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Ground Zero In Bridge City, TX

The eye of Hurricane Rita passed directly over Orange, TX on September 24, 2005.  Who could have known at that time that just 3 years later, almost to the day, September 13, 2008, that Hurricane Ike would once again bring havoc to Southeast Texas.  Two totally different storms, two totally different types of damage, one common theme: devastation.

Hurricane Rita’s damage was mostly caused by wind.  Hurricane force wind as well as tornadoes really took a toll on our area.  Trees were down everywhere.  Trees fell through the middle of houses.  Fallen trees took out natural gas lines as they fell and uprooted.  Houses were knocked off their piers when trees that were growing close by fell away from the house and the huge root ball became a lever to lift and move the house.   And naturally, trees took down hundreds of power lines as huge branches snapped and fell.

As soon as Rita passed, armies of utility workers invaded our town along with tree trimmers and crews to remove the debris.  Tent cites went up on almost every spare parking lot available.  After 19 days, electricity was finally restored at my home.  It was hot, miserably humid and the mosquitoes were unbelievable.  The federal government sent in huge C130s to spray for the mosquitoes.

Unlike what we saw with Rita, Hurricane Ike brought us a 1–2 punch, 1 being wind and 2 being water.  The eye of Ike passed over Galveston, TX putting Southeast Texas (Orange) in the storm’s North East quadrant.  That’s the worst of all scenarios.  With the counter clockwise rotation of a hurricane, the east side of the storm is more susceptible to tornadoes and, as we all know firsthand, storm surge. The tree damage caused by the winds was not nearly what I saw after Rita.  One of the reasons is simple, there weren’t as many trees.  Rita did a pretty good job of pruning and thinning most of the trees in our area.  Once again the army of utility workers started streaming into our area and the tent cities suddenly reappeared.

Unlike post Rita, a cool front pushed through right behind Ike bringing cooler temperatures and low humidity.  My electricity was restored within a mere 72 hours.  Unlike Rita, Ike’s damages to our home amounted to one piece of siding being blown off along with several pieces of soffit from under the porch.  We were blessed. As I write this this morning I look outside and everything is back to normal.  If you were here you would not know that just a few miles away in Bridge City, TX that is not the case.

While my neighborhood avoided Ike’s second punch, Bridge City did not.  In this small town of approximately 8500 residents there were only a handful of homes and businesses that did not receive damage from the flooding caused by Ike’s storm surge.  I’ve lived here all my life and never have I witnessed a storm surge or its aftermath.  The aftermath is as awesome as it is devastating.  I’ve seen houses with walls and windows blown out that were filled with water.  When the water receded mud and muck remained.  There are many stories of alligators, snakes and swimming pools full of jellyfish.

Marsh Cane Replaces This Home's Landscape

The wind and the water blew in tons and tons of marsh cane which not only filled houses but now cover many people’s lawns as much as several feet thick.  I spent some time with an old friend yesterday and he told me this storm has brought out the best and the worst in his fellow neighbors.  His eyes watered when he told me he was shoveling the mud off his carport when all of a sudden his neighbor appeared from nowhere with a shovel and started helping him.  He said he looked across the street and the neighbor had just as much if not more damage as he had yet he dropped what he was doing to come and offer help.

Another friend was assisting the Orange Police Department working one of the PODS (Point of Distribution Site).  The sites are mostly set up and run by the Red Cross.  Here they hand out ice and water along with whatever else they have on hand namely cleaning supplies, shovels, rakes, juice, diapers, MREs (Meals Ready To Eat) etc.  He told me after several days of working traffic control at the PODS he along with other officers began to recognize people they knew whose damage was minimal and whose power was restored coming to get their “free” supplies.  They began to grumble about those who really didn’t have a need being greedy and said he really was starting to become cynical about the whole situation.  Then he grinned and told me that just when he was ready to write everyone off as greedy a gentleman pulled up in a pick up and said, “Officer, I was here about an hour ago and picked up these cases of water.  When I got home I found my electricity had been restored.  Can I return this water?”

A Lifetime of Memories Now Just Wet, Ruined Rubbish

The most heart wrenching scene is to drive down street after street and see the mountains of debris that once was someone’s living room furniture or bedroom furniture or their children’s toys or their clothing.  In other words, everything they own is being dragged out of their flooded homes and piled as high as they can pile it in their front yard.  And almost everywhere you look there are signs spray painted on plywood.  Some read: “If you loot, we shoot” others say “4 Insurance, Please don’t take.”  It’s unbelievable.  Who would ever have thought that you would have to plead with people not to remove (loot) your waterlogged personal property.  Some of the looters are looking for items they can salvage while others are looking for items they can take to add to their “pile” in order to recover more money from their insurance company.

There are some people in our area who had not fully recovered from Rita when Ike blew into town.  Ike’s damage and destruction went way beyond knocking down trees.  That’s the kind of problem that can be resolved in a short period of time with chainsaws and hard work.  Not so with Ike.  Thousands of homes and businesses are being gutted. Along with the personal items, mounds of ruined sheetrock and paneling along with waterlogged insulation are piled high in front yards. All will have to be rebuilt.  Some will not rebuild, some will not return and that is to be expected.

One thing that gives me a real sense of pride about my neighbors in Southeast Texas comes from a conversation I had with our State Representatives.  He told me that FEMA and other representatives from the Federal Government can’t believe what they were seeing immediately after the storm.  What they saw were people pulling themselves up by their (rubber) bootstraps, picking up shovels and rakes and beginning the process of starting over.  The “Feds” could not believe and were not prepared to see people immediately begin to put their lives back together WITHOUT waiting to see what the government was going to “do for them.”

When the citizens of Southeast Texas returned to their flooded homes after Hurricane Ike, they grieved the total loss of their personal, sentimental possessions.  They comforted one another and then they went to work to rebuild.  The resiliency of the people of Southeast Texas is a testimony to their faith in God, their love of family and community as well as their strong sense of independence.