Our house was spared but our neighbors are all not so lucky. We have generators going for power and we are trying to help people who need food and water etc. I guess the "people" are the real FEMA. Many people living in vehicles outside their homes or camping in houses half destroyed with no utilities. FEMA finally made it here today and left ice for people. We can get fuel now without waiting for hours. A 73 year old woman, (my friend Boogie who lives in the bottom had been holed up in her van since her house is not habitable. I am begging her to come stay with us but she refuses at this point. I loaded her down with supplies and FEMA gave her a case of water. Dont get me started on FEMA. They only show you on the media the caravan of trucks when they arrive with news crews in tow. They just kept passing this bayou community by!
A couple of guys in the neighborhood have taken things into their own hands and are hooking generators to the water companies pump stations so people can flush toilets or wash off the grime. The water will be undrinkable for quite a while and no power expected for weeks.
A man with 7 kids has been cooking on a grill and trying to get enough food and water just to feed the kids. We are all pitching in and tomorrow hopefully we can get more organized as citizens since FEMA and our local government have and are primarily MIA.
I am trying to charge my computer on the generater so if it does'nt blow up i will log on periodically. I am charging 2 lap tops so I can help my neighbors sign up for FEMA aid online. They keep telling people to log on or call for assistance. Not easy when you have no computers or phones, even cells are hit and miss. We are a small town on the bayou, a community of just 200 people. We are in Liberty County in Texas just above the galveston Island area.
I sound like a friggin field reporter. Well, I am typing by flashlight on a generater driven computer.
Thanks for all of your concern and we know that the rest of the world is trying to help and eventually the donations will trickle down or arrive. Tomorrow I will take photos of the bottom where some of the poorest people I have ever seen in the US live and how they are living after Ike. I got the hurricane on video from Houston.
I'll check in later on this blog and for those who happened across this blog by way of the main page excuse the off subject material. I am trying to reach a lot of friends in an expeditious way.
Zeke
