Matt Stennett (left) and Ron Dishman (right) of Middle Tennessee hook a chain to pull free a small part of Hurricane Katrina debris.
Hurricane Katrina Cleanup Journal
As published in the September 17, 2005 issue of the Albany Democrat-Herald
Tuesday morning [almost a week after the hurricane hit] on the way to work I heard a House Representative on the radio who had just visited her home town of Laurel, Mississippi. She mentioned that if anyone wanted to send things, what these people really need at this point are work gloves and gasoline. If anyone wanted to help, the best thing for them to do was to load up with all the chainsaws, work gloves, and gasoline that they could carry and head south on I-59 until they saw things starting to look “bad”, get off at that first exit, knock on the door of the first house they see with trees down over the driveway or on the house and ask if you can help remove those trees so these people are no longer trapped.
This hit a chord with me, and I decided right then that I wanted to go do exactly that. Too many times people wait for someone else to go, or someone else to get a group together, or think they can’t do anything to help. Add to that the HUGE difference between the people you see on the news complaining that the government isn’t taking care of them fast or good enough, and these people - only wanting help WORKING FOR THEMSELVES and taking responsibility for their own well-being, and I was hooked. I knew if I went as far south as the coast, things would still be so bad we’d just be in the way. This northern-most area of damage seemed like the perfect place. Armed with only that much information, I knew I could do SOMETHING, and decided that I should and would. With Lisa’s [my wife] support, I started planning.
I don’t really have much vacation time at work yet, so I set the date for the upcoming weekend. I decided I had no idea what kind of conditions I was going to walk into, so I decided to take nothing for granted – I packed enough water, food, camping equipment, tools, oil, and gasoline to work and stay down there with nothing at all. I took twice as much food and water as I thought I’d need as I knew there was no way I could sit down to eat in front of someone who had nothing to eat for themselves.
I mentioned what I was doing to a friend of mine at work, and before I could even finish the sentence he replied with “I’m in!” He took this thing and ran with it, soliciting all of our offices for help. Due to liability and insurance/worker’s comp problems, the District could not sponsor our effort directly, but we had an overwhelming influx of donations (money and items both) from employees across the twenty counties we serve. Somehow our little plan even ended up on the local radio, although no one will admit to making that call……
We ended up having thirteen different people from Middle Tennessee all making the trip, split into three different crews. We were lucky enough to make a local contact through the Lions’ Club, and found someone who had graciously offered us both a “tour guide” and a place to stay at a church gymnasium in Ellisville, MS.
Our first crew of eight arrived very late Friday night to find the Indiana National Guard had set up camp in this same church gymnasium, and that nobody had let the Guard know we were coming. Instead of turning us away, these kind soldiers not only let us in with no questions asked, but provided cots and fed us the entire time we were there. In addition to patrolling five counties with only 96 guys from this base point, they were only too happy to help feed and house thirteen extra civilians! We traded several stories with these guys throughout the weekend – they kept telling us how frustrated they were that they couldn’t be doing something more like what WE were doing, and actually doing some good in the area. We kept telling THEM how much we appreciated having them there to keep us safe so everyone could go about doing whatever it was they needed to be doing. As we all saw in New Orleans, nothing can get done if people aren’t safe.
The rest of our group arrived Saturday night, due mostly to me having to work Saturday morning. Not only did these guys give up their weekend and the money it cost them in supplies to come with us, but they also took an extra vacation day on Monday so they could stay as long as possible due to my scheduling problem. We were pleasantly surprised to find conditions were much better than we had anticipated. Not only did we have a place to stay, food to eat, and 96 Guardsmen helping to look out for our well-being, but the power had come back on in most places only two days before, and the water and sewer system seemed to be running fine. There was even talk of the possibility of a shower one day while we were there, and gasoline was available (in limited quantities) for about 50 cents less per gallon than we had just paid back home!
We spent Saturday night listening to stories from the eight of our group that had worked all day already, and bedded down soon only to find out that these Guardsmen must be especially tough if they can sleep comfortably on USGI cots (not one of us was about to complain though – we just quietly pushed the cots aside and slept on the floor)!
Sunday morning we were up by 5:30 a.m. ready to go, thanks mostly to a practical joker in our group who ALWAYS got up well before sun-up, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the steak and eggs the Guard fed us for breakfast. We found out about this joke later when our guide showed up around 8:00 a.m.! This guide turned out to be an associate pastor for the church, and he had organized a list of mostly church members who were in need of help and had no one available to give it to them. This was much more efficient than our wandering and door-knocking plan! The group of five guys on our crew hit four different houses on Sunday, including one house where a lady came out to talk with us while we ate MRE’s the Guard had been so kind to donate to us for lunch. She was in her 50’s and only made it a few words in before the tears started streaming down her face. She explained how her husband was usually the one to be out helping everyone else, but that only two days before the storm he had gone through a double-bypass, and could barely get out of bed. She had seen all the trees come down and was completely overwhelmed at how on earth they were going to get out of this mess. She said she “couldn’t believe that God would send her this mess with everything else going on right now, but all she knew to do was to pray and hope, and then he sent his angels to help”. She was so overwhelmed that we would come all this way just to help, and we were pretty overwhelmed at her appreciation as well. We all thanked her and told her we had been called many things in our lives, but “angels” was never one of them!
EVERYONE we talked to down there had similar sentiments. We were constantly amazed at how truly appreciative every single person was of our VERY small offering of help, and also how hard working and industrious every person there was. We ended up not being able to “rescue” anyone trapped, as all of the trees blocking driveways and roads had been cleared before we arrived. Most of the trees had been lifted off houses, but there were plenty of trees down in yards that were so big or dangerously hung the people were overwhelmed by it, and the only contractors available to clear them were charging exorbitant prices. One house we helped with Sunday evening was owned by an 82 year old woman and her 87 year old husband, and they had lived there at least 50 years. They had just bought a new car and were very excited about it. Four different trees fell on their house and totaled their new car. The house roof was demolished, and even parts of the sturdy brick walls were cracking and bowing out in places. The only quote they could get to JUST REMOVE THE TREES was for $8,000.00. This was way over our heads, as we would need cranes and heavy equipment to pull these trees off, but as soon as I saw it I knew we’d spend the rest of the day there – THIS house, and this situation, was exactly the reason I came. We stayed there until dark cutting limbs, one tree, and anything we could. A neighbor came over with a farm tractor to help us pull sections away into piles as we cut them up. We obviously didn’t finish clearing the mess in only a few hours, but we made a very large dent and hopefully restored some hope for these people. We did absolutely everything we could do there without heavy equipment, and I was amazed at how much a difference we made in such a short time. What looked hopeless when we first arrived looked very do-able by the time we left. I don’t know if the house will even be salvageable, but at least I know that we made a difference in these people’s lives, and if nothing else cut down the amount they’ll have to pay someone to come in and finish the job.
In between jobs earlier on Sunday afternoon I picked up my cell phone to call our guide and tell him we were ready for the next house. I happened to look down and notice the date prominently displayed on the phone’s screen, and I stopped in my tracks. I am embarrassed to admit that I completely lost track of the days, and had no idea that Sunday was September 11th. I thought it was incredibly auspicious that we would be here, doing this, on this day. I passed this on to the guys in our crew, and one of them was not only aware, but summed it up for us better than I ever could. He said that when he realized what day we’d be down here, he knew he had to do this. He remembered sitting there watching the TV on this day four years ago and feeling so helpless, and wishing there was something he could do to help – but there was nothing. Today he was doing SOMETHING to help clean up THIS disaster, no matter how small, and he (and all of us) felt a way that no words can describe. We all sat in awe of this until our guide came and took us to the next house.
After dark that night we returned to the church and the Guard fed us again – leftover spaghetti and meatballs, which tasted great after our long day. We then found out that the local fire station would let us use their shower, so headed off that way to take advantage of the hospitality of yet another stranger. Even the firemen were incredibly appreciative of us, and did not hesitate to give us access to anything they had. While we were showering, an ambulance and EMS pair of women arrived to rest awhile, and both crews mentioned they were hungry. We gave them two cases of MRE’s the Guard had given us as a “thank you” for the showers, knowing that they would need it and put it to better use than we ever could. A hot shower has never felt so good!
We slept hard that night, and agreed to meet our guide at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. He arrived on time and took us to our first house, where we spent most of the morning. A few hours along, we heard some pops and cracks, followed by what sounded like an explosion – but assumed it was tree cutting and a “really big tree” hitting the ground. When we started to see smoke from across the road two of us ran to the car to make sure of the situation. After hunting a little, we finally spotted the problem – a large barn hard caught on fire and was burning out of control. Two other guys arrived about the time we did, and one of them radioed the fire department. We watched helplessly as the fire spread, engulfed the barn, a large beautiful boat, and ignited a fairly large propane tank inside. The fire department arrived in an incredibly short time and had the fire under control very quickly, but it was too late for anything in the barn. The homeowners were not there, and best we could figure the power had just recently been turned on and started a fire with something surging or shorting in the shop there. Luckily it was only a barn, but I never thought about all these extra after-effects of something like this.
We finished up this house and found we couldn’t reach our guide, so we returned to the church to try and connect with someone else. We arranged for the head pastor to show us one more house before we had to leave, but evidently FEMA arrived at that point. Between FEMA, the Indiana Guard shipping out (to go farther south) and the Mississippi Guard coming in (returning from down south), and the church trying to prepare for the arrival of 200 volunteers the next day, we never did find that last house. We ended up loading up and leaving just before noon, but not before leaving every ounce of food we brought with us for the church to distribute to those in need; every ounce except all the snack cakes and goodies, which we gave to the soldiers to thank them for their hospitality and service.
The trip home was very quiet for most of the way, as we all sat exhausted and reflecting on what we had seen and done in such a short time. I admit I was pretty frustrated when we left that we couldn’t get to that last house, and I felt like we just didn’t do enough. I realize now that I would have felt like that no matter how much we would have accomplished. Things were also not nearly as bad as I expected there, even though this was the very northernmost portion of the harder-hit area. It was simply amazing how much all of these people had accomplished in the short time since the storm. The work ethic, self-sufficiency, and a willingness to help their neighbors contributed to get more repaired and back online than I ever would have imagined. They still have a long way to go, of course, and I can only imagine what it looks like further south where the real damage happened.
I received a nice “reality check” from the experience as well. I was going expecting to “rescue” people – opening roads and driveways and pulling trees off houses to release them from their captivity. What I found was a people that didn’t need rescuing, as they’d already rescued themselves and each other. What they needed was help with the tedious and always ignored task of cleaning up after a disaster. I appreciate so much more all of the little things that go unnoticed and the people that go unthanked that are necessary in a situation like this. From the Guardsman making breakfast to the truck driver delivering gasoline and the neighbor with a tractor – the sheer volume of people that perform thankless duties every day to help down there I have an all new appreciation for.
It was ironic that this all started with an idea that we don’t need to wait on a group to help – and we ended up with quite a group going anyway. I am completely surprised and overwhelmed at how many people all jumped on board with almost no notice, from the people who actually went to the people that donated money, gas, supplies, and food/toiletries/cleaning supplies/kids toys for the “victims” down there. I think the entire trip can be summed up with a phone call I received just as I was pulling into my driveway late Monday night. It was one of the first crew checking to make sure we made it home alright, and he and several others wanted to know……..when were we going back?
Matt Stennett, 30, is a mechanical engineer with Middle Tennessee Natural Gas. He lives in Baxter, Tenn., with his wife Lisa and 7-year-old daughter Ansley. His father, Doug, is an OSU pharmacy professor who lives in North Albany.