been seen on Good Morning America. People Editorial Guidelines and Char Adams Published on September 8, 2017 11:43 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Hilary Duff says she looks forward to heading back to her Texas hometown to help rebuild after Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on parts of the state late last month. “My whole family is there. My dad is there, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, my cousin’s kids. My goddaughter evacuated out of her house on a canoe with her two babies,” the 29-year-old Houston native told PEOPLE at her Baby2Baby Back-to-School event on Thursday at The Grove in Los Angeles. Tiffany Rose/WireImage “Some people have their whole neighborhoods piled in their front yard. It’s really terrible and I can’t wait to go back and do relief work and get my hands dirty, but I think a lot of water needs to clear out.” The storm touched down Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, dumping punishing rain on the Texas Coastal Bend. In the week since Harvey made landfall, thousands of residents in Texas and Louisiana found refuge in shelters across the states. Floodwaters overtook entire neighborhoods, damaging at least 49,000 homes in Texas, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. HOUSTON, TX - AUGUST 27: In this handout provided by the Army National Guard, Texas National Guardsmen rescue a resident by boat during flooding caused by Hurricane HarveyAugust 27, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi late Friday evening, is expected to dump upwards to 40 inches of rain in areas of Texas over the next couple of days. (Photo by Lt. Zachary West/Army National Guard via Getty Images) Duff said it “felt so unfair” watching news stories about the hurricane from sunny California. “I felt so angry about it. Like, you don’t deserve this right now,” she said. “This is ongoing and this is going to be years of rebuilding ,so we need to give what we can and keep them in our thoughts and prayers, and I think there’s a lot of hurricanes on the horizon that are really scary, too.” Tiffany Rose/WireImage Hurricane Irma is closing in on Florida, and two others, Jose and Katia, are intensifying. “That could cause even more damage,” Duff said. “So, this seems like an ongoing problem right now, and we need to just do what we can and all band together and spread love and kindness and give what you can.” The Baby2Baby event was sponsored by GAP and Nike. Some 785,000 people were part of mandatory evacuations in Texas and Lousiana, and more than 200,000 homes are still without power. Officials are now allowing a portion of evacuees to return to their properties, and the process of rebuilding their homes, and their lives, begins. At least 60 people have died as a result of the storm.