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.

“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.

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.”

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.

In an exclusive essay for MarieClaire.com Hilary Duff talks about the devastating effect Hurricane Harvey had on her hometown.

My dad used to take my sister and I out on our bikes every evening. Once the heat subsided, we’d go on long rides through the neighborhood that I grew up in. Houston was a safe, beautiful, and free place to do that kind of classic childhood activity. Everyone said hello to each other. If we saw cans on the side of the road, my dad would make us pick them up to keep our neighborhood nice. The community was tight—so much so that the moment my mom heard a neighbor was sick, she’d start cooking meals before dropping them off on the doorstep.

Now, shelves sit empty at the market. Pets are abandoned, swimming through the streets. Homes are turned upside down. People are wading through water, holding plastic bags with their remaining belongings in one hand, and their children in the other. The land that I love has been devastated.

Being so many miles away from home and watching the news about Hurricane Harvey from sunny California feels completely unjust. How can a whole city be turned into a lake? How is it possible that my god-sister and her two small babies have been evacuated from their home by canoe? Did my dad really call to tell me that they’re running low on food and had to eat chocolate chip cookies for dinner?

But people are resilient. People are brave. People dig deep, and find strength they never knew they had when faced with a monstrous challenge. Taking on the responsibility of a hero is no small feat—and that’s what these people are: heroes. I’ve seen so many people jump into the action with limited sleep, limited funds, and zero comfort. So many earth-walking angels. It makes me realize more than ever that Texas is a beautiful blanket tightly woven with people who truly care for one another and the land that they were raised on. The whole world could take a note from watching them defeat this unimaginable challenge.

“PEOPLE ARE RESILIENT. PEOPLE ARE BRAVE. PEOPLE DIG DEEP, AND FIND STRENGTH THEY NEVER KNEW THEY HAD WHEN FACED WITH A MONSTROUS CHALLENGE.”
Last night I called my mom, and she told me about the GoFundMe pages of people directly affected by the flood. A boy who went to rescue his sister’s cat, and got electrocuted in the process. A baby who was found clinging to her mother’s unresponsive body. I can’t imagine anything more important than getting money directly to these families. We live in a world where we treat ourselves because we can. We take the comfort of our own beds for granted. But disasters like Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma are important reminders that if you deprive yourself of something small—that extra cocktail, that on-sale t-shirt—and use the money to help others, it can really make a difference in someone’s life. Houston is a place full of people just like you and me—little kids riding bikes with their dads, moms making soup for their neighbors. Let’s help them, and help each other. You never know when this will be you.

To find out how you can help Houston, visit some of Hilary’s preferred charities below:
– BakerRipley
– Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund
– Boys & Girls Club of Greater Houston
– Houston Food Bank
– Houston Humane Society
– United Way of Greater Houston