Finally, a bed, Wrapping it up, It’s Only Been a Week?

DR-129-20 (3)

I finally got to physically occupy my hotel room on Sunday night. Didn’t get to do so again Saturday. After I got things cleaned up post supper, I had to go purchase supplies and didn’t finish work until at least 10 pm, a long day considering it started at 6:30 am. I was so tired my cot seemed more inviting than a bed 25 minutes away. On Sunday I packed up my stuff during a lull in my duties, so I had to go to my hotel that night. I ended up working until 8:00 pm, still a 13-hour day, but I was determined to make it to my hotel room. That 18-mile drive was the longest 18 miles I’ve ever driven. Caught myself dosing at one traffic light. I checked the pedometer on my phone and found I had walked 4.5 miles that day, except for one trip to the store all inside the building. Other than that drive to the store I hadn’t sat down at all. My legs were aching. I took 2 Aleve after my shower and went to bed.
My roommate didn’t come back until after I was asleep. I had an awful thought prior; “What if my roommate was Buzz Saw Billy”, the guy that kept everyone awake our first night in the staff shelter. As it turned out it wasn’t him, I heard just a slight purr once, and that didn’t keep me awake. That was good as I had to get up at 6:00 am the next day.
On Monday I was in the groove, I hit all green lights except the last one, from Carolina Beach to HQ.

My boss left for home on Monday so I was moved to his position as Feeding lead for district 1. For the past week, I’ve been the kitchen manager seeing that the staff got fed. They all seemed happy with the job I did.
We closed down Staff shelter yesterday and HQ today moving it back to the local office where we started. I helped pack up and make that move. Then had to do the final paperwork to wrap up my job.

Things will soon be back in the hands of the locals. All the shelters have now been closed.
they moved DR operations to Greenville. Damage assessment will probably wrap up tomorrow. As of today, they’ve done 3,300 assessments.
I processed out at the end of the day and will fly home tomorrow afternoon. This is the shortest out-of-state DR I’ve ever been on. Didn’t even exhaust my underwear selection. But it seems like I’ve been here longer than a week.
I got a chance to go out shopping tonight and bought a couple cute T-shirts for my granddaughter. I just finished doing my laundry. I didn’t think I’d ever find a place to get enough quarters to do so.
I plan to sleep in tomorrow as I said my flight out isn’t until the afternoon. I think I may get a good breakfast as well.

Most of North Carolina was pretty lucky. But for those whose homes were hit by the tornados it was a disaster, and to think of the mental anguish of individuals who had to evacuate from the FEMA trailers they’ve been living in since their homes were destroyed by Hurricane Florence.
We sheltered a lot of people as a precaution when folks were evacuated and to provide a place for those who did have damage or lost power when the storm went through. Once again the Red Cross was there.

Surviving the Storm, Buzz Saw Billy and Another Night on a Cot

DR-129-20 (2)

You’d never believe by today’s clear blue skies what we went through yesterday and last night.
I have heard the term horizontal rain but I have never experienced it so much so as last night. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of it but I couldn’t capture the rain in the dark, even with the street lights.
I can’t believe we never lost power. You could see transformers popping all over. When I went to bed the rain hitting the wall of windows above me sounded like some was throwing pea gravel against them.
Despite all that, we suffered very little damage that I could see. I heard there was more damage from the tornadoes spurred by the weather conditions than the actual hurricane.
Once you got used to it, the hurricane was great white noise, I had the best night’s sleep since I arrived. Much better than the previous night when we were all kept awake by the loudest snorer that I’ve ever heard. Talk about a buzz saw. He was on the far in of the gym, but I could still hear him with my earplugs shoved so far in my ears I thought I was going to have to have health services remove them with tweezers the next morning. Everyone was talking about this guy. I was tempted to go over and throw a pillow at him. Some other guys had more extreme measures in mind. One woman told me she could even hear him over the music from her earbuds. I don’t know if it was the storm or they moved him to another room, but I didn’t hear anyone snoring last night.
The assigned feeding lead, my boss, arrived on Wednesday afternoon. Since then my duties have been reduced to running the little kitchen here to feed staff.

We really increased the numbers today as shelters closed and the staff came here. I finally saw some people I had met on a previous DR, two that worked in my kitchen in Sugar Land, Texas after Hurricane Harvey. Normally processing in is like a family reunion.
I’ve learned running a Red Cross operation without coffee would be almost on par with running the UPS fleet without fuel. We had just under 50 people here this morning and in 2 hours we went through 120 cups of coffee.
My day started at 6:30 this morning and ended about 8:00 tonight. Except for a trip to the Post office and to pick up some supplies I was on my feet all day. I was assigned a hotel room tonight but I was too tired to pack up and move there. Besides, the hotel is about 30 minutes away and I have to be here by 6:30 am tomorrow. I opted for a little extra sleep. So, it’s another night on the cot.
Speaking of that, even a cot sounds pretty good right now so I guess I’ll head in that direction.

Back at it, Bumped Up, and Hunkering Down

The following was written yesterday as I post it the hurricane is evident, horizontal rains are pounding the staff shelter. Water is leaking in the windows and transformers are begining to pop outside. I was awoke by 3 tornado warnings this morning, before the hurricane even got here, but fortunately nothing touched down. we been hunkered down since 11:00 this morning and not allowed to leave the shelter.

As I write this, I find myself on my first deployment since Hurricane Michael in Florida last year.
My original orders were to Atlanta Georgia. I thought I was going to add another new state to the 17 to which I’ve deployed.
I was supposed to fly out of Grand Rapids at 1:30 pm but on my way to at the airport I stopped at the Red Cross office in Zeeland to pick up my paperwork, and found all had been changed, I had to make new arrangements to fly to Wilmington, North Carolina. Going out as a Mass Care Feeding supervisor. I was hesitant initially as they always bump me up to a higher more stressful position. Usually, when I get into it, I thrive on the challenge, but looking at it from afar it never looks so inviting.
I could have flown out the same time as my original flight, but by the time we got my paperwork changed I was afraid it was cutting it too close and ended up scheduling a 5:11 flight that evening.
My friend Janet, gave me a ride to the airport along with her usual goodie bag complete with an enormous sandwich, which I devoured before I left Grand Rapids, fruit and other treats; normally enough food to sustain me for 24 hours.
Instead of flying non stop like my original flight, I would have to make a connection in Charlotte, North Carolina then fly to Wilmington.

The first leg I had a tag team of a crying baby for the first half of the flight and a screaming toddler the second. It was the first time I was glad the altitude change was plugging my ears. I felt sorry for the parents though. The second flight, of course the shorter of the two, was quiet. The distance between my two gates at Charlotte was close to, if not a mile but I had plenty of time between flights.
This was the most organized arrival I’ve ever experienced on a disaster relief (DR).

As I boarded my first flight, I received a text that arrangements had been made for a rental car that would be waiting for me in Wilmington. When I took my phone off airplane mode upon landing in Wilmington, I received another text with the address of the HQ where I was to report. But instead of a hotel, I’d be setting up a cot to sleep there.
I find my 71-year-old body isn’t as accepting as my 57-year-old body was when I started with my early deployments. 4 weeks on a cot was easier than one night is now.
I also discovered I was the only Feeding person to arrive so I was bumped up two positions to Feeding lead until the assigned Feeding lead makes his appearance at the end of the week.
I was really amazed, the first night we had 5 guys sleeping in a room that would be the operations office the following day and not one was a snorer. Maybe it was because no one was sleeping any better than I was.
Today, well now yesterday, as it is after midnight. I had to go out and buy supplies, from snacks and water to duct tape, and arrange lunch for our staff. The latter was easy I merely went online and ordered lunch boxes from the local Panera Bread. Everyone was quite happy with that. They provided a nice meal.
In the afternoon I did snack and water inventories on the ERVs that had come in, Arranged for tomorrow’s meals, then later, helped pack up all the supplies I had purchased, for a move to a new Staff shelter at a church which would also be the new HQ. I had my Jeep Compass rental stuffed full.
Yep, another staff shelter, but at least this one has showers.