Katrina

I am lucky to be away from the constant barrage of news.  What I have seen of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina makes me heartsick.

I went to a mobile blood unit to give blood on Sunday, but they said that my veins have become to thin for donation.  I don't know why this should be unless it has something to do with all the water I drink... and maybe the fact that I have become weak from staying inside and journaling all the time.

Many people are dead for many reasons; exposure, drowning, debris, lack of medication....  It is a tragedy that is more easily fathomed when you are farther from it.  We thought what happened here was awful. It ain't nothing in comparison to what's happening in Louisiana and Mississippi now.  The water didn't swallow our cars.  Very few people died here.

I remember sending whatever food and some clothes and other goodies we hadn't opened to survivors of Hurricane Andrew.

I'm thinking I have some blankets that would be appreciated now.  And some canned food.

After Frances and Jeanne, I was most grateful for simple things.  Cans of tuna fish, Gatorade, peanut butter, cookies, fruit, can openers, a hand drill, soap, matches and charcoal.  I was also lucky to be inside city limits.  The supply of city water never stopped.  Being able to be clean was such a good thing.  I wouldn't have had water or power for more than two weeks had I been forced to stay alone.

Staying alone in a trailer would have probably given me a heart attack anyway.  It was hard enough waiting out the storm in a solid concrete house with my family. 

It was such a blessing afterwards when my aunt drove from Orlando to loan us her generator.  Electric light is something you really miss.  And even I, Queen of the Heat Monkeys, was grateful to be able to run fans to get air moving.

How miserable people must be now!  Houses gone, friends and loves ones dead or missing, water  everywhere.  People waiting on rooftops for rescue.  The dead waiting to be found.

What will they appreciate?  Being warm and dry and not hungry or thirsty.  Electricity.  Hot food.  Hot water.  Having work to return to.

What will they dread?  Wind. Rain. Red radar in the Atlantic. 

I have heard tales of looters floating garbage cans full of booty.  These people are the lowest.

I expected that of my teenage step-brother but instead he volunteered himself to clean debris for elderly strangers and refused money. He also cooked for the Red Cross.  It made him feel good. 

He reserves his thievery for more prosperous times.  He takes things that are unattended.  Yeah, he carries on his his father's footsteps, but he has some heart, too.

I am still red and wrinkled in the spot where I forgot to sunscreen myself after Hurricane Frances.  If that is the least of my "scars" I'm blessed.

I am over fearing the weather.  It's dealing with making it through the next one that is cause for concern.

Meanwhile, we have to help our brothers and sisters.

http://www.redcross.org/

https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp

http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/animal_environ/hurricanes/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=NEWS

I never will forget how happy I was to get a lousy ham and cheese sandwich and an apple from a Red Cross truck.  They offered me more than that.  It was enough.  I knew I'd be back with my family in the evening and we would find something to eat together.

I was also happy to have had my cats with me.  I had Katie put to sleep between the storms because it was definitely time for her to go. 

The SPCA relocated animals to Houston, Texas before Katrina arrived.  Imagine what the animals that survived the storm are going through now.  It's hard for animal care workers to divide themselves between the animals and their homes and families.

I was lucky to find food for my remaining cat before the second storm arrived.  I was lucky to find someplace open that sold cat food.  Ever since, I've always bought two to three weeks worth of food at a time.  (It also cuts down on trips into town.)

I've digressed.  How about sending those clothes that don't fit you anymore?  That leftover box of MREs the Army Reserve gave you?  Blankets you don't use anymore?  Church groups, scout groups, grocery stores, civic groups... now is the time.

Next time, it might be you.