Disaster

Yesterday I volunteered to go down to the 3 flooded counties in SE MN to work with a behavioral health team. We were deployed to Fillmore county. We went to a small town of 1600, called Rushford. It was the first time I have ever been exposed to a weather related disaster of this magnitude. It was so sad. Homes were flagged with red, yellow or green flags. Red meaning the home had to be destroyed. Yellow meant the home was inhabitable until completely disinfected and all plumbing and electrical work could be repaired. Green meant they were habitable. I saw mostly yellow. A few red. No green.

The pile of garbage that we saw when we drove into town was insane. It was seriously as large as my house x 15.

We arrived at the FE.MA tent and were not really given much direction. So we went looking for anyone who needed help. I met a couple who were wearing Sal.va.tion Army shirts and asked if we could do anything for them. They were wonderful! They were stationed at a church hall. They had tables shelves of deodorant, shampoo, soap, etc. They had large tables set up for lunch and we learned this was the place almost the entire community would be at when lunch time arrived. A few of the girls helped the church ladies with lunch in the kitchen. V and I decided we want to see the people. So we decided to walk through the neighborhoods and see if anyone needed to talk. We started out down one block and it was literally like a ghost town. The homes were all open, doors and windows, airing out. No one was around. The drywall was torn down inside, waist down. It was unbelievable. The streets were caked in mud. The front yards were full of toilets, sinks, furniture, anything and everything that was destroyed.

A few of my favorite moments of the day...

We saw a man (probably in his late 50's or early 60's) out on his front porch pouring water over his head. (It was 93 degrees) We stopped to ask if he was doing ok, keeping hydrated and eating enough. You could tell just by looking at him that he was mentally, physically and emotionally wiped. We introduced ourselves and explained that we were there to just check in with people and make sure they were doing ok. This seemed to just open the flood gates (no pun intended) for him. He just vented... it was great. I felt so glad he had someone to talk to as he was home alone at the time. I learned he was a retired college professor who "retired" to Rushford. This was to be his last home. It was a beautiful Victorian home. He ranted for a while about FE.MA, the state not providing enough help, etc. But then he sorta switched gears and told us he was one of the lucky ones because his house was one of the oldest in town and the older home were built 2-4 feet higher than new homes are today. So his first floor wasn't even hit. Most homes were covered in mud halfway up the walls on the first floor. (Think of everything on the first floor and basements of your homes. Would $28,000 from the mentioned above federal aide group cover all that? Plus the cleanup on your home.) Besides the mud there was raw sewage. E Coli was running rampant through the water supply. These people couldn't run their water, couldn't drink it, brush their teeth, cook with it or even bathe. My heart ached for this man. I was so sad to leave him sitting there alone. But we had to keep moving on. I did see him later at the church hall with a woman I assumed was his wife. That made me less worried about him. Oh yeah, and he did offer us a beer, which I now think is hilarious!

During lunch we were told to quiet down and that someone wanted to come in and speak to us. Well to my surprise in walks the Governor. He gave a pretty decent 10 minute speech. He answered questions. The residents of Rushford are asking the state legislature to hold a special session with the hopes of receiving more aide to their county along with the other two. The Governor acknowledged this was in the works... hoping it would happen by the end of next week. A comment was then made by, what must have been, an 80 year old woman. She told the Governor that, "the state legislatures should all volunteer their time at this special session, just like many, many of us are doing here!" She received a thunderous applause! I thought that was great.

During lunch I met a woman and her husband who had 6 young children. Before we left our staging area that morning I had loaded up my backpack with all sorts of crayons, coloring books, pens, pencils, notepads and bracelets. These kids had just lost everything and when I offered them these items the look on their faces was just priceless. They're faced lit up and they were so excited. The mother just kept thanking me and thanking me. I just wanted to hug her and tell her how sorry I was and that I wished I had millions in my bank account so I could help her and her hubby. Geez, can you imagine needing to clean and disinfect a home... where the threat of disease and infection was still present... and having 6 children under 9 to care for!? Wow.

After lunch we went back to the main headquarters tent to use the restrooms... they had the only real restrooms that we could use (most others could not even flush the toilets yet). As we were heading out to a clothing distribution center to help separate clothing donations, we were stopped by a man who asked if we needed a job. We quickly said yes! Before we knew what it was he wanted us 5 girls to do! We walked around the corner and we see 2 semi's... ok, so we are to unload palates of boxed frozen chicken breasts. They were cold and heavy! But I so didn't want to be a wimp. I crawled up into the back of the semi and stood in the assembly line and we just passed box after box after box. It was so hot outside that being in the freezing cold back end of this semi felt pretty good. If I would have had to pass that many boxes of chicken outside in the heat I'm pretty sure I would have passed out. We must have lifted hundreds of boxes. I'm so proud of myself for not giving up!

The day was pretty much over by that time. We went to the clothing distribution center and picked up the rest of our group to head home. That was around 3:00. We met back at the staging area and had a debriefing for about an hour. Just to share stories, thoughts and concerns. I ended up getting home around 6. I undressed in the garage! And G had the shower running for me when I came in. I was so smelly, dirty and exhausted. I was in bed and asleep by 7:45!!!! It was a rewarding, eye-opening and exhausting day. The day put everything in to perspective for me. It was a great day and I learned a lot about me. I did things I never thought I could do. And without sounding totally lame... I am proud of myself.

Enough for tonight. Make sure you tell your family and friends that you love them. Don't wait for tomorrow. You just never know what tomorrow might bring. Night.

K