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"Helping Hands" in Galveston
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Sunday, September 28th, 2008
Dave and Ben had the opportunity to join a Church work crew and go into Galveston today to help with the clean-up. There were between two and three hundred volunteers who showed up. Driving in, Dave saw boats beached everywhere but where they should have been and even an RV that had floated onto the median of the freeway. Driving up and down the streets all looked the same. Homes are vacant and there are huge piles of debris out front. The city smells like a huge garbage dump.
Dave was assigned as a Ham Radio Operator to one of the work crews. Those work crews that finished their projects early were able to pick up new work projects from those crews who weren’t going to complete all the projects they had been assigned. The Ham Radio Operators facilitated the communications between the work crews.
One of Dave’s project locations consisted of a small apartment complex (see above). One of the tenants had not evacuated and recounted seeing sharks bump into his living room window as the hurricane surge came in. The winds tore roofs and walls apart and what didn’t float away with the incoming surge got swept out to sea as the tide receded (see below).
The owners of a house on the fourth street north of the Galveston beachfront now find themselves waterfront homeowners. The street in front of their house is covered with sand and it literally looks like their house sits on the beach (see below).
Some of the houses on the third street north of the old waterfront still remain (see below). But all of these homes will be demolished; there is a regulation requiring homes be no closer to the waterfront than 400 feet.
The only thing remaining of homes that used to be on the second street north of the waterfront are the foundation pilings and those are partially submerged in the surf (see above). Homes on the first street north of the waterfront got swept out to sea. If there is anything remaining of them, it is under water. The Galveston beachfront that most of us have visited and enjoyed no longer exists.
Most of the homes being cleaned up today were completely gutted. Black mold is growing on the wallboard clear up to the ceilings in some homes. Belongings that didn’t get swept outside are caked in muck. [The photo above is one of the houses that didn't fare too badly compared to others.]
While homeowners were grateful for the “Helping Hands” group that showed up today to render assistance, most of them are a long way from returning to normal every day life activities.
