Concern for our Houston sisters

[Jeri Ann]

Conditions here are improving. Flood waters are receding, flood victims are being bused from ill-equipped shelters to the airport where they board C-130's and are flown to Dallas. A plea went out today for ice chests and blankets. I donated both of my ice chests, 5 sleeping bags, 6 pillows and 3 blankets. I'm hoping that tonight, at a shelter in Dallas, someone enjoys a cozy sleeping bag, a pillow for their head and falls asleep with a full stomach.

All roads but one are still impassable and it requires a very high clearance vehicle. At least one bridge has collapsed. People wait in long lines to get their turn in a grocery store only to find little to buy. Hopefully things will return to normal soon. I continue to feed the family across the street.

[kimdl93]

I'm glad to hear that so many of you have gotten through the storm, and appreciate what everyone is doing to work towards recovery. It was like being in a different world. Just 200 miles from Houston, and no wind, minimal rain. I feel so fortunate, and hope I can give something back to those devastated by these events.

[Dana44]

I am glad for you Jeri Ann. It looks like you escaped the flood. But had to work at it during the heavy rain. We had four days of rain here and some heavy winds. But nothing like he places that got hit hard. Rockport was nearly flattened. Hope you all recover well.

[Jeri Ann]

Today was the third consecutive day of sunshine. Yay. There are still some flooded areas but enough water has drained off that some recovery efforts have begun. I live only one mile from the airport here. Today I heard no search and rescue helicopters flying. the wait time to enter a grocery store is shorter today. I have heard reports of people finding bread if you're willing to look for it. Today the floodwaters receded off of Interstate 10 connecting us to Houston. That means that supplies will be coming into the area and hopefully we will be returning to normal soon. I would like to thank my sister's here on the Forum who have expressed concern and reached out here on the Forum and text message and email. I am blessed to have so many caring friends. I am also blessed to have escaped the tragedy that so many people in this area have faced. I'm also blessed to have had some resources to help those in need

[ginapoodle]

Jeri Ann,

Excellent to hear your area is recovering. Thanks for the update. We also have family in Vidor and Beaumont.

[Aunt Kelly]

Yesterday, I helped a friend in mucking out his house. It was one of hundreds in that part of town where you saw the Cajun Navy and others rescuing those who lived there. Those images, while tragic also communicated the nobility of our neighbors here. They replay in my mind with little pain. The things I saw first hand today though, will be things I'll always wish I could un-see. On my way in I passed a car, half up on the curb, that had been clearly hit, dead center on the windshield, by a boat, a big v-shaped hole torn through the windshield and the roof crunched down in a similar shape. It suddenly hit me that I was driving on a road that, two days ago, had been at the bottom of a large, shallow lake. It also hit me how close my own home had been to such a fate. Our street was a lake about two feet deep for hours. Another two or three and we'd have been in the same mess.
The houses in this upscale subdivision where I was headed were ruined, of course. Everything on their ground floors was now soggy trash. Furniture, appliances, flooring, drywall, books, family photos - everything, was being hauled out and dumped on the front lawns. The piles were continuous, literally for miles, but for breaks where the driveways were. I was tempted to pull out my phone and take pictures of this incredible scene, but I just couldn't do it. The images will be with me forever, so having them to show someone else just seemed perverse.
The work was hard, and my 60 year-old body reminds me today of that fact, but it was so worth it. It was a small contribution to a community needs so much more help, but that help is coming. Cars and trucks drove through the neighborhood all day, handing out ice, water, and meals to the hundreds of people in this first wave of the recovery effort. Yes hundreds, and that's just in the stretch of housing that I could see from where I was working. Surely they numbered in the thousands in that recently submerged neighborhood. And that image will also stay with me. It almost balances out the tragedy, so uplifting it is to see such selfless giving in time of need. Almost...

P.S. Let's not forget that things are much worse in places like Rockport (pretty much flattened), Beaumont (still without running water in most of the city), and Port Arthur (virtually the entire city of some 65,000 underwater). They don't get the news coverage like Houston does, but they are still in survival mode.

[michelleddg]

Our neighborhood is Houston's sacrificial lamb. We are nested cozily between the Addicks and Barker Dams, which have been having regular controlled releases to protect downtown. Alas this keeps most of our neighborhood under water and is forecast to continue to do so for may be two more weeks.

The mayor ordered an evacuation this morning. Our transformer is under water, no power for a week now and for two more weeks. Our sewage plants are under water so the same for discharging used water. Still can't get a vehicle into the subdivision. Unfortunately we've become rather notorious so there are armed police at the entrances to protect from looters.

In addition to losing everything having dirty flood water for weeks will cause many houses to be unliveable and ultimately condemned due to mold contamination. There goes the neighborhood, literally.

We are sooo fortunate to be in a small dry island in the corner of the subdivision. We evacuated 5 days ago and expect to be nomads the next two weeks. Stay tuned. Hugs, Michelle

[IamWren]

My house and neighborhood were very lucky despite being only six or so miles from the Addicks Reservoir. I haven't volunteered yet but plan to when most of them have to start heading back to work or simply run out of steam and need reinforcements to come in grab the baton.

I have a bit of survivor's guilt and have occasionally had emotional stalls seeing all the people who have lost so much. I am thankful though. And hope to get in there and start helping soon.

[Jeri Ann]

Survivor guilt is a very real thing. For many individuals who were in the midst of the chaos it can become Post Trauma Stress Syndrome. Not many people can even fathom what it is like to survive unscathed while being so close to total devastation. The stress of being under the threat of danger for yourself makes you very fragile emotionally. Then, to witness that danger played out in close proximity to you has a profound effect.

Just driving into an affected area can be life changing, as Aunt Kelly has described in her post. This is not my first rodeo. I have lived in deep southeast Texas my entire life, only minutes from the coast. I have witnessed this this kind of devastation six times now. You never get used to it.

The church I have been attending, and was able to go to yesterday (yay), offered a special activity yesterday afternoon for those struggling with SG. Lunch, counseling and group therapy was being offered.

Wanting to help is a healthy thing but needs to be acted on quickly. Flood damage must be dealt with as quickly as possible. Also, regret for not helping will only complicate Survivor Guilt. There are some easy ways to help. Resurrection MCC is taking donations of food, clothing and money to help victims in the community. The church, by the way, was flooded also but still doing everything possible to help those in need. Keller Williams real-estate is operating a huge recovery/ relief effort in Houston. They are providing, for anyone that needs it, all the equipment needed for mud- out, tear- out and cleanup. They also send out teams of volunteers to help. My sister, who works for KW, is coming to stay a week with me so that she can coordinate the opening of a relief center in Beaumont.

[Jillian Faith]

My wife and I live northwest of the city on 5+ acres. We were spared from the flooding and didn't even loose power through this event. Like Aunt Kelley yesterday we drove to a friends house on the Northeast side of town who flooded to bring a truckload of water, food and cleaning supplies. We spent the day helping with removing wet sheet rock and insulation, moping and other post storm cleanup. Our friends flooded for the 3rd time in 18 years but consider themselves lucky because they are the only home with flood insurance in their neighborhood.

[Territx]

I am just checking back in. We were lucky, you could have rolled a bowling ball into the flood waters from just across the street from my house. We spent a lot of to.ime the last few days looking at the intersection and the crown of the street in front of our house trying to gauge which way the water would flow if it got any closer. It is finally subsiding some -- talking about inches, but we will take anything we can get. I walked over to spot where they were putting boats in to go back into the neighborhoods - and I will say that the volunteers were amazing! I have power but the house is like a weird peninsula at this point -- getting out is no small feat of experimentation and backtracking. Gotta run as there is no internet service and it is difficult to work from this phone and service.