AnnIme: September 2005

Galveston: It was about 11:20 PM on Tuesday, September 19,2005, We saw on television, that Hurricane Rita was projected to hit
Galveston Island, so we decided to leave quickly that night. We thought we were being smart getting out ahead of the crowds because we were sure there would be a mandatory evacuation the next day. We decided to drive to Silsbee, Texas, by the back roads; going over the Bolivar Ferry and up Bolivar Peninsula. We drove up the Seawall to the Ferry Landing to see how the traffic was at the Ferry and inquire when the Ferries would be departing that night. The man at the Ferry told us the next vessel boarding was at 11:45 PM.

We sped back home to pack a few things. We
had done some packing, gotten some cash and filled up the gas tank earlier in the day; so all we had to do was grab the
dog. We took with us only a few clothes, insurance papers,
family photos and Pagnol our sweet little spotted dog. There were hardly any vehicles on the Bolivar Ferry and the traffic was Almost nil going up the length of the Bolivar Peninsula. We stopped in Winnie for drinks and I thought about filling up the car but then decided we were too tired and we could get gas in Silsbee -
(ha!).

Unfortunately, we decided to evacuate to my son’s home and so we drove to Silsbee, Texas. Silsbee, Texas, is a very small town of about 7,000 people in Hardin County near the county seat of Kountze, Texas. Silsbee is about 15 miles north of Beaumont, Port Arthur is about 25 miles, Orange is about 30 miles and Vidor is about 25 miles.

We arrive in Silsbee at about 2:20 AM on Wednesday, my son, Sean was still up to greet us and then we all went to bed.

On Wednesday early afternoon, we all woke up. My son did not
have his TV working because he was expecting the cable
people to come and hook up a new set-up with a DVR
that day (they never showed up, of course); there
was not a radio working in the house either. We kept reading the
news on the internet while we were running in and out
trying to line up food, water, ice and so forth.
Wednesday night we saw that the hurricane was moving
toward Louisiana and so we were not too worried.

On Thursday morning the internet was saying Hurricane
Rita would come in to Sabine Pass. Mandatory
Evacuations of Houston, and many Northern counties was
ordered. Frankly, I thought this ridiculous as North
of Beaumont has never flooded or had much problem with
Hurricanes outside of loss of electricity for up to a
couple of weeks.

Jenna remarked that there had been no birds around for two days. The dogs had also been extremely jumpy prior to the storm.

We went around town trying to try to find gasoline thinking we could evacuate but the pumps were all emptied dry. We had no way out.

We quickly went to the one big grocery store in town.
Basically, we bought all the bottled water we could load
into the car. People in the store were nice but there
was a general sort of controlled panic. There was no
ice and the sodas, juice and drinks were cleaned out
totally except for a few diets drinks, which we bought.

I got the idea to go to the town's one liquor store to
try to get ice, which there were a couple of bags
left and we got them. I also had the idea if we got
some cases of beer (even though none of us really
drink beer) that we could drink it in a pinch if the
water ran out. I also reckoned beer is somewhat
nourishing and would keep you hydrated if need be.

My son went to the Wal-Mart. He was able to get a
Coleman camping lantern and a Coleman burner
(that can boil water or heat up food) both run on
white gas or regular gasoline. They had two cans of
white gas left. We also found some canned sterno heat
and we got that and all the candles we could find.
He got also two Coleman five day coolers, that really
did eventually keep ice and things cool for over five days.

Back at home we took stock of what we had and
organized it all. Jenna cleaned the bath tubs so we
could fill them with water. I filled every vessel I
could find with water too. Sean found a huge 30-gallon
galvanized tub we had used to bathe the dogs and we
cleaned it out and put water in it as well. Then
Jenna had the bright idea of emptying these huge
Rubbermaid plastic storage bins and filling them with water. I will never again be without these storage bins because they are
perfect for water and they have hinged tops too. Also, if you have to float out of your home you can float a small pet or a young child in one as people were doing during the storm siege of New Orleans and they do keep things dry in the water and also hold water very well.

So, in the end, we probably had about 100+ gallons of tap
water and about 30 gallons of drinking water.

On Friday we all went into survival mode. I was thinking cooked food will keep longer, so we organized all the food and we cooked as many things as we could, so we could just heat it up on the Coleman burner or eat it cold. I cooked familiar Souther foods that last without cooling: cornbread, biscuits, jambalaya, red beans and rice - large portions of rice. Jenna baked a huge pan of brownies and they were really good for keeping the spirits up during the storm.

Sean bathed both dogs to keep things smelling better in the house.

We had found a meat market open that morning. We got 10
pounds of sausages, some chlorine bleach (for
sanitation and also purifying water if need be).
Michel and Sean fired up the smoker and smoked a bunch
of meats and the sausages.

We packed the freezer with plastic containers filled with water to make more ice, as well. In the back bathroom, I found an old container of baby wipes we had used when Sean had his surgery. They were dried
up but I reconstituted them with water and later they came in very handy for washing.

So, at this point we had plenty of food, water, which we reckoned would last us about 3 or 4, possibly 5 days. We also raided the emergency kits from our cars to see what was in them and have them on hand. I had a large bottle of antibiotic I had obtained from a doctor friend who lives in Mexico and there were other medicines. We had, as well, the prescription another doctor friend in Louisiana had sent me for dysentery (which Jenna eventually got on the third day after the storm).

The whole town of Silsbee was shut down by 10 am on Thursday morning. A lot of people evacuated but also a lot of people could not
because there was no gasoline. There were no
hotels to be had and no shelters either so whomever was left in Silsbee was forced to sit tight in their home or apartment and ride-out the hurricane.

Frankly, I have to tell you I would not go into a shelter after
watching the horrifying time the people of New Orleans
had in the Superdome and the Convention Center, so it is probably just as well there were not any shelters in our area.

Sean got out two pistols, ammunition, the shotguns, knives and (his pride and joy)the Samurai Sword (of course he was brandishing it about).
Jenna made herself a utility belt to hold a knife,
pistol, flash light, lighter, and can opener. At 5’ 11”, She
looked like Amazon soldier woman and she was even in
fatigues. I thought she was being quite clever and looking very avant garde and smart. I tried to compliment her by calling her “Amazon woman” but instead I hurt her feelings and she almost wept because she said she was always called that as a young teen. She said she feels that she is a tall dorky ugly duckling. To me she has looks and height a high fashion model would die for and she has a better figure than most of them. Later, I will try to address her issues but now we have to fight the impending storm.

Sean made a utility belt too and shoved the
pistol down his pants (which naturally led to me
make jokes about shooting his appendage off).

I really tried to get Jenn and Sean to pose for a photos in their combat gear with the brownies and the samurai
sword but they would not do; so I begged them and they
told me “hell no!” It's too bad, because it would have
been the hysterical photo of the decade. "We are Texans, here have a
brownie for suvival but touch our dawg and we slice
you with our Samurai sword or shoot you with the
pistolas”. We were all laughing taking in the humor of the
situation; Sean and I are clowns anyway and we play
off each other so there was a lot of laughing.

Michel was frantically sending emails to his friends
and his family in France, London, and Europe with our phone numbers. Unbeknownst to me, he had also written the BBC and given then my cell phone number – more about that
later.

Jenna announced she wanted to know who would get voted
off the Island first (as if we were on the Survivor
show). It was so funny I almost peed my pants and
asked if the dogs got a vote.

We were still hoping at that juncture that the cable
people would come install the box so we could watch
the news, but although they had promised to come -
they did not.

Sean found and old boom box in the garage and Jenna
went on a search for batteries. We gathered all the
stuff together.

Lynn (Sean's friend, who is my age, whom I knew back in
the early 70's when he returned from Vietnam) called
and wanted Sean to come get his generator and try to
fix it. LET ME SAY AT THIS POINT I HOPE TO ALWAYS
HAVE A GENERATOR FROM NOW ON FOREVERMORE. So, Sean
picked up the generator and fixed it and we had it in
the garage.

We had a red plastic gas can filled with gasoline too, but it wasn’t enough to get us anywhere to evacuate.

We were very busy with everything into the evening and
when darkness began to fall the winds started and
there were a few drops of rain.

Jenn suggested I watch s DVD of the Greg the Bunny
series that was on HBO. It was cute but I was not
enthused, nevertheless I watched them all.

At one point Sean was standing beside me and I dropped
the remote so I asked him to pick it up for me. I
said , "I dropped the remote and I can't pick it up".
He started laughing and this led to him making a photo
on Photoshop of me with a remote saying the line like
the elderly lady on TV ads who says, "Help, I fell
down and I can't get up".

The Jenna suggestion I watch the Firefly series that
had been shown on HBO for one season only, back in
2001. It's a kind of science fiction, cowboy pirate
thing with a bunch of space shipping mercenaries (who are
also bandits) on their own little space ship(that is
very fast and not made anymore called a Firefly)
taking cargoes and passengers throughout the galaxy
and doing robbery and salvage jobs too (not
necessarily legal actions). The name of the ship is
"Serenity". Usually, I am not keen on science fiction (in fact I actually abhor the stuff) but I enjoyed the Firefly series now and want
to see the rest. There are 12 episodes and there is a new movie made of it but it's just being released in a limited way.

So, we had two computers, a laptop and a network.
Everyone was on the computers sending emails, reading survival techniques and I was watching movies.

Then the winds got somewhat high and at 9:05PM on Friday,
the wind struck a tree, which fell on a transformer
right beside the house. It was eerie because all this
green light flashed around as the tree bounced three
times on the lines and the electricity went on and off
and finally off permanently. So, we are not sure what
is damaged in the house by the power surges.

It was all downhill from that point. We lit the lamp
and the candles and talked for a time. I told them all
if they heard the sound of a freight train it was a
tornado and they needed to run into the bathrooms or
closets, anywhere without windows. Sean said, to go behind the huge chimney that runs in the middle of the house (there is a hall behind the chimney with no windows and he thought it was the strongest
part of the house).

Sean, ever the clown, then piped in and said, "Mom, if
we hear a freight train it might just be because the
railroad round house is across the street just down
the road and we hear freight trains all the time". We
all had a good belly laugh on that one and from then
on "hearing the freight train" became the catch phrase
for much laughter and joking. I know this does not
translate that humorously on paper but believe me it
was riotous to us at that time.

Jenna was a nervous wreck and we were all trying to
calm her finally she went to bed with her shoes on her feet so she could jump up and act fast if a tornado blew the roof off. We have always thought she could sleep through a tornado and now we do know this is officially true.

One by one Jen, Sean, and Michel went to bed. I stayed up sitting in
my Mom's old recliner chair with Pagnol, the dog, and a flash light in my lap. I was praying and listening for the sound of the freight train so I could alert everyone if the sound came too close.

Before the storm hit Sean had gone around to all the neighbors to see who stayed and who was gone. This is so we can know if someone was looting or whatever. After the storm people were walking around dazed or driving down our road and seeing the tree down across the road they were having to turn around to go back.

Anyway, Dolf (the Rottweiler) was sleeping with Jenn and Sean in one bedroom. Michel was on the big king size bed in another bedroom, while I was in living room sitting in the recliner chair with Pagnol. At a certain point I got up to get a drink and check on everyone with my flashlight. I noted that Dolf had serruptitiously climbed in bed with Michel (something Michel would have protested vigorously under any other circumstance) but they were sleeping closely like little babies for that moment.

I dared not look out the window. As we sat in the recliner we heard all sorts of things hitting the house through the night; some sounded quite loud. I could here the wind ruffling under the shingles of the roof and slapping them about. I fully expected the roof to blow off any minute. The pressure from outside made air either woosh up the chimey or else suck it down. Around 3 am water started to drip from the big beam in front of the fireplace about mid-room. It was dripping from a few places in the ceiling and falling on the ceiling fan underneath, then disbursing to all points like a fountain before it landed on the carpet, couch and chairs in kind sprinkling way. Michel woke up and came in the living room. We I told him the roof was leaking, he emptied a big cooler and put it under the area. Next day there were about 4 inches of dirty water in the cooler but the carpet and furniture got wet anyway because of the fountain spray effect.

My friend Ruth, in Houston, was calling me every few hours throughout the night of the hurricane, as she watched the TV for developments.

Michel and I tried to look out the windows but all we saw was white fuzziness whizzing around like a Mixmaster; much like you see on TV when there is no reception. Michel tried to get me to come to bed but I could not sleep, so he went back to sleep sans Dolf the dog whom he has shooed into the other bedroom.

I sat up all night. I was praying and saying the Lord's Prayer and what I could remember of the rosary (I am not Catholic but I learned to say the rosary at a certain time in my life and it has often comforted me in times of trouble).

At a certain point it things started to fall down on the roof, it sounded like the bricks were being pummeled out of the chimney. Later we would find several loose bricks on top of the roof. We think these were bricks from the grocery store that a tornado picked up and dropped on our roof. The roof would heave, groan and shudder, air would suck in and out of the chimney beside me like a billows. In the garage, the wooden door to the eaves attic was slapping up and down as the air pressure outside toyed with the house. I was almost certain we were going to lose the roof and I was praying we were going to be safe.

Things were flying about and hitting the house. All night, I kept hearing the "freight train" sound all around us in the distance but it did not come close enough for me to waken and alarm the others. Later we were all amazed how many tornadoes wrecked the town, tore apart the big brick grocery store, toppled a church steeple, and decimated the Dairy Queen.

All I could do was keep praying and hugging the little dog who was sound asleep in my lap.

Finally, about 5:30 am it started to quiet down; I was just too tired and I crawled into bed with Michel, putting Pagnol in the bed with us.

At about 7:15 AM my cell phone rang. It was a woman saying she was with the BBC in London and she wanted to speak with Michel. He shot right up and suddenly went into journalist reporter mode. We went outside. There was an eerie silence and the sky was a dull neon sort of gray with an unusual pale yellowish greenish glow - it was suspiciously calm.

Michel (ever the journalist) was telling the BBC woman about what he was seeing and that he used to work with the BBC in London when he was a foreign correspondent.

The scene was truly bizarre: trees down everywhere, limbs, branches, and leaves covered the ground and the cars (which were miraculously unscathed). The tall azalea bushes (my Father had planted in front of the house) that Sean let grow wildly up to the roof, had protected the front door and some of the windows, because many tree limbs were stuck in them like projectile missiles. There were some loose bricks sitting atop the roof and also some big limbs.

The poor squirrels were frozen spread eagled clawing into and clinging to the trees for their lives. I guess this is how they were forced to ride out the storm. There were still no birds anywhere to be seen.

The neighbor on the right had a huge oak tree that uprooted hitting their fence and covered patio but it did not damage the house. The neighbor across the street has a big screened in porch and the screens were all loosely waving in the breeze, having been ripped out by the winds. Behind their house another uprooted tree had hit a storage shed on Miss Kitty's property.

In our side yard a whole stand of young oak trees (about 30 years old) planted in a row on our property line, were all uprooted in a huge clump with long tap roots clawing at the air and black dirt exposed to the light. In our back yard our largest of our oak trees, that bordered the street side, was also uprooted laying across the lot barely missing the house.

My Father’s beloved Persimmon trees were standing twisted and bent like old Japanese mud men, they were almost denuded of branches with the ripening persimmons strewn all over the ground like green and orange mushrooms.

The roof of our storage shed was torn off and split apart in the yard with part of it in the neighbor’s yard across the street. Sean's wonderful roll top antique desk was (for some reason) in the shed and I am sure it is also ruined.

I went in and woke the kids. As they came out to look, I was cautioning everyone not to walk around because power lines were down on the ground everywhere. It was then we saw the enormous oak tree across the road just above the house and we knew what happened to the electrical transformer.

Sean and Jenn were like commandoes they came out all gangbusters with their weapons but the sight of the utter and complete devastation made them drop their jaws. As we took the sights in suddenly Jenna turned to me and said, "Ann, is it over", which jarred me back into reality. I had to suck in my breath, look about and I knew we were in the Eye of the hurricane. So, I had to tell them it was not over, we were in the eye. I knew it was the Eye because in 1954 we got caught in Silsbee during our vacation (I think it was) during hurricane Alice and the eye passed over us. My Daddy had taken me outside to explain about the eye of a hurricane and also that the back of the storm would come back again; but it was not going to be as bad as the front. I was only 8 years old but I never forgot that day or what my Father has taught me. So, I explained to them the storm would come back but it would not nearly be as bad and, in fact, that is what happened.

A young black dog with Rottweiler – Doberman markings came around the yard. We tried to feed him and give him water but he was too skittish and he ran away. You can only imagine what the poor dog had been through in the night.

So, the morning of September 24th we mostly wandered around the perimeter of our lot, trying to untangle limbs, collect debris. I finally went into the house to sleep while the others were busy trying to clear the limbs, take photos and check on friends and family. Later we found that we had about the only telephone working in Hardin County. Sean and Jen’s cell phones were dead because the towers were knocked down. I have a Houston based cell phone and it worked – as long as it held a charge.

At this point I have to note that the temperatures were not hot on the 24th and it was tolerable in the house without the air conditioning or fans, but as the evening wore on the temperature became warmer so that by the time it turned dark; it was down right hot. Sean fired up the little generator, plugged in a big fan and lamp; it was like heaven. We heated up some black-eyed peas and rice on the Coleman burner and had that for dinner with some cold cornbread. We all sat in front of the fan and talked - wondering at what we had seen and then we put one fan on each bedroom and went to bed.

On Sunday, September 25th, we woke and the sun came out. The birds returned to chirp and fly about. Already, in the morning it was becoming really hot and eventually the temperature rose to 102F. We were all in the garage that day because we could raise the big front doors and open the side door; thereby creating a nice draft. Lynn came over and took back the generator Sean had repaired and he also "borrowed" several gallons of gasoline that Sean had to siphon out of one our the cars and then (with enormous chutzpah) he asked to borrow our fan and Sean (often being too nice for his own good) gave it to him too.

As soon as the fan was gone it became intolerable and the heat was about 101 degrees. The poor dogs were miserable. I sponged Pags down with water but Sean, in some distended disoriented fog, told me not to wet Dolf down because he would stink. Poor Dolf was miserable and I felt very sorry for him.

So, we were sitting around the garage trying to cool off. I had the baby wipes pressing them to my skin and also I wet down several paper towels and told everyone to use them to dampen their skin.

I said to everyone, “you know maybe we really died in the storm and this is Hell”. …..They all laughed but I was somewhat serious.

Eugene came by with a four wheeler on the back of his pickup saying he had to ride it out because he could not get the truck through the fallen debris. He said many people had chainsaws and were organizing themselves into gangs trying to clear roads. We gave him a cold coke with ice and tried to cool him off. He said they had a generator at his house to keep the baby, the dog, his wife and his young nephew cool (in that order, the dog is a champion blue spotted baying hunting hound and always came first until the baby was born).

We all agreed that there would be plenty of firewood for the next few years.

All Sean's friends were calling and coming by to see if we were okay. Some told us they had well water that we were welcome to draw but there was no motorized pump so we would have to siphon or dip it out of the well.

We found we could use the toilets if we used water in a bucket to force them to flush. A short time later we abandoned this because it used too much clean water to flush. So, we were reduced to relieving ourselves in the bushes like primitive people. I told them I once had an outhouse on a camp property of mine in Upstate NY and I wished we had it in the back yard now.

Sean and Jen would go nowhere without their guns. I was not sure if they had declared martial law because I think there was only one case of looting with two men in Jasper, Texas. Later I did learn that martial law was declared as well as a curfew from 5:00 pm to 7:00 am.

It is interesting to note the Captain of the police in Lake Charles got on the radio and TV and told everyone that looting would not be tolerated and ordered his men to shoot first and ask questions later.

I decided to try to call some of the City of Silsbee officials, the Hardin County officials, then the State. I could get no one because all the phone lines were down with the electrical lines. Also, the local cell phones were dead because the towers were toppled.

My cell phone worked – as long as it had a charge but there was no phone to receive a call..

The great miracle we did have, was somehow Sean’s landline phone continued to function. I think he has one of the few working phones in about a hundred-mile radius.

Ruth called me from Houston and said the mayor of Galveston said on TV the people of Galveston could come back on Sunday. I thanked her for calling me but I really did not believe they wanted people to come back to Galveston this soon and we were not sure if we could violate the Hardin County curfew to go back to Galveston, which we eventually did do.

Abby, our next-door neighbor in Galveston, called my voice mail and said our home on Galveston was okay and we had water and power. I wanted to go home and take the kids and Dolf with us.

In the evening I called the Highway Patrol in Beaumont. Got a really nice young woman who checked all the roads to Galveston, told me they were clear and said, “look go for it now because tomorrow it’s going to be the mass reverse of the exodus”.

So, we threw some things in the car and asked Sean and Jen to come with us but they did not want to leave their home unattended.

I fell over a suitcase in the dark and I have a big boo-boo on my knee with bruises down my leg and ankle but I am okay: taking Aleve and putting Salon Pas patches on it for the pain and swelling.

We grabbed the dog and set out with half a tank of gasoline.

There were relatively few vehicles on the road. There were police stationed at each exit not allowing people to get off the highways. In our minds, we think this was a big mistake on the part of the police and local officials, but more on that later.

We drove into the very dark night only seeing the Sam’s store on the highway in Beaumont with lights (they must have had a generator). By the time we got to the Baytown exits off I-10 we began to see lights. Just past Baytown we stopped at a huge Shell station and were able to fill up the car.

We arrived at Galveston around 10:30 PM. We had power, water and Air Conditioning. We both took showers, I did a load of laundry, we watched a little news, and went to bed.
Back in Silsbee, Sean and Jenna were just beginning to know what true misery is all about.

Next morning I got Sean up at 4:00 am to go get in line at the Wal-Mart to try and get some of the ice and water the military was reportedly handing out. Still, as of this date 9-20-05, they have not handed out any food, which is six days after the storm, and yesterday and today they were not in the town handing out water or ice.
I resolved to call State and Federal officials to try to get them to do something to at least get some gasoline in the pumps, hand out more water and ice, and turn the water back on in the taps and toilets.

I tried to call the Red Cross and ended up in a round-robin maze of phone numbers with about the sixth number I got a recorded message telling me there was too great a volume of disaster problems for them to help me.

I had been calling FEMA and got a really nice man named John who took a claim for Sean and Jen (from me) as I spoke Sean on my other phone. He was very nice and said a FEMA inspector would come by their house within 14 days but he could not help me with any sort of disaster aid assistance. All the FEMA disaster lines were either down or permanently busy.

I called the Salvation Army and got a nice lady who said they could do nothing for anyone but suggested I call some state and federal representatives.

I talked to a representative for US Congressman, Kevin Brady, in Washington. He got a woman to call Sean twice to find out just exactly what is wrong . Her attitude in the beginning was “well you all should have evacuated” but then Sean explained how we could not evacuate and that he was sure there were elderly and helpless people still stuck in their homes.

At one point, I called Jenna and she was upset because she thought Dolf the Rottweiler was dying of heat prostration and dehydration. So, I quick called our Vet here and he said to put cold-water soaked towels on him and try to get him to sit on a wet towel or blanket. He said to give him children's Pedialyte and a spoon of baby food chicken (right, it's not like they can just bop down to the store and get this stuff). From now on I will keep it around. Anyway, so I had to tell him I would have to try to find a recipe for Pedialyte online just like they have recipes for homemade Gatorade online. What a wealth of info is online, I did find a Pedialyte recipe: 4 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt (can use 1/2 tsp salt substitute, 3 tablespoons sugar, one half package sugar free Kool-Aid (can use powdered Jell-O mix). I called the Vet with the recipe; he said it was okay for the dog. We did not put the Kool-Aid or Jell-O into the stuff for the dog, though, and it did work very well.

I forgot to add that Sean's TV cohorts from KBTV Channel 4 in Beaumont management had decided to evacuate to Shreveport where they own another TV station. They had everyone else on call in case they needed them. Today (Tuesday) they called Sean and told him they were going to pay him for all this time because he stood by.

Luckily Sean has his press pass and he could go out and about and get back in the city because one of the big problems has been the curfew the police have imposed (7 am to 5 PM) and they are not letting anyone back in the towns. People are trying to come in and assess their homes and find lost pets and the police will not let them on the exits off the roads. You can get on the interstate but you cannot get off.

Jenna may have lost her job. The manager of the company tried to call her at 6:30 am on Thurs morning to come take their network down. I wish he had called her Wed. night but when he called Thurs morning she did not hear the cell phone or the landline and slept through it. Yesterday she got hold of her boss’s son who evacuated to Temple, TX; he told her he has no idea when they will come back. Have to add she worked in Vidor in a temporary metal building in a steel mill and Vidor was hit really hard so she may not have anything to come to work for.

I fear there are still thousands of people stuck in damaged homes who cannot get out of their houses or down their roads. People are dying in this heat too. I have spent the past two days calling Washington and emailing everyone I could think of to try to get some relief for the people North of Beaumont because no one seems to know they are there. We are talking about very small towns with may 200 or less people and people who live in the Piney Woods or on small farms or in trailer homes on acreage.

I sincerely think there is a lot more damage and they will be a lot more folks found dead of dehydration and starvation in their homes, after this whole thing is over.

Today is day five after the storm. There is still no running water in Silsbee – a great threat to health, I think. Sean says he sees generators all over the place and the police and FEMA have them and won’t turn lose of them.

The water and ice truck did not come to Silsbee today. They have never brought in any food. The Red Cross has not come, neither has the Salvation Army.

Ironically, a grocery store down the road in Lumberton (about 6 miles) had opened up today. Sean was able to buy some gas in Lumberton as well and he bought a chainsaw in the Lumberton Home Depot. The Home Depots have been marvelous. Somehow they have managed to get all sorts of stuff into their stores that would put our Federal Government to shame. I think they should appoint the head of Home Depot to head up the FEMA organization because that man/woman can really get things done.

Dolf is okay today. As long as they can get gas to power the tiny generator (Lynn gave them when he bought a bigger one) they will be okay. Tomorrow a cold front is supposed to come in and the high is only predicted to be 86F, which is cold by our standards and it’s supposed to get a wonderful 58F at night.

So, basically, the government either State, Federal or local, has done nothing for them except for two bags of ice and two gallons of water. There is still no power, no water, no telephones, and very little gasoline. These is no medical care.

How is it the retail stores can get supplies in to open but the Relief workers cannot get in to help? Maybe the head of Home Depot should be made the new head of FEMA.

AnnIme

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Survival list

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

SILSBEE TEXAS

Flickr Photos of Hurricane Rita, Silsbee, Texas

HURRICAN RITA: A FAMILY'S STORY OF SURVIVAL

Thursday, September 01, 2005

HOMELAND SECURITY: NEW ORLEANS OUTRAGE

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