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Harvey victims forced back into tent after mold found in home

They were almost there. From outside in their tent to inside their home. They had their walls, their floor, and their furniture. Now the family is having to start over completely.

HOUSTON — Hurricane Harvey is still alive and well in many Houston homes.

For one family, it keeps coming back.

We first told you of the Cervantes family back in November, when they were living in a tent outside their home. KHOU 11 News followed them as they slowly moved out of the tent and back inside. But now, they are back outside in that tent again.

RELATED: Three months after Harvey, family living in tent outside flooded home

The family says they were approached by a church group wanting to help. The group says they found mold throughout the home and told the Cervantes family they had to completely rebuild the inside, which is forcing the family to start over completely.

It’s the nightmare Petra Cervantes can’t wake up from.

“I'm in woods now. This is not a house," she said.

Cervantes says it’s the hardest hit since Harvey.

“And my kids, they are sleeping the way they are. We’ve come back to the floor again," Cervantes said.

She was almost there. From outside in her tent to inside her home, she had her walls, her floor and her furniture.

“They started finding mold. They go, 'Oh, this has mold,' and I said well, they are the professionals, I'm not. If you know about mold, OK. If you think, and you’re going to build me up right away, you know, go ahead and knock it down, you know, if you promise me you’re going to pay for all of this," Cervantes said.

Until, Cervantes says, she got help from a church group called Pastors Army. They say they found mold in her home, and that had to go.

“But most, my walls, everything was done, the paint, and everything, but they promised me," Cervantes said.

Cervantes says that was six weeks ago. The army of volunteers came in and ripped her home down to the studs.

“I didn’t see nothing moving, nothing moving, nothing," she said.

Cervantes says she was told it would be rebuilt in weeks, but Pastor Tony Pittman with Pastors Army says it just doesn’t work that way.

He says her home was covered in mold, and that needed to be addressed.

“We would love to have a magic wand, but we don’t have one," Pitmman said.

As for the rebuilding, he says that won’t happen overnight.

“We’ve made some progress, but it’s slow progress," Pittman said.

But they, too, need some help.

“We’re desperately right now in need of more volunteers, right now we have no volunteers. There’s nobody here at all," Pittman said.

But living outside in the tent again, Cervantes says they’re back to where they started.

“I tried to look for help, because I know it’s going to take me too long now," Cervantes said.

But she says they just can’t live like this much longer.

Both the Cervantes family and the church group need help -- anything from volunteers to materials.

If you would like to help the family, a GoFundMe has been set up here. If you would like to contact Petra Cervantes, e-mail Janelle Bludau at jbludau@khou.com for her information.

If you would like to contact Pastors Army, call Pastor Tony Pittman at (832) 421-4117.

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