On Wednesday night I watched YouTube for the first time in 20 days. Among the videos was the one from Wranglestar (below) who was on the ground volunteering in an area that looks much like ours. Starting at 4:17, he shows the devastation near the river looks similar to what we see, but with fewer damaged buildings than we have. Cars left in debris fields along rivers are not an uncommon sight. The tangled masses of downed trees is what I deal with several days a week when working to clear our land, and I don’t have skid steer or a saw as large as his!
To give you an idea of the extent of the devastation, keep in mind that this video was filmed Sunday, more than two weeks after the storm struck.
When Wranglestar talks about the outpouring of support, starting at 2:07, we see that first hand on the ground here, with food, bottled water, diapers, blankets, etc. They have given away hundreds of generators and are now giving people propane heaters. Our biggest fear is the debris removal and rebuilding effort may last months, outstripping the willingness of people from elsewhere to help out.
We went to town on Wednesday for only the third time since the storm hit. We actually saw utility trucks replacing poles for the first time. They were four or five miles away, but we were happy to see them in any case. It’s going to be some time before they fix the pole in yesterday’s main image. While we were in town, we were able to drop of trash at a “convenience center,” the first time since the hurricane struck. We also visited the volunteer center where we go to sign up so volunteers can come and help us out. We will be lucky if they are as skilled and helpful as Wranglestar and as organized as Grindstone Ministries.
