Saturday, September 20, 2008
Cleaning up Churches of Galveston
This link is a photo gallery of people on the island already cleaning up the churches in Galveston.
Crystal Beach Before and After
The Houston Chronicle has a set of recovery photos here that include these before and after aerial shots of Crystal Beach.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Last Man Standing
Probably the most shocking Ike aftermath picture is of the only house standing on the ocean side of Gilchrist. Compare that to what was there before on the google map satellite view of the town on the Bolivar Peninsula.View Larger Map
This Story on CNN.com is about the people who lived there and their experience.
Ike's storm surge last week devastated the Bolivar Peninsula town, flattening most of the roughly 200 homes there. The couple's yellow house at the beach -- supported 14 feet off the ground by wooden columns -- was the only house on Gilchrist's Gulf Coast side not to be flattened.
"As we got there, the tears started flowing," Warren Adams, 63, said Thursday after his first visit to the home since evacuating. "There's a yellow house sitting there, but that's all. It was devastating."
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Ike Photos
A friend of mine emailed this link today. This is all the stuff Mark and I were unable to see, either because flooding had receded or we weren't allowed into areas.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
Here's a link to the few interesting pictures I took this week. The way this storm came out, it's either really bad, meaning we couldn't go see, or it's not so much worse than here.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/the_short_but_eventful_life_of.html
Here's a link to the few interesting pictures I took this week. The way this storm came out, it's either really bad, meaning we couldn't go see, or it's not so much worse than here.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
New News Links
National news isn't covering much from Ike, but I've changed the newslinks to the right to focus on this event. The Houston Chronicle is a great source.
Assessment Complete. On the Road Home
Hoping this update finds you all with power and showered though it appears half the outages, 300,000 as of this morning, are still not repaired. Both our wives have been without all week so we're glad to be getting home tonight and able to assess the situation up there first hand. We completed our assessment across West Louisiana and East Texas yesterday afternoon, stayed with Tim in Mandeville again last night and are nearly to Birmingham on our way home right now.
There is a confirmed need of our type of help and there are several good options for us to partner with as their readiness matures. There are conflicting media and aid organization reports about the disaster area. As usual, what we’ve seen first hand indicates an average of what you may be hearing and what people have been emailing me. There are often those who exaggerate a situation intentionally or not, for good motives or bad. I am working hard to backcheck any information against what I can see and people who have proven trustworthy in our work.
The area effected and the population density of those not able to live in their homes is much smaller than we found after Katrina. Maybe 5-10% or so. There are probably many more casualties than have been reported as searches are just beginning. Barrier island communities where tens of thousands did not evacuate have been wiped clean in some sections by the storm. Those still out there continue to be evacuated by boat and helicopter to shelters. One man with a boat was allowed through a checkpoint where we were stopped yesterday to rescue friends who had called him from their roof in High Island.
This is no Katrina. None-the-less, there is extensive damage. Wind damage is probably about the same as at home in Ohio actually. Lots of limbs down and power out, but there were a lot of electrical crews in staging areas along I-10 in Louisiana and Texas not working. About half the electrical grid damage we saw was actively being worked on. Many areas of Huston have power restored, even right down next to Galveston Bay where the Eye came ashore. There are a few roofs missing significant areas of shingles and a lot of branches down, but the locals are pretty much cleaning that up.
View Larger Map
Flooding is a different situation, though, entirely. There are two categories of that. The worst hit places on the barrier islands, we could not get to, but photos on the news from the President’s visit yesterday show large areas where one in twenty houses, maybe less remain. The debris and even the piers that the house sat on are washed away. Nothing is left. That isn’t something we can help fix any time soon.
I want to head off a misconception for you that I had myself. Galveston Island, on the whole, is not a wealthy resort community. Many poor to middle class live on the island in ancestral homes that have been damaged or removed by the storm. 1/4 of people live below the poverty line. 14% are over 65. These are the kind of people we focus on helping.
There is a narrow line of flooding, much of it rural that we can work on immediately once we have a base of operations to work from. The largest pocket is near the space center along the eastern edge of Houston near Galveston bay. League City, Texas City, and places like that. Rural areas around Orange Texas and South East of Port Arthur are flooded, but mostly didn’t get the wave action that wiped away the homes that were more exposed to the sea. There is a low density of damaged homes in many areas, but everything in Bridge City was flooded.
We saw several distribution locations (news reports 60) FEMA has set up around Houston. The Southern Baptists were setting up a feeding station at Orange which is an appropriate location. They also have others on the way in according to their email update yesterday. Except for the most devastated areas where authorities rightly want to encourage people to leave because they are just unhealthy, people are not going hungry or thirsty that we can tell. Stores and gas stations are open in Houston and opening hourly in other areas as power is restored. Walmart in Port Arthur was open without power. Target in Friendswood was giving out truckloads of ice and water. The Red Cross is distributing meals. The Houston food bank is looking for additional assistance as their demand is way up, but still is functioning.
The primary need that we can fill as soon as a hosting organization is ready for us is mucking and maybe a little chain saw cleanup work.
Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, a Houston suburb may also host a relief effort for that area. They are in a suburban area and have great facilities for us to use and they are only 30 minutes from most damaged areas including Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula areas that were the hardest hit.
I’ve made contact with two churches in Nederland/Port Arthur about hosting operations for areas around Beaumont, Orange, Bridge City, etc.
Hilltop is discussing the possibility of hosting in Sulfur, Louisiana and investigating the areas we hit this week as well.
View Larger Map
Their decision of where to set up shop will impact our decision as we know the four needs of volunteers, work, showers, place to sleep, and food will be managed.
We’ve left business cards at churches that look suitable where we couldn’t find anyone and spoken with quite a few contacts investigating the needs and our options to work down there so it’s been a productive trip. The situation is still very new and fluid, as these things are, so no definite plans yet.
I still want to plan a tentative trip for Saturday, September 27. This would be a two day drive with an overnight each way, work for 5 days, and return home the following weekend, October 4 and 5.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire and Mark Day
There is a confirmed need of our type of help and there are several good options for us to partner with as their readiness matures. There are conflicting media and aid organization reports about the disaster area. As usual, what we’ve seen first hand indicates an average of what you may be hearing and what people have been emailing me. There are often those who exaggerate a situation intentionally or not, for good motives or bad. I am working hard to backcheck any information against what I can see and people who have proven trustworthy in our work.
The area effected and the population density of those not able to live in their homes is much smaller than we found after Katrina. Maybe 5-10% or so. There are probably many more casualties than have been reported as searches are just beginning. Barrier island communities where tens of thousands did not evacuate have been wiped clean in some sections by the storm. Those still out there continue to be evacuated by boat and helicopter to shelters. One man with a boat was allowed through a checkpoint where we were stopped yesterday to rescue friends who had called him from their roof in High Island.
This is no Katrina. None-the-less, there is extensive damage. Wind damage is probably about the same as at home in Ohio actually. Lots of limbs down and power out, but there were a lot of electrical crews in staging areas along I-10 in Louisiana and Texas not working. About half the electrical grid damage we saw was actively being worked on. Many areas of Huston have power restored, even right down next to Galveston Bay where the Eye came ashore. There are a few roofs missing significant areas of shingles and a lot of branches down, but the locals are pretty much cleaning that up.
View Larger Map
Flooding is a different situation, though, entirely. There are two categories of that. The worst hit places on the barrier islands, we could not get to, but photos on the news from the President’s visit yesterday show large areas where one in twenty houses, maybe less remain. The debris and even the piers that the house sat on are washed away. Nothing is left. That isn’t something we can help fix any time soon.
I want to head off a misconception for you that I had myself. Galveston Island, on the whole, is not a wealthy resort community. Many poor to middle class live on the island in ancestral homes that have been damaged or removed by the storm. 1/4 of people live below the poverty line. 14% are over 65. These are the kind of people we focus on helping.
There is a narrow line of flooding, much of it rural that we can work on immediately once we have a base of operations to work from. The largest pocket is near the space center along the eastern edge of Houston near Galveston bay. League City, Texas City, and places like that. Rural areas around Orange Texas and South East of Port Arthur are flooded, but mostly didn’t get the wave action that wiped away the homes that were more exposed to the sea. There is a low density of damaged homes in many areas, but everything in Bridge City was flooded.
We saw several distribution locations (news reports 60) FEMA has set up around Houston. The Southern Baptists were setting up a feeding station at Orange which is an appropriate location. They also have others on the way in according to their email update yesterday. Except for the most devastated areas where authorities rightly want to encourage people to leave because they are just unhealthy, people are not going hungry or thirsty that we can tell. Stores and gas stations are open in Houston and opening hourly in other areas as power is restored. Walmart in Port Arthur was open without power. Target in Friendswood was giving out truckloads of ice and water. The Red Cross is distributing meals. The Houston food bank is looking for additional assistance as their demand is way up, but still is functioning.
The primary need that we can fill as soon as a hosting organization is ready for us is mucking and maybe a little chain saw cleanup work.
Southeast Church of Christ in Friendswood, a Houston suburb may also host a relief effort for that area. They are in a suburban area and have great facilities for us to use and they are only 30 minutes from most damaged areas including Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula areas that were the hardest hit.
I’ve made contact with two churches in Nederland/Port Arthur about hosting operations for areas around Beaumont, Orange, Bridge City, etc.
Hilltop is discussing the possibility of hosting in Sulfur, Louisiana and investigating the areas we hit this week as well.
View Larger Map
Their decision of where to set up shop will impact our decision as we know the four needs of volunteers, work, showers, place to sleep, and food will be managed.
We’ve left business cards at churches that look suitable where we couldn’t find anyone and spoken with quite a few contacts investigating the needs and our options to work down there so it’s been a productive trip. The situation is still very new and fluid, as these things are, so no definite plans yet.
I still want to plan a tentative trip for Saturday, September 27. This would be a two day drive with an overnight each way, work for 5 days, and return home the following weekend, October 4 and 5.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire and Mark Day
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Winnie Texas
Lots more wind damage here. Got 7 miles from High Island and were stopped again. Appears there's still not getting to the coast.
Learned that Southeast Church of Christ in Houston area is setting up operations. No answer on the phone, but we're heading that way.
Learned that Southeast Church of Christ in Houston area is setting up operations. No answer on the phone, but we're heading that way.
News from the Road
Yesterday we drove through west Louisiana and into Nederland, Texas. There's no power on the Texas side anywhere except for a couple gas stations right on the I-10. We're now in Port Arthur and finding the worst hit areas, but I'll blog this out in sequence of our trip.
The wind damage is not so severe as with Rita and Katrina. Not even close, but some towns received a lot more storm surge than they did 3 years ago.
We did not visit, but Daphne German was in Laplatte, Louisiana last night and reports whole neighborhoods still underwater there.
After waiting through a lot of traffic (Texas plates headed home) we checked out Lafayette, and New Iberia and found no obvious problems there.
Delcambre, Louisiana has some flooding from storm surge. It had receeded enough that many people were already cleaning out their homes, but some roads were still flooded so we couldn't get out to the lower, extremely rural areas.
We drove west through Lake Charles finding minor wind damage, but most power is on, stores are open, and all is actually more normal there than in Ohio.
We spoke with Brian Spicer in Sulfer, Louisiana who has been running volunteer ops in West Louisiana since 2005 says most areas are OK, but he has heard from many residents of Cameron who have been rebuilding the last three years that their town is wiped away again. Even homes with 15 foot stilts (new building code) had water in them. They are in hotels he says. This area will need assistance in the weeks ahead, but there is little we can do now and can't get into the area yet.
Brian has met with 30 families from Cameron today and new information from ariel and boat surveys reinforces that the community was almost totally destroyed. They would like to have camping gear, stoves, ice chests, pots, pans, gas cans, insect repellant, probably tents, so they can live out there once they can get back into the area. They hope that will happen in the next couple of days.
We crossed the Texas border and topped off with Diesel. We turned south and drove through Orange (no power, and some wind damage) and into Bridge City. Areas around those towns flooded heavily and scuttlebut has it that many died there, but officials are not saying. We witnessed search and rescue boat and helicopter patrols at the base of the large bridge on the south end of town where we were turned back.
We drove through Beaumont (some power, some wind damage, flooded underpasses) and down into Nederland, TX where Mark Day's wife Jan has a cousin... Yea, it's that convoluted, but yet again God provided us with clean sheets a soft bed, and a tepid shower.
This morning we started in Port Arthur/Nederland area which has some wind damage and no power, but not a lot of structural damage to homes or electrical grid. A policeman, a preacher, and a church secretary we talked to all felt blessed with the outcome, but said Orange and Bridge City would really need help. We made some good contacts who may be able to host volunteers there.
We are attempting to get closer to the Boulivar Peninsula area where there was a lot of damage to assess. We don't expect to find any churches habitable down there though. We were turned back taking a southern route to Sabine Texas where they are only letting in residents, and the guy behind us with his boat who was going to rescue friends from their flooded neighborhood.
We went around another way towards High Island and were blocked by two barges washed on to the road. Dead cattle were in the ditch to the side and dead fish were scattered on the road. Got a pic (of the barges and fish) that'll I'll place here if I can.
We redirected again and ran into a closed floodwall, and after a final detour manged to get back onto the I-10 West of Beaumont.
I'll post updates as we can and as we have cell data service for Internet access.
Tim Hines reports president bush declared today that volunteer expenses would be reimbursed from the government, that we've gotten disaster fatigue and not as many people are volunteering. We hope this is true and await specifics.
Pray for us and Gary Watt's team from Hilltop Rescue as we survey the disaster zone.
Pray for all the storm victims in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky too. While I'm down here, I know many of you, including my family and Mark's are without power and cleaning up their neighborhoods. Be safe!
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
The wind damage is not so severe as with Rita and Katrina. Not even close, but some towns received a lot more storm surge than they did 3 years ago.
We did not visit, but Daphne German was in Laplatte, Louisiana last night and reports whole neighborhoods still underwater there.
After waiting through a lot of traffic (Texas plates headed home) we checked out Lafayette, and New Iberia and found no obvious problems there.
Delcambre, Louisiana has some flooding from storm surge. It had receeded enough that many people were already cleaning out their homes, but some roads were still flooded so we couldn't get out to the lower, extremely rural areas.
We drove west through Lake Charles finding minor wind damage, but most power is on, stores are open, and all is actually more normal there than in Ohio.
We spoke with Brian Spicer in Sulfer, Louisiana who has been running volunteer ops in West Louisiana since 2005 says most areas are OK, but he has heard from many residents of Cameron who have been rebuilding the last three years that their town is wiped away again. Even homes with 15 foot stilts (new building code) had water in them. They are in hotels he says. This area will need assistance in the weeks ahead, but there is little we can do now and can't get into the area yet.
Brian has met with 30 families from Cameron today and new information from ariel and boat surveys reinforces that the community was almost totally destroyed. They would like to have camping gear, stoves, ice chests, pots, pans, gas cans, insect repellant, probably tents, so they can live out there once they can get back into the area. They hope that will happen in the next couple of days.
We crossed the Texas border and topped off with Diesel. We turned south and drove through Orange (no power, and some wind damage) and into Bridge City. Areas around those towns flooded heavily and scuttlebut has it that many died there, but officials are not saying. We witnessed search and rescue boat and helicopter patrols at the base of the large bridge on the south end of town where we were turned back.
We drove through Beaumont (some power, some wind damage, flooded underpasses) and down into Nederland, TX where Mark Day's wife Jan has a cousin... Yea, it's that convoluted, but yet again God provided us with clean sheets a soft bed, and a tepid shower.
This morning we started in Port Arthur/Nederland area which has some wind damage and no power, but not a lot of structural damage to homes or electrical grid. A policeman, a preacher, and a church secretary we talked to all felt blessed with the outcome, but said Orange and Bridge City would really need help. We made some good contacts who may be able to host volunteers there.
We are attempting to get closer to the Boulivar Peninsula area where there was a lot of damage to assess. We don't expect to find any churches habitable down there though. We were turned back taking a southern route to Sabine Texas where they are only letting in residents, and the guy behind us with his boat who was going to rescue friends from their flooded neighborhood.
We went around another way towards High Island and were blocked by two barges washed on to the road. Dead cattle were in the ditch to the side and dead fish were scattered on the road. Got a pic (of the barges and fish) that'll I'll place here if I can.
We redirected again and ran into a closed floodwall, and after a final detour manged to get back onto the I-10 West of Beaumont.
I'll post updates as we can and as we have cell data service for Internet access.
Tim Hines reports president bush declared today that volunteer expenses would be reimbursed from the government, that we've gotten disaster fatigue and not as many people are volunteering. We hope this is true and await specifics.
Pray for us and Gary Watt's team from Hilltop Rescue as we survey the disaster zone.
Pray for all the storm victims in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky too. While I'm down here, I know many of you, including my family and Mark's are without power and cleaning up their neighborhoods. Be safe!
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
Sunday, September 14, 2008
On the Road Again
Mark Day (South IB groups) and I are traveling down I-65 currently while you are enjoying the remnants of Hurricane Ike. There's been quite a lack of information coming in from the storm's aftermath so we're on our way down to scout out needs and hosting sites to work with. Post storm analysis, though, says Galveston bay only got a 13 foot storm surge rather than the possible 25 foot predicted due to a change in course of the storm. That means the maximum surge was felt more around Port Arthur and Beaumont, destinations we hope to investigate this week.
Plan on a team leaving by next Sunday for chainsaw and mudout work. Also useful will be counselors and medical types who can handle first aid for the body, the brain, and the soul. If you can join such a trip or take responsibility to lead it down, please reply by email, or call Melinda McGuire at 614-523-3996. She tells me (via cell phone), though that our power is out at the moment. Hopefully those problems up there will be short lived.
There are going to be people needing trees cut up there. Amy Fox, one of our initial volunteers, has already called with a large tree in her yard in Westerville. If you need help, or want to offer it, email replies or a call to Melinda will work to get people together for the local effort too. If you have elderly or disabled neighbors, please take this opportunity to check on them today and tomorrow.
We're staying with Tim Hines in Mandeville tonight. We will keep you posted as to what we find this week on the blog and less frequently via more emails.
As always your prayers are requested and appreciated for safety, the wisdom of the spirit, and successful outreach in Jesus' name.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
Plan on a team leaving by next Sunday for chainsaw and mudout work. Also useful will be counselors and medical types who can handle first aid for the body, the brain, and the soul. If you can join such a trip or take responsibility to lead it down, please reply by email, or call Melinda McGuire at 614-523-3996. She tells me (via cell phone), though that our power is out at the moment. Hopefully those problems up there will be short lived.
There are going to be people needing trees cut up there. Amy Fox, one of our initial volunteers, has already called with a large tree in her yard in Westerville. If you need help, or want to offer it, email replies or a call to Melinda will work to get people together for the local effort too. If you have elderly or disabled neighbors, please take this opportunity to check on them today and tomorrow.
We're staying with Tim Hines in Mandeville tonight. We will keep you posted as to what we find this week on the blog and less frequently via more emails.
As always your prayers are requested and appreciated for safety, the wisdom of the spirit, and successful outreach in Jesus' name.
Servants Unite!
John McGuire
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