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Many FEMA Centers Remain Closed as Frustrated Locals Search for Aid - Roxbury - DNAinfo.com New York

Many FEMA Centers Remain Closed as Frustrated Locals Search for Aid - Roxbury - DNAinfo.com New York

Everything is in short supply; perishable food, heat, power, gasoline, patience. There are long lines waiting for gas at the gas stations. The lines of cars go down the street and around the block. Some of the lines required police officers to keep the crowd from getting too boisterous. Mostly people waited in an orderly line, but they are out of gas. They can't get to work, they can't take the kids to school, they can't go somewhere warm because they can't drive there. I am in Staten Island where the public transportation system is not as extensive as on Manhattan and people are frustrated. Even when there was finally gas for the cars, it was rationed. Even ending on license plate meant you could fill up on even days. Hours each day are spent trying to survive to get basic items. Some of the people in the gas lines were lining up at night and staying in their cars so they could be the first in line the next morning to get gas.

After a short time in Lower Manhattan we moved to Staten Island where there was more damage. We moved into a building to work that had no heat, but we were out of the wind. People on Staten Island were devistated by the damage and loss they had experienced and working with the survivors was draining. We were still living in Times Square because the disaster survivors were living in hotels in the area. We had a minimum of a 2 hour drive to work, worked a 12 hour day, and a minimum of 2 hours home, depending on how bad the traffic was. Those were some very long days.

There were no lights in Lower Manhattan: no elevators, no electricity to keep food from spoiling, no electricity to pump the water up the apartment buildings or to pump the sewage down the building. Residents described the floors of their apartment buildings as pitch black. They said you have to put one hand on the wall and feel your way down. If you live 20 floors up, that is a slow and dangerous walk. The food sat in the kitchen and the refrigerators and rotted. They were not able to take their garbage down all those floors in the darkness so the garbage sat in the apartment. They described the smell in the apartment buildings as rotting garbage mixed with the smell of sewage. Some of them, the younger and healthier, made the trek down the apartment stairs looking for electricity to charge their cell phones so that they could connect with the outside world and to have a phone in case they had a personal emergency. There was no food to purchase because the stores had the same problem with rotting food and the restaurants could not cook the food even if they had it. The first day we worked there we went without food all day because we couldnt find any to purchase. The next day we located a pizza restaurant with a wood-fire oven that was making cheese pizza. That cheese pizza tasted soooo good. One of the things we did was to use our bus to generate power to let people charge their cell phones. We gathered quite a crowd around our bus while their phones charged. They were courteous to each other and even with the large crowd there was no problem.

We went to work in the dark and drove home from work in the dark. But when we got to our hotels in Times Square, it was as if nothing had happened. The lights were on, the people were shopping, the shows were going and it was a bit disconcerting. It was as if there were parallel universes and we were going in and out of them. One had all the conveniences, the other had none. After being cold all day, I went back to the hotel and took a very hot shower, trying to get my body warm again.

Hurricane Sandy

I had another blog for a while, but I am back. I have been to many, many disasters since I last wrote here. Currently I am in NY helping with the Hurricane Sandy disaster. I flew into Philadelphia, PA because all nearby airports were closed from the storm. I got a rental car to drive to Newark, NJ turned that in and got another rental car for the next 30 days. The Hertz rental in NJ had no power and the people renting the cars were using headlamps for light. I used my flashlight to use the restroom because it was pitch black, but not everyone has a flashlight to use, and perhaps it is better not to see what others have done in the dark. I drove into New York facing the place where the Twin Towers had been. I sucked in my breath as the memories from the time I spent there at 9/11 came rushing back. As I drove on the West Highway, I remembered all the signs and plackards and crowds from 9/11and the long, long line of dump trucks that stretched on for as far as you could see. I pushed those memories aside and drove to my hotel in Times Square.

I got up the next morning to go to work at a new mobile DRC in Lower Manhattan. I got up in the dark and drove to work in the dark, but there was no light. There were no street lights or street signals for directing traffic. Only a few intersections had police directing traffic. It was very dangerous to poke the car out into the intersection an inch at a time in the pitch black, trying to get the traffic to see my headlights so that they stop long enough for me to cross the street. No one wanted to stop and the drivers in NYC are pretty aggressive about getting where they want to go! I took some pictures of driving to work, but the first ones I took were black squares. I had to wait for the sun to come up a little bit so that the pictures would turn out.

Yellowstone

Taking some time from disaster response and spending time with a granddaughter. We visited Yellowstone. It is as awesome as I remember from my childhood.
I also took some time to visit my younger granddaughter and my new grandson in Wyoming. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer. Sandy

Well, the time has come to have our last meal together, tear down, and pack up. It will be sad to leave all the people I have spent so much time with. We had a great group of folks working here who are concerned about the applicants and dedicated to getting the job done right. After we leave here, we will spend a week in Kansas City for training, and then who knows when we will see each other again. We had our last meal at Grumpys. (That's Mr. and Mrs. Grumpy in the back). All of you take care. I will let you know how KC goes. Sandy

Katy Trail

Part of the Katy Trail is nearby and sometimes for lunch we go there to eat and sit under the trees and watch the bikers. The area of Rocheport was first exlpored by Lewis and Clark. Then the railroads stretched through the country and right through Rocheport. The Katy Trail is 225 miles long and has taken the place of the now abondoned railroads. It is a beautiful setting and the town of Rocheport is well-kept and a lovely little community. These are the bluffs above the town. I understand that people come from all over to ride their bicycles along this path and stop for food and to stay in some of the bed and breakfast inns.

FEMA workers

We are winding down now. We got our big project finished and have done most of the case work we have to do. We will work half day on Saturday. The JFO will be closing next week and I will be headed to Kansas City to do some training. We have been exploring some of the local diners around the area. I want to show you where we had lunch today. There are also the most interesting moths here. I took a picture to show you. And one last photo at the Testicle Festival. Take care, see you all before too long. Sandy

Testicle Festival

We got off of work at 1 PM on Saturday, and so some of us drove an hour to go to the Testicle Festival. The town of Olean is a small village that required a drive down a dirt road. It was a beautiful day in the hills of Missouri. There were a lot of bikers there, families, and the curious. We bought a container of "nuts" that had batter and were deep fat fried. They taste sort of like chicken gizzards. A little goes a long way, and we didnt manage to finish all of them. The hats on these women say "testicle inspector". Notice the one with the "blue balls". It was a nice break from work and we had fun at the festival. Take care, Sandy

Grumpy's

There is a small trailer on an off-the-beaten-path road which serves great food. The outside is kind of scary, but the food is good. The owner is always there when we come, and he acts at being a grouch, but is a friendly guy. There is a $10 surcharge for being a grouchy customer. Here is a picture in Grumpys. This is about the entire restaurant. We got our big project finished and we will probably get half of Saturday off. We are looking forward to the Testicle Festival. Take care, Sandy

Ozarks

I am working near Columbia now. But to get here I drove through the Ozarks. It was really different than the bootheel of Missouri. The Ozarks are covered with trees and winding roads over the hills.

Here is a picture of the DRC in Caruthersville where we worked every day seeing clients. The night before I left Caruthersville, we all got together and had dinner.

Take care everyone, I will write more about Grumpy's and the Testicle Festival later. Sandy

TORNADO IN CARUTHERSVILLE

Here are a few more pictures of the tornado damage. The trees that are down are huge.
Take a look at the roots of this tree next to this house.

Here are some pictures of the damage that was done by the tornado in the "bootheel" area of Missouri. We are still down in Missouri working on the cleanup. Forget that I told you I had time off--we have been working 12 days 7 days a week again. We have a big project we are trying to get finished, and I think we are about finished! The people here are great to work with and I really enjoy the job. Keep in touch, Sandy

I want to show you where I have been working since April 7. I have been in the "bootheel" of Missouri. It is down next to the border of Tennessee and Arkansas.
Caruthersville is next to the Mississippi and for lunch sometimes I go to the river and watch it while I eat lunch. The current is really fast here. The land looks a lot like Nebraska, flat irrigated farm land. We have been working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Then we got Sunday off, and now we are getting half Saturday. For 2 weeks I worked in Missouri and lived in Arkansas. It was a nice drive each day. Next post I will put in some pictures of the tornado. Take care, Sandy

Missouri

I am in Missouri working the tornadoes that hit Caruthersville a week ago. It is wonderful to be able to help people put their lives back together. I am back by the awesome Mississippi River, and so excited to be back here. Yesterday after work I was supposed to take 55 home and didn't notice that I was on 155. I ended up in Tennessee! I had to drive back to Missouri to orient myself to drive to my hotel in Arkansas. I didn't make that mistake again! We are seeing alot of people every day in the Disaster Relief Center. Hope you are all well, take care, Sandy

Last Hurrah

Made one last trip to New Orleans before heading home today. Every time I go, there are more restaurants and shops open. One of the restaurants has this fountain with a fire in the middle of it. The local folks tell me that there are not nearly the amount of people on the streets that there usually are, but it looks to me like things are getting up and running. I had one last bowl of gumbo, this bowl complete with a crab claw in it! There was a group of musicians playing on the street and I stopped to listen for a while. Today it is 70 degrees and absolutely gorgeous. We had turkey dinner yesterday at camp with dressing. The turkey dressing had shrimp in it! Tasted ok, just surprised me. I was the last one out of camp today, it was very empty with only the 10 people left who are going to maintain the generators, etc. The morgue will start back up on Dec. 27. It will be sad not to be there with them, but I am eager to start my FEMA job. The folks at the morgue have made so many identifications there are just a few left to do, although they keep finding bodies. Each day it seems they find one or two in the debris and they bring them to the morgue. Our camp is right next to the river and sometimes we wake up to foggy mornings. I love the fog, it makes everything so mysterious. Here is one of our guards standing his post this morning. This will be my last posting from Louisiana. Email me if you want to see any other pictures, I took over 300 of them! Happy Holidays to all of you, love Sandy