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Tom’s final Texas blog #7

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hello blog, It’s me again.

Today’s my last full day on the relief operation. Tomorrow I hand over my responsibilities to Mary Ann, my very competent and energetic assistant from Mississippi. Then I’ll be out processing with Bill Ferris, my buddy from the Burlington, Ontario branch. We’re going to try to visit the art gallery in downtown Houston before we fly home. I’ve decided against taking an ERV back to its California chapter as part of the response to wild fires out there – I’m told the ERV I’d get is a really nasty vehicle and I’d end up stranded somewhere in the New Mexico desert!

Over the last few days I’ve been helping the lodging group get a handle on where some of our volunteers are staying, who they are and how many there are. Bill has been lending his people to the effort as teams of staff services folk have staked out hotels across the DR. Meanwhile Bill and I have worked with the various players - shelter managers, hotel managers, FEMA etc. Part of the chaos of a large moving operation can mean losing track of staff and then, as fast as possible, finding out where they’ve landed.

I’ve also been asked to get our volunteers out of some of the shelters, including Camp Tarmac, the FEMA camp at Galveston airport. Bill and I drive over with an armful of signs warning our volunteers that tonight is their last night at the camp.

Approaching the camp we’re challenged by men in black – part of FEMA’s “Response Force One”. I’m glad our cooks are being so well protected. Alice, Camp Tarmac’s manager, is very helpful in getting the Red Cross crews out of the shelter and moved to the Moody Gardens hotel – more than a hotel really – it’s a Las Vegas-style resort with a water park, aquarium, zoo and tropical forest, all contained in a series of giant glass Giza-like pyramids. Of course, the amusement part of the resort is badly damaged, only the incredible hotel is intact. Driving away from Camp Tarmac across Galveston airport, we see dozens of smashed light aircraft.

Talking to a local Galveston resident, he tells us that his neighbourhood has been severely damaged by Ike. The great wall of water pushed over Galveston Island left homes drowning in up to 22 feet of water says the man. His home is one of the few with power restored. At night he looks out over a sea of darkened houses where a few of his neighbours are trying to restart their lives.

The operation is shrinking by the day – for the first time we have less than 1,000 Red Cross volunteers on the job and staffing requests have slowed to a trickle. Three kitchens continue to pump out 13,500 meals a day; 31 ERVs and 9 fixed feeding stations distribute the food; 815 clients remain in shelters which are scheduled to close over the next 10 days and the operation is getting focused on finding alternative living arrangements for these people.

I’ve seen, heard and learnt a huge amount on this deployment. I’ve met hundreds of clients and Red Cross volunteers from across North America, some of whom have become my friends, many others I’ll remember for their amazing stories and hard work.

The Canadian Red Cross contingent has been warmly welcomed, given important roles in the operation and made to feel very much part of the family. I’m sad to leave the operation and its wonderful volunteers, but also very proud to have played a small part in helping the American Red Cross and the Great State of Texas start on the road to recovery from Hurricane Ike.

So I’m signing off blog. See you at the next deployment.

Tom

Coming down

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

As with all intense experiences in life, coming down after the fact is often more stressing and emotional than the actual event itself. I have now been home for about 3 days and a lot of that was spent dreaming of sugarplums etc, etc. The last day of my deployment was spent saying goodbye and going through out-processing.

Returning my cell phone was bittersweet. It has been the lifeline between my shelter managers and me over the past 3 weeks. Some days, I really thought that it would melt into a little puddle of plastic by the end of the business day... there were days when my last call of the day could be confused with the first call of the next day.

Fleet decided that the car I was assigned could be returned to the Avis desk at the airport and so my long trip to Houston International Airport was somewhat simplified. My last goodbyes were said, lots of long and meaningful hugs were shared with my colleagues who had become part of daily life in this Texas town of close to 6 million. I have found friends that will stay with me forever and we have experienced an opportunity to give something back to our fellow inhabitants that cannot be measured.

My last night in Houston was quick coming, with sleep overcoming me around 7pm that night. My roommate, Jose from Tampa, a logistics truck driver, decided that he should go to the airport at 1 am and so I was awake as he packed his bags and said goodbye. We only met a few hours before, but because we shared this Disaster Response, we both understood the nervousness of our leaving and going home and the lack of a good nights sleep was not a big deal.

Jose was desperate to get home to his family and his favourite granddaughter. I understood this completely... it was exactly how I was feeling as well. So we shared a coffee at 1.30 am and I walked him out to his taxi and we hugged and said goodbye. A mutual understanding of how our roles over the past 21 days had played out for us personally.

I miss the intensity, the close knit team that I was part of, the challenges thrown at me 24/7, the need to think on my feet AND outside the box and the daily application of the mission and principles of the Red Cross. Needless to say, the unique relationship with my fellow Canadians and their contributions made us all feel especially proud.

It is said that the culture shock one experiences when returning from a different locale is often harder to cope with than that which hits you when going. Coming home this time has made me realize that this is what I need to do, what I want to do and how I want to spend my available time. Working with those other like-minded individuals, who also feel the pull of Disaster Response. Working for those people who through no fault of their own, have a need of the services provided by the Red Cross.

Hurricane Ike is now a memory for most of us, but for those people who are still in the shelters in Houston and Galveston, it is as real as if it happened yesterday. Their memories will be different from mine and will have a profound effect on the life that they strive to get back to. For me, I can go to sleep tonight knowing that there are other Red Cross volunteers who have stepped into the role I was playing and that of other people who have gone home. I will not soon forget my experiences in responding to DR 238-09 Hurricane Ike.

Cheers
Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross

Tom's Texas blog #6

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hi blog, I've been busy, so I have some catching up to do....

With so much happening down here - financial crises, last night's presidential candidate's debate and the election in general - the response to Hurricane Ike has fallen off the front pages and it's getting more difficult to find people to fill all the vacant positions - in particular nurses and ERV drivers. I've gotten a day off....so laundry comes first and then I'm going down to Galveston to see the Red Cross operation on the island.

Interstate 45 takes me south across the flat swampy brush of coastal Texas, oil refinery complexes seem to stretch from one horizon to another. Approaching Galveston the damage to houses and other structures is significant - a lot of tarped buildings, some structures reduced to a skeleton of beams, piles of debris by the side of the road and lines of smashed pleasure craft crazily wedged against the highway barrier. In town very little is working - huge numbers of houses have a rotting pile of debris sitting outside, damaged drywall, furniture and bedding - still no power - most businesses closed and many streets closed for hydro and clean-up crews to do their work. The town seems barely alive.

The mass shelter on 81st consists of four huge white FEMA tents accommodating almost 1,000 clients. There's tight security and a line of ERVs ready to serve lunch. The Red Cross staff are cheerful and helpful, as usual. They give me directions to the impressive bulk distribution center and kitchen at Galveston Airport. When I get there I see rows of trailers are being emptied by Salvation Army fork lift drivers - a row of Southern Baptist Convention kitchens is producing thousands of meals every day ready to be loaded onto a fleet of Red Cross ERVs. It's an impressive operation.

Driving along the seawall, lazy pelicans glide over the still water....a line of oil rigs and a convoy of tankers far out at sea.

It's another day....at the morning briefing the director tells us that the end of the DR may be in sight - we have a closing date for the Galveston shelter, Oct 26, but up to 10,000 homes remain uninhabitable with no power and the mass feeding operation on Galveston will continue. Houston is almost completely back on its feet with the very last hydro repairs being made.

I'm asked to assess the conditions at our few remaining staff shelters (most of us are now in hotels) and determine which ones should be closed first. At Baytown the shelter is a sprawling Methodist church filled with ERV crews and Southern Baptist Convention cooks - donkey pumps slowly rise and fall in nearby back yards. The few volunteers I meet seem cheerful, but the shelter itself seems a little uncomfortable for people in their fourth week of deployment. I'm told that the kitchen there is expected to close in a few days as power is restored and the need for feeding declines.

Onto the Louisiana state line across an ocean of low scrub and more oil refineries to the FEMA base camp - it's a bit like entering a space ship. An impressive, air conditioned, instant little town sitting in a field surrounded by three layers of armed security. Inside, a summer camp feel permeates and everyone looks very happy to be there.

Then back to Houston on the crowded I10. It's as big as the 401 but lined for miles with neon signs, restaurants, night clubs and blazing billboards - enormous corporate towers glowing in the night air - makes me think of the movie Bladerunner. The last shelter and mass kitchen I visit is closing as I get there - the Houston operation is rapidly closing down.

Goodnight blog

Tom's Texas blog #5

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Tom Windebank
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Howdy blog... we're into the new HQ half way between our two big shelters in Galveston and Houston.

The operation is still in full swing with more than 43,000 meals being served daily in the coastal areas from 16 fixed feeding centres and 65 mobile feeding vehicles (ERVs). Approximately 1,400 people remain in 6 client shelters (most in the two big ones). At the morning briefing we learn that houses in Beaumont and Baytown are being demolished due to hurricane damage and that the feeding effort may continue for 30 days plus because so many houses still have no power and are barely liveable.

I'm now the Workforce Planning and Acquisition manager - this means handling all the disaster staffing needs through local volunteer resources, the DHSR national disaster staffing recruitment system, or through partner agreements - a lot with youth and faith groups. It's more interesting than it sounds and I have a very hectic day as I get more than 230 staffing requests from frustrated administrators who've been without a workforce planner for the time I was running the volunteer intake center.

I'm enjoying being back inside the guts of the operation with the rest of the staffing services team and the broader team of HQ staff - Mass Care, Client Services, Client Health (the American Red Cross provides direct health care for clients and staff), Material Support and Services (what we call logistics), RTT - the techies - and all the support groups like public affairs (just hooked them up with the local semi-pro hockey team, the Houston Arrows, who're offering to do a promotional event for us).

Last night the staff relations team grabbed me and took me down to the Pasadena Livestock Show and Rodeo. Approaching the stock yard we drove through acres of massive king-cab pick-up trucks and trailers. The crowd was all wearing Stetsons, cowboy boots and blue jeans - lots of big men, women with sequined pink or white hats, little girls dressed as Southern Belles - more than a few Wild Bill Hickock and Dolly Parton look-a-likes. It began to dawn on me that Texans take their rodeos seriously. I was wearing an orange T-shirt, baggy shorts and sandals.

As the rodeo (which was almost as interesting as the people around me) ended, the cowboy band struck up a twang over the cow stalls and couples began to dance. In the booths around the stock yard I found massive crushed-velvet Elvis wall drapes, Confederate flags on license plates, hats and bath towels, Texan star jewellery and a 4 foot giraffe statuette(???) - which fearless Bob Dendoff ("I collect these!") of our Nanaimo BC branch immediately bought. The evening ended with the band singing America The Brave as everyone whooped and hollered and waved their Stetsons in the sticky sub-tropical air.

Unforgettable.

My USA Hurricane Ike experience

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Staff Relations Manager, Houston, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Bob Dendoff
Hometown: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada

Tomorrow (Thursday) will be my last day on the "job'". We have now moved to our new Headquarters. My trips to Bigtown and Galveston have proven to be an eye opener. The smell of rotting garbage still piled up on the streets is not pretty.

While visiting our Galveston shelter, which is made up of huge tents housing up to 200 evacuees per tent, I had the opportunity to have a personal tour around the place. It started to rain. You do not want rain in that dirt field.

Over to the mega warehouse area which is located next to the destroyed aircraft museum at the local airport. The site would make a grown man or woman cry....

At this site there are dozens and dozens of refrigerator ("reefer") semi-trailer units loaded with all types of food, which is distributed into dozens and dozens of Emergency Response Trucks, known as ERVs. It is a massive operation.... and very well organized.

This Disaster Response volunteer assignment is truly a hardship situation and you definitely have to be able to bare the heat, primitive conditions, and be in good physical and mental health.

Bob

Hurricane Ike impacts turtles, too

Assignment: Hurricane Ike response, Shelter Management, Houston HQ, Texas, USA
Volunteer: Derrick Harvey
Hometown: Comox, British Columbia, Canada

Hurricane Ike is now almost history in most of the country and the world, but not down in Galveston. Yesterday, I visited two of my shelters: Galveston and Baytown.

After you drive down the interstate from Houston, you start to see the countryside change, but rather than changing flora and fauna, you start to see the carnage wrought by Ike..... sailboats lying in the centre median of the highway, cars under tons of rubble, buildings now just piles of brick, steel and wallboard.

Galveston is a low-lying island surrounded by a sea wall. The sea wall in most areas is at least 7 metres high, but the water from Ike breached it and rose another 7 metres. As a result, all the buildings along the sea front have suffered extensive damage from the tidal surge.

There are hundreds of service workers down here who are trying to restore electricity, traffic lights, sewers, the water system, telecoms and more. Every house has a pile of household goods in front, waiting for a truck to come and haul it away to a central collection centre, where metal and wood are separated.

The beaches along this part of Texas are known for the breeding of the Ridley turtle and there is a very real danger that the debris spread by Ike will interfere with the upcoming egg-laying season. Plastic junk is everywhere, in some cases metres deep, and spreading back from the high water mark 20 to 30 metres above the high water line.

I am now starting to slow down as my shelter count has dropped to the last remaining 4 in the Houston area. Two of those will continue to operate for at least a month, but the other two will stop in the next week or so. My processing-out date is two days away and I have had an incredible experience, met some totally devoted Red Crossers that will stay with me for a long time.

This will be my last blog from the field. Tomorrow I am taking one last tour of my shelters to see how the process is working and to say goodbye to a heck of a lot of hard working volunteers.

After I have some sleep, I will be doing a review and submit for the blog.

cheers
Derrick Harvey
Canadian Red Cross in Houston