Since it rained yesterday, it cooled off and I was able to get to sleep by 10pm. I awoke to the steeple and moon all in my view from the window. But because of the rain you could sense this added heavyness in the air. While out and about our site last night, I was attacked by the “no seeums”. My ankles itched like mad. Noseeums are almost like mosquitos, but they are so small you can’t see them. Hence the name. We were off to the COH site for breakfast before our meeting.
I started in a position at station 4 as the ‘water boy’. Things were going pretty well for most of the morning. A lot of the water that came in today came from Miller breweries. They came in cases of glass bottles. They were heavy! Sometimes as I was dropping water or other supplies in the back or trunk of vehicles, I would see cases of beer or groceries. This made me wonder how many abusers of the situation were out there. I had an altercation with a man who wanted more than what we could give him. I told him he could come back through the line again if he needed to. He thought that was quite absurd as there were skids of ice and water behind me. He didn’t understand that we needed to maintain order in chaos. I can understand. People react differently in emergency situations.
Some of the N.A.P.S. kids went out by the entrance to the line with their band instruments. There were mostly drums, and a few intruments. They played beats similar to a drum and bugle corp. It lightened the spirits of those comming in, and made it much easier to work in the heat. I don’t really know how they did it. It was hot out. Real hot. They played into the early afternoon hours.
Mike had got assigned to handle ‘walk-ups’. Thats exactly what it means. Some clever people try to out do the other vehicles waiting in line, by parking their car close by and walking in. They were easy to straighten out. It went a little something like this: “Hi. Where did you park your car?”. They would answer. And of course, this also was the evidence they were trying to cheat because they answer the question usually meant they had a car. There were some legitimate walkups. Bicycles too. It was hard to load up their bikes, in a way they could still manage to balance. We told them to come back through if they needed to. I would imagine that by the time they got home it was half melted.
Toward the late afternoon I was getting much too heated. Trouble cooling down again. Both the N.A.P.S. and the Texas relief team left. I never got to say goodbye to some of them. I really became attached to a few. Andrea a nurse from the Detroit area. What a sweet soul she is. I enjoyed a 45minute conversation with her. Because of the volunteers leaving we had to shorten the line to 3 stations, and restructure to handle the volunteers that we did have. I took a 40 minute break. Then I went out to make sure the remaining volunteers were drinking the water they needed to. I was also giving breaks to whoever needed one.
During the day, some reporters showed up from the Bangor Daily News. A newspaper out of Maine. The reporters name is Meg and photographers name is Gabor. They asked questions and took pictures. It was odd having conversation as the shutter shound would go click click click click. The 1st photo on this page was when I was conversing with Gabor. They were both waiting to get press clearance to speak with the military. He went on to explain that if regular citizens would say hello to a troop, he would reply in kind. However If you are from the press, you get a stone cold face in return. They are not allowed to speak to the press. While Gabor and Meg were waiting (over a half day) they were moved to help us helping others. I didn’t get time to speak with Meg. I did get to speak with Gabor as he was helping my station break down boxes. He’s really a neat guy.
It was 4 in the afternoon. I replaced a traffic woman who was directing traffic out in the street. It was about 100 yards from the line. I was a little nervous being out in the open like that. Since we had the water and ice. I did have a CB radio, and a cooler a few feet away from me. I had been drinking the suggested amounts of water and gatorade, but that pavemnet was getting the best of me. a 106 heat index, and add the pavement to it. I have no idea how she did this all day. My job was to slow and stop vehicles in the left lane, and ask them if they were getting in line for the ice and water. If they weren’t, suggest they get in the right lane so they could get through. If they were, then encourage them that they came to the right place. So many people.
This is where the front line of the line was. This is where the faces were full of worry and sweat. By the time I would see them in the line, they had been blessed and lightened up. On the beginning of the line, the worry on their faces was indescribable. There were a few who chatted with me briefly. I think most could see how this Wisconsin boy was not from around there. Troop carriers (full of troops) and police officers would drive by and politely see that I got a wave. I would shout ‘thank you’ to them. A heartfelt thank you, for keeping us safe. They were waving a heartfelt thanks for keeping them watered.
Many drivers asked me where they could get fuel. I had to explain I had no idea because I wasn’t from the area. Most of them were asking about diesel fuel in particular. I’m only guessing that there was a need for the work trucks, as well as for generators that were diesel powered.
By now the first half hour had sunburned my calves. Some drivers would encourage me. I remember the minivan that stopped. She said, “Oh honey you look sooo hot. Your’ not from around here. Where are you from?”. I replied as upbeat as I could be, “Wisconsin maam”. She said, “Are you thirsty baby? Here. This is some of the finest water we have.” She hands me a glass from the console of her car, loaded to the top with half melted ice, and ‘water’. Now in the past few days of people helping people, I became used to good deeds by many people. Including strangers. So I took a slow sweeet pull on it. Before I knew it I was choking on myself. It was alcohol something or another. Just what I needed! Some dehydration! I laughed at my naiveness. She laughed too at my reaction. Her intention was good. She realized I was caught off guard. We both laughed about it, and I moved her on. Too funny!
The heart grabber was the smaller old car that asked me if this was the line for the ice and water. There were 2 women in the front seat. You could tell this car did not have air conditioning. In the back seat lay a child, no more than 2, face down on the vinyl seat. Her back was pooled with sweat. I don’t mean little beads. I’m talking a puddle. There was no where to go. On the line I could step away for a moment and someone would fill in the slot. Here, I couldn’t leave the road. I swear you could almost hear an audible *gulp*, as I choked down the emotion in my heart.
At 5:00 it was closing time. I think word was getting out, or people were getting used to it. The past few days there had been quite a few people to turn away. I hated that part. No problems today. On the other hand, I was baked. The walk across the parking lot seemed like miles. My breathing bacame very heavy. I was starting to get dizzy. The nearest tent was so close, yet so far away. I sloppily grabbed a gatorade from a cooler as I walked by it. I plopped/fell down alongside the Hobby Lobby. I was still trying to just breath, and the exhaustion, the heat, and all the emotions choked back for the week came to a peak. This is wear it all came out. I spent a good 40 minutes there. Lynn came over to see what was wrong. She is a nurse and thought I looked much too hot. Then she realized what was going on. She told me that I wasn’t the only one. That her and some others had a ‘blubberfest’ the night before as well. I finally gathered myself up and made it to the mess tent.
Bratwurst baby! A little taste of home. We brought them because we didnt know if we’d be feeding ourselves or not. Gilbert cooked them up nicely! On the way back to the church, John gave a us a little tour to take more pictures. What an unbelieveable sight. (I think my camera was switched with someone elses. I don’t have most of the pictures I took). He told us a story how he went to get one of our campers tortion bars fixed. The repair man smiles as John and Kim entered the shop. The man had remembered Kim, as one that prayed with him in the line the day before. He was so happy and excited to see us. He couldn’t fix it, but knew where we could get it done and he was happy to hook us up.
I got to take a welcomed cold shower by the usual flashlight. The church was beginning to smell now. You could smell it as soon as you opened the doors. Still a warzone. Drifting off to sleep with helicopters thumping overhead with huge searchlights scanning the area. I’m guessing it’s about 90 now. Did I mention how sticky it was…
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October 12th, 2005 at 7:00 am
Hurrican Relief Experience Day 5
Hurrican Relief Experience Day 5
October 12th, 2005 at 11:23 am
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October 12th, 2005 at 9:40 pm
^Lestat, I enjoy the katrina experience write up. thank you.