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Ground Zero plus 6 months

I don’t know about you but I find it hard to believe it’s already March!  Last October I posted a story comparing Hurricane Rita from September 25, 2005 and Hurricane Ike from September 13, 2008.  These were two different storms with two different types of destruction.  Likewise, the clean up and recovery are also very different.  I can now see that.

March 13 will be 6 months since Hurricane Ike came to town and in many places, it still looks as if it were only yesterday.  Nearly 4000 homes were damaged in Bridge City, Texas alone.  Work is well underway in many of those homes to rebuild while many others remain untouched.  Still others have been cleaned out and gutted down to bare studs and stand empty either waiting for the next available work crew or with a “For Sale” sign out in the front yard.  The “For Sale” signs are everywhere but every now and then you see a “Sold” sign as well.  There are also lots of signs that read: “We Pay Cash For Damaged Homes.”

For some, the damage from Hurricane Ike has been an economic boom of sorts.  Workers from all over have converged on Southeast Texas.  The first wave of workers immediately after the storm was made up of disaster relief teams, church groups from all across the United States, debris clean up crews with the high walled trash trailers and heavy machinery.

The second wave of workers moved in ASAP once the first wave cleared access to the damaged city.  The second wave was made up of sheetrock workers, plumbers, electricians, carpenters and laborers.  These folks came to town with their tools and their own living quarters; tents, campers and RVs.  You name it and they brought it.  Of course there was little to no place for them to park and set up their “homes.”  Needless to say when there is demand, supply will follow quickly.  Once the established RV parks were filled, others began to pop up everywhere there was an open piece of property.  I’ve watched as some of these “RV Parks” have become mud holes from the January and February rain we’ve had.  Even vacant warehouses have been leased and filled on the inside with camping trailers to provide housing for the labor force.

Many of these workers are independents seeking out employment on their own while others are here working as private contractors for FEMA.  I have no idea how many FEMA “trailers” have been brought in and set up to provide housing for the displaced in Bridge City and the surrounding area but there are hundreds.  Each of these trailers has to be moved onto the home owner’s property, leveled and blocked up.  Many times they are located only a few feet from the house as there is no other place to put them.  Then electrical and plumbing connections are made followed by a vinyl skirt that is wrapped around the bottom of the trailed to seal it off.

Home Sweet Home? FEMA trailer serves as temporary shelter while home is being repaired.

The final step in making these trailers liveable is a sturdy set of steps with handrails leading up to a small porch.  In driving around you’ll also see many of these porches not only with stairs but they also include a handicap accessible ramp.  The material used on the porches, steps, handrails and handicap ramps is treated lumber.  On the handicap ramps you will also find stainless steel handrails on both sides of the ramp.  The final touch (and one I can’t figure out) is to paint the floor of the porch and the handicap ramp with a white paint.  The size of most of these trailers is not big by any means, maybe 600 square.  The good news is they have a lot more room (especially the Bath Room) than a 24 foot camping trailer which is also a very common sight.

Have you ever been inside a standard camping trailer that you would use for the weekend at the lake or maybe a week at your deer lease?   If they have a shower, it’s so cramped an adult usually can’t turn around in it much less stand up straight.  And how about the toilet?  For many of us tall folks to use one usually means sitting there with your knees hitting your chin.  But that’s not too bad for a trip to the lake or the deer lease but that’s not what I’m talking about in this case.  What I’m talking about is a couple, and in many cases a family, sharing a small trailer EVERY DAY for the past 6 months…  Try and imagine that!

There are also many areas that look exactly the way they looked right after the storm.  Remember the photo of the house that was at Ground Zero?  Well nothing has changed there.  And the debris piles are still visible on the side of many of the city streets.  Many of the piles have been picked up but many more still remain.  And I’m sure they will be there for some time to come and there will be a fight as to who will pay for the additional clean up; will it be the city or the county or the state or the federal government?  Well, I predict it will be a cat fight as each entity claims they have no funds.  The bottom line is it will need to be cleaned and we all will pay for it, one way or another.

I’m blessed in that I live in a neighborhood that had minimal damage from Ike and no water damage.  It’s easy for me to leave my driveway and hit Interstate 10 and head East or West and not be conscious of the destruction just a few miles away.  If you are like me, with little or no damage, and you don’t normally drive through Bridge City, try and just imagine this:  Imagine your drive home after work.

6 months later debris piles still line city streets.

You turn off main street onto the street that leads to your neighborhood, passing by houses that are gutted with the windows and doors all open.  Several of the houses also have the now too familar FEMA blue tarps on the roof to “protect” the home from the rain.  The only problem is that now 6 months later many of those tarps have been torn and tattered from the wind.  You continue past the piles of the debris piled at the street waiting for who knows who to come who knows when to pick it up and haul it off.  Finally you pull up on the side of the street and park for the night because there’s no room in the driveway, your spouse and maybe one of your kids has already parked in the drive and there’s just no room because of the POD storage container and, just a few feet away, you FEMA trailer.  Home Sweet Home!  I can’t imagine the mental toll living amidst this destruction and filth might be taking.

I drove through Bridge City early this morning to take a few photos to include on this post.  And as bad as it might look to someone driving through for the first time, the citizens of this small city have made significant progress.  I saw several groups in different neighborhoods standing out in the yard with cups of coffee in their hands, visiting.  They were getting ready to start another day, a Saturday in this case of eating the elephant.  You’ve heard that story haven’t you?  In case you haven’t here it is again:  You know how you eat an elephant???  ………. One bite at a time.  And that’s exactly what these neighbors are doing, they’re eating an elephant.

There was some discussion last fall after the shock of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike began to subside.  Much of that discussion was whether or not Bridge City would ever come back as a city.  Many folks have moved on and left the area while others stayed to rebuild.  And still there are others who see opportunity and are locating to Bridge City to make it their home.  Well, 6 months later the answer to that question is apparent to me, Bridge City is alive and well.