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The Forgotten Hurricane

I had the joy of attending a book signing this weekend by an author who's near and dear to my heart, Joyce King.  She lives in Dallas, and I first became acquainted with her when I read her first book published in 2003 called Hate Crime about a racially-motivated death that happened in my hometown of Jasper back in 1998. 

I wasn't living in Jasper at the time of the incident, but moved there about the time that the trials began for the 3 men who had been arrested for the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr.  I found her book to be a pretty fair portrayal of my hometown and of the trial and not prone to racial sensationalism as was the first book published about the ordeal. The great irony about her book is that she's an African-American, like the victim of the crime, and she cast Jasper in a favorable light.  Conversely, the author of the first book written about Byrd's death is Caucasian and painted a picture of Jasper as a hate-monging redneck town that never forgave or forgot the Civil War.

This past Saturday was the launch party of Joyce's third book, Forgotten Hurricane:  Conversations with My Neighbors. It's a painful read at times, as she tells true stories of how Southeast Texans and Southwest Louisiana residents coped with Hurricane Rita. There are two stories of bus drivers who endured a 50-hour trek (without a break) from Beaumont in an attempt to evacuate those without other means of transportation.  There are stories of brave Southeast Texans who lost everything in the storm and are determined to rebuild.  There are stories chronicling the utter frustration and anger of those in emergency management who were trying to cope with a situation like none of them had ever previously experienced at a time when all the local (and many national) resources had been depleted as Southeast Texas took care of tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees a mere two weeks before the landfall of our very own hurricane.

There's no finger-pointing in this book, merely stories of bravery and resiliency. If you want a real life view of what happens and what people think during a natural disaster, pick up a copy. And, if you happen to buy it, check out Chapter 14, featuring my brother, Jamie Gunter, as one of the Dukes of Newton.

Riding the Storm Out Teleseminar

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that last year was a rough one for me when Hurricane Rita paid me a visit.  This weekend I heard about a great teleseminar called "Riding the Storm Out: Don't wait until it's too late to form a business continuity plan," hosted by Phil and Jason Montero of The Anywhere Office and You Can Work from Anywhere.  I wrote Jason and Phil about my experiences and offered to them an article I had written, and they graciously offered it in the handouts for their teleseminar.

Here's a quick description of the teleseminar:

With hurricane season nearing its peak in the Southeast and news of continuing difficulties with projects like "The Big Dig" in Massachusets, business continuity is a topic that many people are eager to learn more about. Well, the tools and strategies needed to conduct business as usual regardless of location is what The Anywhere Office is all about!  So we're going to delve in to this topic some more - and we figured, if 2 heads are better than one...We have organized a panel of 4 South Florida experts and are offering a free teleseminar entitled: "Riding the Storm Out: Don't wait until it's too late to form a business continuity plan." This isn't just going to be a discussion about hurricane preparedness - it will be expert advice on how to develop a plan and systems to confront any contingency, regardless of whether you are an organization or a solo-professional.

And, they have made it available to anyone who's interested.  So, if you live in a disaster-prone area, or want to be prepared for whatever might come your way and interrupt your business, I encourage you to download their audio and handouts.  You can find them here:
http://www.YouCanWorkFromAnywhere.com/beprepared

While you're at it, sign up for their free resources when you visit their site!

Hurricane Rita-- One Year Later

On this day one year ago, I was packing my home to evacuate from Hurricane Rita in what became the drive from hell (8 hours to travel 75 miles) to leave this area.  I later discovered that 8 hours was a breeze -- many of my friends who headed to Dallas, Austin, and Arkansas had 22 - 28 hour evacuation trips.  Wow, I can't even imagine -- I was exhausted after sitting in my car traveling at a snail's pace for 8 hours.

How has life changed in the last year?  Southeast Texas is much better prepared to handle hurricane evacuations now, as is the Houston area.  I certainly have much more respect for the damage a hurricane can do that I ever did previously.  However, the Rita's swath of damage is still evident, from "blue roof" homes that have yet to be repaired, to businesses that are still damaged and shuttered, to "help wanted" signs at that are present at every restaurant and big retailer in town, as labor is still in short supply.

If you missed my chronicle, "Running from Rita" on this blog last year, you can read about it here: Running from Rita

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll be hurricane-free this year..:)

Remembering the Hurricanes

Well, it's hurricane season once again, and we're quickly approaching the anniversary dates of both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. I experienced both of those in some form last year.  For Hurricane Katrina, thousands of evacuees were housed in Beaumont at Ford Park Entertainment Center and in local hotels for several weeks/months, and Interstate 10 was bumper-to-bumper with evacuee traffic for several days prior to landfall of the hurricane. I was trying to move into my duplex just after the hurricane devastated New Orleans, and ended up hiring 3 displaced evacuees to help me move.

In late September, Hurricane Rita forced me to evacuate from my home and kept me in the Houston area for 3 weeks until streets were cleared and power was restored. You can read about my evacuation journey, Running from Rita, in my blog. It all just seems like a bad dream now, and I'm sure of one thing-- it's not something I want to live through again..:)  The evacuation for this hurricane was the largest in US history--around 3.5 million people -- on an evacuation route that was equipped to handle only about 300,000.

One of my clients, Carol McClelland, has published a free e-booklet to help survivors/helpers/watchers of natural disasters deal with the anniversary of that disaster, in what's commonly referred to as an "Anniversary Reaction."  I never knew that this experience had a name until I met Carol, but I see signs of it in myself, most notably that I'm afraid to go on vacation in September or October because I don't want to be away from home if another hurricane were to strike this area.

You'll gain insights and support from this booklet, whether you:

• Experienced Hurricane Katrina personally;
• Assisted Hurricane Katrina victims;
• Helped a friend or family member during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina;
• Watched the damage of Hurricane Katrina on television; or
• Experienced a previous hurricane.

You can download your copy from Carol's site, Katrina Anniversary.

The Reconnaissance Mission

I get settled at Sean and Bethany's (thanks for taking me in!) and take a much-needed shower.  Bethany fixed a great dinner, and we settled in for the night.

I wanted to go to sleep early, as it had been quite a stressful day, and Eric and Sean and Bethany stayed up playing a game.  Sleep was eluding me, and so I was still awake when they finished the game.

We watched the 10:00 PM news and discovered that residents could get back into Orange to check on their homes.  Eric's house is in Orange.  Beaumont residents were prohibited from returning home at this time.  Eric said that he wouldn't be able to sleep until he knew about his house, so at 1 AM on Monday morning, we set off to Orange.

After we got out of Houston on I10, I got that feeling again that we were in refugee land.  There were no lights anywhere, as no one had power, and nothing was open for business.  We were just one of a handful of cars on the freeway.  It was this way for the next 80 or so miles.

We weren't able to see much damage on the freeway, other than a few damaged highway signs, and lots of vehicles left stranded on the side of the road.  As we entered the Beaumont city limits, we discovered that all the exits off the freeway into the city were blocked by DPS officers.  I guess they were serious when they said no one was permitted back into town.

We continued east to Orange, about 30 miles outside of Beaumont.  We took the exit for Eric's street, and had to proceed VERY slowly around the downed power lines, downed poles,  and downed trees.  We eventually made it to his house, and discovered, much to our relief, that it was still standing and appeared to have little damage.  One house down and one to go.  We inspected the outside of the house, and other than limbs down around the yard and a missing screen and some missing gutters, Eric's house appeared ok.  His yard had become a shingle garden, so we assumed the top layer of shingles had come off of his roof, although the roof appeared fine.  We then realized, when we found a vent in his yard that wasn't his, that the shingles must be from his neighbor's homes.

We took a look around inside, and everything seemed ok.  Eric loaded up some more stuff, as we had heard by then that it would be 2-8 weeks before power would be restored.  We then headed back toward Beaumont to try our luck there.

Upon reaching the Beaumont city limits, I decided to pull into one of the exits and talk to the DPS officer stationed there.  I discovered he knew little more than I did, as he had been brought in from the Austin area the night before and knew nothing about what was going on locally.  All he could tell me was that he couldn't let me in to get to my home.

We drove off, resigned to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to check out my house.  Just as I was about to turn toward Houston, I wanted to check out and see if the DPS officers were also blocking the exits along US 69/96.  We exited north and discovered that the DPS was very thorough -- those exits were covered as well.  At that point, I thought I was going to have to go into the next town to turn around, as I couldn't do that from the freeway.  Suddenly, I spotted an exit that wasn't being blocked by the DPS.  I guess he must've been on a bathroom break or something..:)

I asked Eric if I should take it and go to my house -- I was quickly chickening out.  He said that I should and we did.  It was really tough to see, as there were no streetlights on, and I had to be very careful of more downed trees and power lines.  About 2 minutes after exiting, we were stopped by a DPS officer, who informed us that the city was under curfew and wanted to know how we breached the security perimeter.  We didn't know about the curfew, and I played ignorant about the security perimeter, telling the officer that I had evacuated to Jasper and I wanted to get back to my house to pick up stuff and then return to Jasper and that I had simply exited where I usually did and said that I had no problem doing so.  OK, so I told a few half-truths in the process here..<g>  He then told me to go straight home and not try to leave again until the curfew was lifted at 6 AM. 

We drove another 2 minutes and saw a swarm of DPS officers in the area.  I started to freak out, and Eric said to just be calm and keep driving until we were stopped.  Sure enough, we were pulled over again by another DPS officer.  This time I was asked for ID to prove I was a Beaumont resident, and fortunately, my driver's license had the address of the place where I'd been a housesitter earlier in the summer.  I didn't have anything to prove I lived at my current location, as I'd only been there 3 weeks.  I didn't even have a lease, as my landlord had been sick and I'd never signed one.  So, I pulled out my tattered index card with my list of addresses and phone numbers for the past 2 months and said the top address was my current one and was where I was headed.  I think my story was so pathetic that it had to be true..LOL  He told us about the curfew and said that the Beaumont Police Dept. was strictly enforcing curfew and was arresting people.  I told him that this was the 2nd time we had been stopped, all I wanted to do was go home, and would he give me a personal escort so I wouldn't be stopped again?  He turned me down for the personal escort, so we were on our own once again.

We drove a bit further, and passed Wal-Mart, and was amazed that their entire parking lot was lit.  Only Wally World could pull that off when no one else could..LOL I told Eric that I wanted to hide out until the curfew lifted, as I was afraid out luck would run out and we'd be arrested, so we pulled into a damaged car wash and "went to ground", as Eric called it. It was 5:15 AM by then, and we had to hang out for 45 minutes. I kept the car on to run the AC, as the humidity had seriously reached 100% and it was hotter than hell, even at 5 AM.  The mosquitos were out in full force, and I kept talking about the irony of surviving the hurricane but dying of West Nile virus, which is carried by mosquitoes. 

Just before 6 AM, we saw all the DPS officers make a mass exodus from the street.  About 6:10 AM, we came out of hiding and proceeded to my house -- a trip that would normally only take 15 minutes or so from our current location took at least twice that.  We arrived at my house and found, to my great relief, that it was still standing and was still intact.  Not even a window was broken! I loaded up some more computer equipment and clothing, and we left Beaumont around 7 AM Monday morning.  The DPS officers were still stationed at all the exits, but no one stopped us again, and we headed back to Houston.

Life was good--both houses survived pretty intact.  Power would be off for awhile, and we'd have to find temporary lodgings, but things could be so much worse. We arrived back in Houston, slept all day, and then got up and started playing dialing for housing to find a place to live.

Around 8 PM we hit paydirt.  Extended stay hotel rooms with broadband Internet and a kitchen were in short supply, as many Hurricane Katrina evacuees were still in the Houston area.  We found a hotel in Clear Lake, south of Houston, and made a reservation for a month, just to be safe.

On Wednesday, we moved into the hotel, and I got my biz back up and running that Thursday.  Thank goodness for my virtual biz--I have friends with brick and mortar businesses who were out of business for the time being until power is restored.

I hope never to have to evacuate for a hurricane again--once was quite enough!

The Journey to Houston

I get up around 8 AM Sunday morning and begin to pack my truck for my trip to Houston.  I've called Eric to tell him that I'm on my way, and he's assured me that there are some gas stations open in Houston and that if I can get to Humble, he and his friend Sean can come and rescue me if I run out of gas.  I've only got a half tank of gas left, and there's nothing open anywhere for me to purchase gas.

I tell my sister and niece good-bye and give my best wishes to the new friends I've made at the shelter.  Eric has told me that the roads are in rough shape -- power lines are down all over, and in many places, trees are almost completely blocking the highways. It's treacherous going, but he said that if he was able to negotiate all the roadblocks at night, I should be able to handle them during the daylight hours.  I head out west of Jasper, and decide to stop in and see my mom on my way to Houston.  I am just barely able to get to her house, as the number of trees blocking the Farm-to-Market road to her house is amazing.  I find out later that the only reason the road is passable is that my cousin Steve and his neighbor Grady cut a passageway through the trees with their chain saws so that they could get out to the main highway.

I find my mom at her house, and she's about completely overwhelmed with all trees down in her yard.  She's not in the best of moods, and I tell her that I'm headed to Houston, as that is my best chance of being able to get my business back up and running.  My cousin Steve will help her with tree removal as soon as he's finished clearing the land around his house, and because my mom is staying with my aunt and uncle, so I feel pretty confident that she'll be ok.

So, off I go, and the tree dance begins.  I'm unable to go faster than 35-40 MPH because of all the downed power lines and downed trees.  I'm just amazed that Eric was able to do this at night without getting in an accident.  The roadway debris lessens about 40 miles outside of Jasper, and I'm able to pick up some speed.  The damage I see, however, is just amazing.  There's no other word for it.  I've never seen anything like this in my entire life.  And, there's little traffic on the roads, no businesses are open, and there's doesn't appear to be a soul around.  It's like everyone was lifted off the face of the earth.

As I near Livingston, I begin to see cars pulled over on the side of the road with their hoods up.  They've either run out of gas or are having engine trouble.  One family has made a sign that says, "Help us."  I don't stop -- I can't stop, as much as I might want to help these people.  I'm completely in refugee mode--what's mine is mine, and I'm not sharing.  If I stop and give away the water and food that I squirreled away for my trip, that will leave me without anything. The day is growing hotter and more humid by the moment.  And, if I offer to pick up a family to take them someplace, I have no guarantee that I'll be able to get to my destination without running out of gas.  I hate being in this situation -- I hate leaving people stranded by the road.  But leave them I do, and move on.

I arrive in Livingston, and begin to look for a gas station.  I see alot of cars at a gas station and think that they're gasing up.  When I pull in, I realize the station is closed and all of these people have just taken refuge from the heat under the roof covering the gas pump area.  False alarm.  I drive through town and realize that for 50 miles outside of Jasper, there's no gas, food or water to be had.  Now I'm really getting scared as I fully realize the magnitude of this disaster.

I decide to push forward to Houston, and attempt to get on US 59 to start this second leg of my journey.  Much to my surprise, the roadway is blocked.  Now I don't know what to do.  I see a TX DOT worker and I pull over and get out of my car to find out how to get to Houston and why the highway is blocked.  I discover that a barge has hit the Trinity River bridge and so TX DOT has shut down the highway until they can fully assess the damage to the bridge and ensure that the roadway is again safe.  The TX DOT worker tells me to stay on US 190W and pick up I45 in Huntsville.  I head out of Livingston to follow those directions and discover the traffic gridlock has already begun.

Traffic is at a complete standstill, and I have less than a half tank of gas.  The temperature is rising by the moment, and must be up around 95 degrees by 11 AM. I can see the handwriting on the wall -- if I try and leave Livingston on this route, I'm going to run out of gas before I even hit Huntsville.  Sitting out in 100 degree weather with 90% percent humidity in my car on the side of the road has no appeal for me..:)  I call Eric in a panic -- I don't know another route to get to Houston, so I see my only alternative is to return to Jasper.  I'll have enough gas to get there, but then I'll be stuck, as there's no gas to be had in the town.

Eric is out fruitlessly searching for gas cans (there are none to be had in Houston) so that he can buy some gas to put in my vehicle should I need it if he has to come and rescue me. After my panic-stricken call, he calls his friend Sean, who consults with Google maps and finds me two backroads that will help me get around the bridge and get me back on US59.  I'm in tears by this point, as the stress level has just overwhelmed me.  Sean eventually gets me to calm down so that I can accurately tell him where I am and so that he can give me directions.

I finally am able to understand the directions that Sean has given me, and set off to find these backroads.  Some others have had the same idea, but the amount of traffic is MUCH less than the gridlock on US 190W.  I'm able to make pretty good time and find these roads to be pretty clear of fallen trees, much to my relief.  On the journey, one of my clients, Lin Schreiber, reaches me on my cell phone to find out how I'm doing.  I vent to her about what's happened, and it's a great stress relief to talk to another human being..I'm not all alone!:)  Thanks, Lin!

I finally reach Cleveland, and discover that Cleveland is also a ghost town.  No one is around, and all businesses are closed.  I begin to wonder if I'm the only person left on Earth..:)  I find US 59 and head to Houston.  Little traffic is on the road, and every little town I go through is completely deserted.  It's not until I hit Humble that I see signs of life.  Gas stations that have gas.  Businesses that have power and are open.  Buildings that aren't destroyed.  I've spoken to Eric several times on the way, and he has encouraged me to stop off in Humble and grab a bite to eat.  I see that my favorite Chinese restaurant by Deerbrook Mall is open, and I pull in.

After I'm seated and order, I sit there and am overcome by emotion.  Here I am, sitting in air conditioning and being served hot food, while 120 miles to the north, and for about a 120 mile radius of Beaumont, there are desperate people who have nothing right now.  Families who are stuck on the side of the road because they've run out of gas and are sweltering in the heat.  People who decided to sit out the hurricane at home and have run out of food and water.  Evacuees in shelters who have no power, no air conditioning, no running water.  Folks who have had their homes cut in two by downed pine trees. People who have no homes left to come home to.  I want to scream at the unfairness of it all and shake these restaurant patrons out of their comfort zone into taking some helpful action to help those people that I just left.

Instead, I wait for Eric, and when he arrives, begin to cry -- again.  I try to explain to him what I'm feeling, and don't think I'm doing a great job.  I know part of what's going on is that I'm tired and completely stressed out and feel completely helpless.  Eric lets me get this out of my system and just listens patiently as I tell him what I've seen and experienced that morning. He asks what he can do for me -- what he can get me.  I just tell him that everything I need is right here -- meaning him -- and he almost starts to cry..:)

I calm down and become more clear-headed and finish my meal, and then we head to Houston to the home of his friends.  Once we've arrived in Houston, the first thing I do is get gasoline....:)

Note--All the photos in the hurricane section of this blog are courtesy of KJAS Radio, www.kjas.com in Jasper.  While I didn't take them, I'm using them to illustrate the kinds of things I saw during Hurricane Rita.

The Morning After

9:00 AM rolls around, and it's so dark that it appears to be just before dawn instead.  The wind is still blowing, but the temperature has dropped--it's probably in the 70's at this point. We're told that we're in the eye of the storm, and that there will be Round 2 of the storm after the eye passes, bringing with it 80-mile-an-hour winds. The Coast Guard permits us to go outside and start to survey the damage.  The brand-new sign that the church had just installed is missing, much to the chagrin of Pastor Lisa. Three of the vehicles in the parking lot and under the awning have broken windows, but none were flipped or destroyed.  I breathe a great sigh of relief that my CR-V is ok and that all of my business computer equipment is intact.

Amazingly enough, cell phone service through Cingular is working.  The one service I would have bet would've never survived hurricane-force winds is the only service that's working.  I'm able to call my mom and discovered that she has trees down all around her house, one on her house, and a strip of the roof that has been ripped off.  Other family members aren't so fortunate.  They have more extensive tree damage, but the homes are livable at this point, although it's hotter than hell without any electricity. And, the temperature is slated to return to our normal 100 degree days by Sunday.

We cobble together a cold lunch from the leftovers from the day before. We're still waiting to get out of the eye of the storm, and by 3 PM or so one of the Coasties has called his parents in NY, who report that the Weather Channels said the eye of the storm was at the TX-AR border. All but about 4 of the Coasties are then called back to the Beaumont area and to see what remains of their station in Sabine Pass, but they leave their families at the shelter. The remaining Coasties give us permission to return to our rooms.  Eric and I sacked out for the rest of the afternoon, although I don't sleep too well in the muggy weather.

We get up around 6 PM, and I wanted to go scout the damage in Jasper and see if anything (particularly gas stations) might be open.  We go north, south, east, and west of the center of town, and are amazed at the damage we see.  Nothing at all is open, and no one is out.  It's rather eerie.

Early in the evening, the owners of the Poco Cafe, located next to the church, start to bring over sandwich fixings that need to be used ASAP before they spoil. I volunteered to be on supper detail, as I was very restless and had too much time on my hands. We had extra mouths to feed, as a large search and rescue dive team had just arrived from the Austin area, and they were being deployed to the Beaumont area early the next morning to do search and rescue in the flooded areas.

In the middle of serving supper, Eric tells me that he's been in touch with friends in Houston who didn't evacuate (and who never lost power) and that he's headed to Houston that night.  He asks if I want to go, too, and I refuse, saying that it's silly to try and navigate at night with all the downed trees and power lines.  However, he's adamant about going, and departs around 7 PM.

I spend the rest of the evening making sandwiches for various emergency crews and talking to them as they drop into the kitchen.  By 11 PM or so, I'm dead tired and head to bed.  Eric calls to tell me he arrived safely in Houston, and wants to know if I'll join him on Sunday.  I'm still undecided, as all that is familiar to me is in Jasper, and all my family is here.  He tells me that I'm welcome at the home of his friends and that I should call if I change my mind. 

After he hangs up, I think about what he's said and realize that I've been listening to the radio all day for news of Beaumont, and none is forthcoming.  The Houston TV stations are sending reporter crews to Beaumont, as all of the Beaumont media vacated for the hurricane and none of the TV or radio stations or newspapers were back up and running. I've got more than enough Jasper information, as my brother is on the radio several times that night talking about what's going on and what people need to do if they need help.  However comforting that might be to me, it's not helping me move on with my life in Beaumont, and I have a business that I need to get up and running ASAP.  I decide then and there that I need to join Eric in Houston on Sunday.

Note--All the photos in the hurricane section of this blog are courtesy of KJAS Radio, www.kjas.com in Jasper.  While I didn't take them, I'm using them to illustrate the kinds of things I saw during Hurricane Rita.

The Arrival of Rita

Sometime later, I heard some loud noises, like glass breaking and people in the hallway.  My sister opened our door again and told us we needed to gather our stuff and get to the safe wall immediately.  Some windows had broken and water was pouring into the building. I woke Eric up and we moved from the back of the building to the middle, near the safe wall.  All of our belongings were put in one room, and all the evacuees were divided up among the available rooms near the safe wall.  We ended up in Rachel's room (with her brother, Dylan), along with my sister and niece and the family of another of the Jasper firemen.  The wind sounded much louder here, and the building was creaking louder than ever.  Quite frankly, I thought we were probably safer in the back of the building. I wasn't sure about how safe this "safe wall" was.   

I guess being in this cavernous building insulated us from hearing the noises of things being ripped up and destroyed outside.  Good thing, as that would have probably sent me over the edge..:)

Eventually having 15 people in this tiny room got too claustrophobic for me, so Eric and I got up and moved down the hall to a much larger room.  It was around 6 or 7 AM by this time, although it still felt like the dead of night.  This room had a radio in it, tuned to the local radio station, KJAS, www.kjas.com. The station owner, announcer, reporter, and chief cook and bottle washer -- Mike Lout -- had managed to stay on the air all night long.

By this time, the worst of the storm has passed, and we were now in the eye of the storm.  Mike, being the intrepid reporter that he is, felt it necessary to go out in his truck and do a live broadcast from the field to let the listeners know about the damage he encountered.  Mike ventured out on the streets of Jasper, and what he reported wasn't pretty.  Trees were down all over the place, which wasn't surprising, given that the timber industry is the primary industry in the area, and some buildings were completely destroyed, while others were untouched.  I assume that some of the building damage may have come from tornadoes, for as soon as the primary winds and rain from the hurricane passed, we were under a tornado watch for the next several hours.  That's the great thing about living in Southeast Texas--if Mother Nature doesn't get you the first time around, she creates some other natural disaster for round two..LOL

The winds were still fairly strong as Mike reported from the field, and apparently he had some very close calls with pieces of metal and debris that were whipping through the air, but managed to miss his truck as he drove around the area.  Despite the obstacles, he made his rounds of the major highways in town, and told residents (by name) as he passed their homes about the condition of their homes and business owners (by name) about the condition of their businesses.  Many of my friends have asked me if I lived in Mayberry when I lived in Jasper from 1998-2003, as everyone knows everyone else, as well as everyone else's business..LOL  It's definitely small town living at its best, with all the good, bad, and ugly that goes with it.  However, if I had to be in a town and be in trouble, as we were during Hurricane Rita, I wouldn't have wanted to be anyplace else.  It's comforting to be in a place where everyone knows your name and where the local radio station owner can broadcast live about the condition of your home because he knows where you live..:)

Note--All the photos in the hurricane section of this blog are courtesy of KJAS Radio, www.kjas.com in Jasper.  While I didn't take them, I'm using them to illustrate the kinds of things I saw during Hurricane Rita.

The Waiting Begins

Before it became dark, I had gone outside and the weather had changed dramatically.  The sky was overcast and full of clouds, and the wind was beginning to blow.  The waiting period began.  During the day we had heard that the storm was shifting slightly and was no longer coming in at Galveston but was headed for Sabine Pass, and then later we heard in might actually come ashore in Cameron, LA.  The big fear was that wherever it made landfall, a 20' storm surge of water would follow and take out whatever was in its path.  We didn't want that storm surge to hit us.

The Coasties had us move our vehicles up on the sidewalk against the building.  I was quite glad of that, as one big gust of wind would flip my Honda CR-V, and as my entire business was in my car (there was no room to bring my computer and office stuff inside), I crossed my fingers and just hoped and prayed that my vehicle wouldn't sustain any damage and be there in the morning.

Later that night I managed to grab a shower (it was the last one I had for a few days <g>) and we divided up the rooms again.  Just as I suspected, my brother and sister-in-law and the other fireman and his wife weren't coming to the shelter that night, so Eric and I got one of the rooms to ourselves and my sister and niece got the other one.  Eric had brought his portable DVD player, and we found a movie in the TV room and settled in our room to watch a movie.

About an hour after we finished the movie and had gone to bed, the power went out.  I think this was around 1 AM Saturday morning or so.  The fun was just beginning..:)  A short time later my sister (who volunteered to be in charge of the EOC volunteers at the shelter) knocked on the door saying that we needed to move the extra mattresses from our room for the 26 EMT's who had just arrived from the Tuscon, AZ, and Las Cruces, NM area.

I was trying to go back to sleep but wasn't having much luck. Having no light was creepy, and the room was heating up by the minute without any air conditioning. Eric was snoring away, completely oblivious to the storm brewing outside (I plan on teasing him forevermore about the fact that he can sleep through anything--including a hurricane <g>).  I could hear the wind picking up and the building begin to creak and started to get pretty anxious.  We were in a room composed completely of cinderblocks, so I was fairly confident that we'd be ok, short of the losing the roof, but only being able to hear the wind and noises outside and not being able to see anything, and it being pitch black to boot, was only adding to my anxiety.   

It was only a matter of time before we'd get the full brunt of the hurricane...

Note--All the photos in the hurricane section of this blog are courtesy of KJAS Radio, www.kjas.com in Jasper.  While I didn't take them, I'm using them to illustrate the kinds of things I saw during Hurricane Rita.

Getting Settled In

My sister, niece, Eric and I checked in at the Community Church with Jen, who I learned later was a member of the Sabine Pass Coast Guard. The entire Coast Guard unit at Sabine Pass TX, had evacuated to Jasper to help out, as they expected the storm to hit them pretty hard.  I later learned that the Coast Guard connection came through the pastor of Community Church, Lisa Ellermann, whose husband is a member of the Coast Guard.  The Sabine Pass crew had many of their boats in the parking lot, and had all of their family members with them.  They wanted to do what they could to help out in the aftermath of the storm.

We got our room assignments, and it was going to be tight. My sister, niece, Eric and I were slated to be in one room, along with my sister's two cats from hell, and my sister-in-law's cat.  I'm not a cat lover, nor do I play one on TV..<g>...this was going to be a long evacuation..LOL.  My brother, sister-in-law, and another fireman and his wife were assigned to our second room.  However, we really didn't expect my brother and sister-in-law to leave the fire station -- I assumed they would probably stay there for the duration, and Bob, the other fireman, works full-time at the wastewater treatment plant, and the city had made provisions for them to stay there for the duration.  But, we set up a room for them just in case.

We immediately got assigned mattress duty, which meant that we were taking mattresses from the sanctuary of the church into individual rooms.  Sarah, my niece, expertly showed us the best way to carry the mattresses (on our backs) to the various rooms.  The Coast Guard then made the decision to fill every empty container (trash cans, coolers, etc.) with water for flushing toilets, washing dishes, etc. after the storm hit.  The church had several little red wagons that we used to fill the containers, and it was during this job that I met 10-year old Rachel, the daughter of one of the Coasties, as the Coast Guard crew came to be known. I was ineptly trying to fill and move these very large containers with water, and Rachel made several great suggestions on how to do it more effectively.  I told her that was why she got paid the big bucks..LOL

Rachel was true trooper during this ordeal.  She went around the building and created a map noting who what in what room, and then wore a sign saying, "Hi!  My name is Rachel, and I'm here to help!"  You just gotta love a kid with this much enthusiasm...she was a joy to be around.

By early afternoon I was growing hungry, and followed my nose to the kitchen, where Joan was cooking up red beans and rice.  Joan was a Katrina evacuee who wasn't able to return to her home in New Orleans (the roof was missing from her home) and Pastor Lisa had permitted her and her daughter to remain at the church and help out.  Joan is a lovely mother of 15 with amazing stories to tell and who makes the best bread pudding I've ever had in my life.  She says she got the recipe while working in a restaurant owned by a member of the New Orleans mob...:). 

The Coastie wives got assigned to kitchen duty, and I also got to meet Natalie (Rachel's mom), Tara (whose husband had been shipped to Corpus Christi for the storm), and Kelly (who had her hands full with her 8 month old son).  They were just amazing people that I would have never had to privilege to know had I not had to evacuate. 

Joan and Tara fed us a great meal of red beans and rice and sausage and bread pudding.  Pastor Lisa then called a group meeting so that we could see who was in charge and learn about what was going to happen when the storm hit.  Earlier in the day, the Coast Guard had determined what wall was the structure-bearing wall and had named that area the "safe wall".  We were instructed that during the night, should the church be breached by the storm, that we should evacuate to the safe wall and await further orders (notice how I'm picking up on this military jargon <g>).  Eric then volunteered to be laundry boy and man the washers and dryers for anyone who wanted to drop off laundry.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the back room doing laundry for the Coasties (I'll refrain from saying who wears the Speedo thong underwear <g>) and hanging out talking with Joan and Tara and others.  This area was the youth area, and the church had set up couches and pool tables and fooz ball tables and arcade video games.  It was here that I met Pastor Lisa's dad, David Berkheimer, of the Community Church in Orange, www.communitychurchorange.com. It turns out that Pastor David lives in the same neighborhood as Eric, and at one time had lived just a few doors down from where Eric now lives.  It's a small world, isn't it??  Pastor David and his new wife engaged in several killer games of pool while Eric and I visited with other evacuees.

The Coastie wives fixed dinner, having roasted 26 frozen chickens that had been donated, so we had a great chicken dinner later that night. That was our last warm meal at the shelter....

Note--All the photos in the hurricane section of this blog are courtesy of KJAS Radio, www.kjas.com in Jasper.  While I didn't take them, I'm using them to illustrate the kinds of things I saw during Hurricane Rita.