Hurricane Help: HFOT Veteran heads to Houston to aid in recovery
An HFOT Veteran decided to continue serving this great country and packed up his flat bottom boat and headed for Houston. Here is his firsthand account of what he found:
We found a catastrophic situation when arriving in the flooded areas from hurricane Harvey.
With donations, we were able to stock up on essential supplies for the evacuees and those still stranded which included baby formula, food for toddlers and adults, diapers, wipes and medicine for all ages. We made four stops on the way down and overloaded two full truck beds and backseats.
Our first stop was the Civic Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana where we unloaded food and clothes for toddlers and babies. We then traveled west into the Beaumont, Texas area where flooding was the worst and people were still stranded.
While there, we found out that a small town up river, named Deweyville, was in need of food, particularly baby essentials. When we got to Deweyville, we discovered the town was still flooded and they had evacuated everyone to higher ground. The supplies collection point was the high school where we pulled in and unloaded. We witnessed lines of cars waiting to pick up items that they needed for themselves and their families. Everyone was working together under the worst circumstances. We made contact with the superintendent of the schools and his wife, who was a vice principal. We asked what we could do and what they needed.
They informed us that in 48 hours when the water goes down, homeowners are going to have to personally gut out their homes of anything that had been flooded including carpet and sheetrock so as to dry out the moisture. They also we’re going to have to clean the bacteria within their house that came with contaminated water. Mold was going to be a problem if the houses did not dry out properly. So we drove a couple hours north out of the disaster area and found a town with a Lowe’s.
We purchased all the materials we could that would assist the residents to clean their homes. The items included trash bags, gloves, masks, razor blades, knives to cut sheet rock, bleach, mold remover, damp rid, 409, and rags. We got the supplies delivered mid-day Sunday and they plan to hand out the supplies when cleanup begins within the next 48 hours. They could not express in words how grateful they were.
And for that, I thank each and every one of you that was able to donate and make this possible. Details are not needed but it is obvious that it will take these people years to get back to normal.