Hurricane Ike=long days, long hours and a long recovery

September 13th, 2008 at 03:38pm rochelle 35

Hello all from Texas. I am currently waiting out my third hurricane in three weeks...this one being IKE. Lots of rain and wind. I am working sheltering for the American Red Cross and just a little over 2 weeks ago while working Hurricane Gustav most of my clients were from the town of Beaumont and I remember the first time I encountered the residents from Beaumont. I was sent to oversee evacuation shelters in Kilgore Texas during Hurricane Gustav, and at one of the shelters as I stepped to chat with the American Red Cross staff a young African-American girl tapped my leg and stated "I made this for you" and she handed me a blue cross made out of foam paper with a heart glued to it and sprinkled with gold sparkles.

I asked her if she would sign her name on the back of the cross and she did her name is "LeMonica" and I believe she was 6 years old. While managing the shelters in Kilgore I learned much about the residents of Beaumont; many had been laid off from the refinery's and were eager to find work; most we're on public assistance; the Beaumont community was close knit; and we had numerous families at out shelter that included great grandparents and great grand children. Every day a handful of kids would come up to me and tap me on my leg and ask "Will you play with me?"..and of course I did. Being in a shelter 24 hours a day you learn allot about a community and if you do it right you become part of the community. When it was time to load the return busses home I received numerous hugs from the residents of Beaumont and many of the residents kept inviting me over for BBQ at their homes in Beaumont stating "Come for BBQ-and know we have a place for you to sleep". Now it's 2 and 1/2 weeks later and most of the Beaumont residents are back in evacuation shelters and are watching the weather channel learning that many will not have a home to return to.

As I type search and rescue missions are happening in the state of Texas as many residents decided not to evacuate and the number unaccounted for, as of this moment, could be in the thousands. From my experience working numerous disasters I will say this...the state of Texas was well prepared for what was coming and many communities have partnered with the American Red Cross in helping out with sheltering residents. I have visited numerous communities in the past few days for pre-land fall prep and everyone I have chatted with in the communities have been eager to roll up their sleeves and help out...as when the storm passes we all know it will be long days, long hours and a long recovery.

To become an American Red Cross volunteer and/or to donate money to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief fund log onto www.redcross.org

Entry Filed under: Snowmass, Travel, United Post

3 Comments Add your own

1. DrTerrie Modesto | September 14th, 2008 at 8:58 am

Thank you so much for sharing your experience as an emergency shelter care provider and offering support to those who are dealing so much with the challenges of a major hurricane event. Many individuals throughout Texas are facing the uncertainties as a result of Hurricane Ike. Those who have evacuated often are now anticipative grief issues of not knowing what is facing them individually, as families as well as a community.

Learning that there is significant damage in the Beaumont Texas area is so heart breaking. We as humans do not do well with the vacuum of not knowing. When we are faced with the uncertainty of a major disaster, and there is little specific information that we have concerning our own personal life situation, often we will start to fill in the gaps of real information with speculation. We often develop images in our mind as to what the situation may be like. It is like the child who hears a bump in the night ad creates in their mind a monster in the closet. We have to try to explain to ourselves what is happening even when we don’t know. The same is true for those who are disaster victims and who have not been able to go back to see their personal home and community. This can be a very terrifying time for them.

Thank you so much for all the help and support you are giving at the various emergency shelters. The simplest of things like playing with the children and listening to the life stories and their fears, loss and grief of your shelter residents is so important in their disaster recovery process.

Dr. Terrie Modesto, PhD, author of Train For A Hurricane is an international expert in dying, death, loss and critical incident individual and community disaster preparation and response with 20+ year’s experience. She has over 60 courses, books and training manuals to her credit and is available for consulting, lectures and interviews. Website: www.trainforahurricane.com Blog: www.hurricane-prepared-ness.blogspot.com
2. B Jon Traylor | September 17th, 2008 at 9:17 am

Thank you for sharing that. I especially was touched by the little girl making the blue foam cross with a heart on it for you. That just shows the love and tender spirit children have, even when their parents, friends and families are facing the worst of times.
Athough very much happily entrenched here in Colorado, I'm very proud to be a Texan. I've been away for 10 years now, but still very much a Texan. I've been to that region many times, on fishing expeditions, to hang with friends from college that hailed from that region, and my first job out of college was off-shore and along the Texas Coast in that very same region... Beaumont, Texas City, Bay City, Galveston, Port of Houston, Port Aransas, Louisiana ports, etc. My heart goes out to those people, and my respect goes out to you and the thousands of others doing what they can to help. God Bless!
3. rochelle | September 24th, 2008 at 6:50 pm

Thanks for the comments! I have been working 20 hour days and I did not have the opportunity to read your comments until now. So again-THANKS!
I just finished managing a shelter in Arlington and I currently am doing laundry and packing as in the morning I head to Houston to manage a mega shelter-should be interesting. I also have a 83 year old great uncle that stayed in Houston and I will catch up with him to make sure he is well-we've been talking on the phone the past few weeks-anyway again thanks for the thoughts and encouragement!! -Rochelle