Two Souls, Many Storms

Hatters Revenge

The night is long and we don't see our bed till the sun comes up. I swear I only get a few hours sleep before the special ring tone on my phone goes off letting me know that there is a possibility of bad weather or what not.

I jump up and grab my laptop and head to the great room but there is no place to sit and it's not quiet. I find Rowdy who offers me her office and I gladly take her up on it.

The program let me know that there was a hurricane going to hit and the likelihood of the category of said storm. Right now hurricane Hatter is hitting the Turks and Caicos at a category three meaning it has sustained winds of one hundred eleven to one hundred twenty nine miles per hours. Meaning it will hit Florida in two to three days depending on if it gets stronger. None of the projected paths take it away from the east coast and one of them predict it to lessen in strength.

Shannon keeps me company as I am glued to the now three screens I have up. Our supply of mre (meals ready to eat) is on its way from Nevada along with cases of gloves and life straws. From New York is coming diapers and wipes and sanitizing stuff. From Tennessee we have hazmat suites and raingear. Its all going to the Alabama chapter. Our of any of the predicted paths of Hatter but close enough to get the much needed items to where they will do the most good.

I send a prospect to get what personal supplies I don't have here and what anyone else may need. We don't want to clear the shelves but we also need supplies to be able to help others. Warehouse type stores are our better bets.  Anyone who is not essential like kids and pregnant woman are sent to either Texas or northern Alabama. In the safe zone as we call it.

Once everyone is shipped off the ones who are left board up the windows and batton down the hatches. Clearing the toys and patio furniture away. Tying down things that cant be moved. Topping up vehicles and gas cans for chainsaws, charging everything that can be charged, double checking first aid kits and adding to them. Making sure each person has there own personal gear in there vehicle as well as any medications they might need. We make sure that all animals are gone. They matter two. Only living things left besides humans is the fish tanks. 

I wish I could say that by the time hurricane Hatter hit landfall we were prepared but there is no being prepared for taking a direct hit of a category four storm. The path it took was diabolical. Hit Cuba then straight up the Gulf of Mexico then a sudden right across Florida and out to the Atlantic ocean but you see it decided to take a break over Florida just to cause as much damage as possible. 

We rode out the storm in north eastern Georgia and as soon as it was safe we headed back to our base in Florida. I expected to see damage but I was not prepared to come back to a flattened club house. Where once was a beautiful structure that held lots of joy from the familys that often hung out there is now nothing but a pile of twisted metal and debree. Rowdy took it the hardest of all. She helped build this place with her bare hands. Its here that she because president, here she married her wife and here when she adopted her little boy last year. 

The only thing standing was the kids play structure. No clue how but Rowdy says it was an omen that the younger group was the future out this club and that the play yard being spared was to remind us just that. Videos are taken and sent off to the insurance company and by the next day we have the okay to start moving stuff but that can wait.

Our main priority goes to setting up operations to help those that need it. Once a spot is picked out and checked for any thing dangerous we start the process. First it figuring out what goes where and then goes the calls to get the supplies to the spot. Next is making a tent city of sort and getting the word out that we were there to help. 

We meet up with someone from the fire department and army national guard and any other agency that would meet with us. The red cross sets up with us and they are a blessing. When people start to pour in we wet em up with either a place to stay even if it is just a tent and cots or a way to get out. 

With in the first day we have almost fifty tents set up and there almost all occupied. Shannon goes out with local people on search and rescue missions and it scares me each and every time. She kisses my forehead and we say a quick prayer. Just as much as she cant stop me from doing what I love she loves to help to and is far better with boats and water. 

Supplies roll in from all parts of the country and at times its over whelming. Fema has a trailer set up and we have porta johns from a company out of Virginia donated. It feels like a carnival with all the noise and smells just no one is wanting to really be here no one gets prizes. Camp Misfits as we call it is a last resort for some and godsend to others. 

Me? How do I feel? Well its scary. To know that yes I am helping but my wish is never have to see the devastation again. To hear the stories about how some clung to roofs and how one woman watched as her son was ripped out of her arms and swept away and not found. How some people seen gators eating dead animals. One man swore he seen one eating a corpse. 

I hope each day is better then the last but as the water recedes people are going home to not have a home. They come back with there heads hung clutching a random article they found. For one man it was a picture of his wife, a child brought back a few of his cars and trucks and gladly shared it with another little boy who had nothing.

That is one thing that has not changed. The people in this area are selfless. They are all in the same boat so to say and they all share what they have. We even had one mother breast feed another's child because there particular brand of formula was no where to be found and the baby must be fed.