One View From Houston...
Sep 23rd, 2005 | 09:24 AM
#1
Original Poster
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 311
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One View From Houston...
As we wait with family for the arrival of Rita, I am taking this opportunity to greet all of you from Houston, and to express some heart-felt thoughts about life on the Gulf Coast in the past month or so.
First, I consider myself fortunate to be a regular reader and occassional contributor on Fodor's. It means I have the means and the physical ability to travel, and enrich my life by experiencing that of others.
In the period after Katrina, my wife and I have managed a shelter for about 50 people --men, women, children; able and infirmed -- who fled New Orleans. This is a church activity, and I must say that I have learned more about the lives of others in this endeavor that all of the travel throughout my life.
Most people are fundamentally good, we all know, but there degrees of good. In our church, for example, a few worked 18-hour shifts, 7-days a week, while most of the others either did nothing or gave money and considered their task done. But that's another issue...
Not working was their loss, because the people we served provided us with a richer blessing than I could have imagined. Doing something for others really is more enjoyable that being on the receiving end.
Two days ago, we rushed to close down the shelter and now have people placed in their own apartments and houses, and motels. It now appears that the west side of Houston, where we are, will be spared the brunt of the storm and others to the east -- including New Orleans again -- will get the worst hit.
As we closed the shelter, I attempted to dodge the evacuation traffic to get home and start preparing my own property for the wind and rain. I made a bad decision and ended up on an expressway with tens of thousands of others and traversed about four miles in 3 and a half hours. So, I quickly changed roles from being the helper, to being among those who need help.
My lot, I soon rationalized, was temporary. I was inconvenienced for a few hours, but I had air, I had gasoline, and I was near my home. All around me were people of all ethnic and socio-economic strata, all doing the same thing: trying to get through this nightmare.
Children were hot. Parents were tired. Everyone was irritated. And, there was a bit of an undertone of panic. Otherwise, why did all of us take a shortcut across a vacant field, with 4-wheelers and Lexus side by side, trying to flee this logjam?
Travel? Oh, yes. This was travel, and I was experiencing all sorts of new sights and sounds.
There was a guy in his pickup truck who cleverly figured out that while the east bound lane was wide open, and the west bound clogged, he could enter the east bound, stop, put it in reverse, and back up 5 miles to the exit. He passed us all, staring at him in amazment.
There was the scene of adults and children leaving the freeway, seeking shelter as best they could, in order to relieve themselves.
There were cars abandoned in the middle lane of a freeway with a posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour, and it was just another incovenience, not a hazard.
Obviously, this was not the way the emergency planners envisioned evacuation. I am not certain any plan will work when you subject it to an unprecedented volume of cars. Nothing could have prepared this area for two hurricanes of such magnitude in such a short period of time.
So now we sit, surrounded by empty stores and a commercial community totally shut down, and we wait with family. We are among the lucky. Out there, somewhere, there are thousands, still trying to find a place to be safe. Many will need help when all of this is over. Perhaps we will, but I doubt it given the current forcast.
If you are in position to do so, and able to lend a hand to these folks, I urge you to do so. You'll help them, of course, but the real beneficiary will be you.
Be safe, everyone, and love each other,
Jim
First, I consider myself fortunate to be a regular reader and occassional contributor on Fodor's. It means I have the means and the physical ability to travel, and enrich my life by experiencing that of others.
In the period after Katrina, my wife and I have managed a shelter for about 50 people --men, women, children; able and infirmed -- who fled New Orleans. This is a church activity, and I must say that I have learned more about the lives of others in this endeavor that all of the travel throughout my life.
Most people are fundamentally good, we all know, but there degrees of good. In our church, for example, a few worked 18-hour shifts, 7-days a week, while most of the others either did nothing or gave money and considered their task done. But that's another issue...
Not working was their loss, because the people we served provided us with a richer blessing than I could have imagined. Doing something for others really is more enjoyable that being on the receiving end.
Two days ago, we rushed to close down the shelter and now have people placed in their own apartments and houses, and motels. It now appears that the west side of Houston, where we are, will be spared the brunt of the storm and others to the east -- including New Orleans again -- will get the worst hit.
As we closed the shelter, I attempted to dodge the evacuation traffic to get home and start preparing my own property for the wind and rain. I made a bad decision and ended up on an expressway with tens of thousands of others and traversed about four miles in 3 and a half hours. So, I quickly changed roles from being the helper, to being among those who need help.
My lot, I soon rationalized, was temporary. I was inconvenienced for a few hours, but I had air, I had gasoline, and I was near my home. All around me were people of all ethnic and socio-economic strata, all doing the same thing: trying to get through this nightmare.
Children were hot. Parents were tired. Everyone was irritated. And, there was a bit of an undertone of panic. Otherwise, why did all of us take a shortcut across a vacant field, with 4-wheelers and Lexus side by side, trying to flee this logjam?
Travel? Oh, yes. This was travel, and I was experiencing all sorts of new sights and sounds.
There was a guy in his pickup truck who cleverly figured out that while the east bound lane was wide open, and the west bound clogged, he could enter the east bound, stop, put it in reverse, and back up 5 miles to the exit. He passed us all, staring at him in amazment.
There was the scene of adults and children leaving the freeway, seeking shelter as best they could, in order to relieve themselves.
There were cars abandoned in the middle lane of a freeway with a posted speed limit of 65 miles per hour, and it was just another incovenience, not a hazard.
Obviously, this was not the way the emergency planners envisioned evacuation. I am not certain any plan will work when you subject it to an unprecedented volume of cars. Nothing could have prepared this area for two hurricanes of such magnitude in such a short period of time.
So now we sit, surrounded by empty stores and a commercial community totally shut down, and we wait with family. We are among the lucky. Out there, somewhere, there are thousands, still trying to find a place to be safe. Many will need help when all of this is over. Perhaps we will, but I doubt it given the current forcast.
If you are in position to do so, and able to lend a hand to these folks, I urge you to do so. You'll help them, of course, but the real beneficiary will be you.
Be safe, everyone, and love each other,
Jim
Sep 23rd, 2005 | 09:38 AM
#2
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 45,322
Likes: 0
Dear Jim thank you for this thread. I am devastated by what is happening in your area. I almost cried when I read a bus taking elderly people out of the area caught on fire and around 24 of these people are now dead.
Bless you for helping those in need.
May you and all your loved ones be safe. My best best to you.
Bless you for helping those in need.
May you and all your loved ones be safe. My best best to you.
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Sep 23rd, 2005 | 11:07 AM
#11
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 4,296
Likes: 0
Dear Jim,
Too moved by emotion after reading your thread, I am truly speechless and only want to thank you for your post.
May God watch over all of you. Everyone far and away is so overcome with sadness for what all of you have had to endure.
Peace for you, your family, and all those you so blessedly reach out to.
Thank you for your post, Tiff
Too moved by emotion after reading your thread, I am truly speechless and only want to thank you for your post.
May God watch over all of you. Everyone far and away is so overcome with sadness for what all of you have had to endure.
Peace for you, your family, and all those you so blessedly reach out to.
Thank you for your post, Tiff
Sep 23rd, 2005 | 12:05 PM
#12
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 16,253
Likes: 0
Thank JimF for the post.
We have about 75 people from NO in our shelter here, and I really hear you. Money is one thing, time is another.
Thanks,and hopefully Rita will continue to diminish and you can get through the second deluge with your wonderful good spirits.
THANKS!
We have about 75 people from NO in our shelter here, and I really hear you. Money is one thing, time is another.
Thanks,and hopefully Rita will continue to diminish and you can get through the second deluge with your wonderful good spirits.
THANKS!
Sep 23rd, 2005 | 12:23 PM
#13
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 20,199
Likes: 0
Dear JimF,
Thank you for your post and thank you for your kindness. We wish you and your family safety during this time.
My husband was moved to tears as he described the scene on the road. People obviously filling their cars and trucks with as many possessions as possible. Mattresses on the top of trucks and people crammed into the truck beds...
Down to a Cat 3 - come on Rita, fizzle!!!
Thank you for your post and thank you for your kindness. We wish you and your family safety during this time.
My husband was moved to tears as he described the scene on the road. People obviously filling their cars and trucks with as many possessions as possible. Mattresses on the top of trucks and people crammed into the truck beds...
Down to a Cat 3 - come on Rita, fizzle!!!
Sep 24th, 2005 | 02:25 PM
#14
Original Poster
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 311
Likes: 0
Given what we expected, Rita was kind to our area of west Houston. Thanks to all of you who wished us the best. We certainly received it.
It is estimated that 2.8 million people evacuated Houston during the 48 to 72 hours preceding landfall. Now, the reverse is the challenge: getting those folks back home without duplicating the gridlocks we had Wednesday and Thursday.
Our choice of staying put was simply luck. The turn of the storm put us completely out of harm's way, and resulted in damage to the areas where many went to escape -- east Texas and places north.
It was like missing a flight out of Paris, only to be upgraded to first class on the next airplane and finding out later the original flight was delayed and arrived after you did.
Only better...
Best to you all,
Jim
It is estimated that 2.8 million people evacuated Houston during the 48 to 72 hours preceding landfall. Now, the reverse is the challenge: getting those folks back home without duplicating the gridlocks we had Wednesday and Thursday.
Our choice of staying put was simply luck. The turn of the storm put us completely out of harm's way, and resulted in damage to the areas where many went to escape -- east Texas and places north.
It was like missing a flight out of Paris, only to be upgraded to first class on the next airplane and finding out later the original flight was delayed and arrived after you did.
Only better...
Best to you all,
Jim
