Disconnected
At last, a slow night at work!! I'm feeling much better than I was last week although I'm still plagued somewhat by a little congestion. It also seems I don't need Tylenol cold medicine anymore, which was making me jumpy at night (using the day formula) and woozy at all other times (using the night formula). Damn these head colds!
Things are chugging along at my parents' house. Phil had to go back to work in Leesville so my mother is by herself during the week, staying in the trailer at the house. I'm constantly worried about that, but she says she's armed and dangerous - she knows how to use the gun! And there are other neighbors at home staying in trailers and they all have each other's cell phone. The power is back on so my mother leaves the lights on upstairs to look as if someone is home. There hasn't been a problem with looters per se, but some of the furniture that's been put out on the street has been taken. Why, is beyond anyone's guess - all the furniture is contaminated. A theory is that people may be roaming about looking for damaged furniture to put in their homes and claim it's theirs for insurance or FEMA or something. Whatever, if I saw someone out there pilfering I'd shoot first and ask questions later - sounds like looting to me. BANG!!!!
All the carpeting has been ripped up. The next step is to tear open the walls one foot above the water line - so four feet up - so the insulation can be taken out. Once that gets saturated it doesn't dry, which leads to mold growth, which destroys the house. My mom's been having to clorox some areas anyway since there has been some growth as it was damp and in the 90's for several days until they could get back. She noted how hot the house was when they returned. So the house has to be partially gutted pretty much, which means the beautiful wainscoting that adorned the walls downstairs comes off. And my mom had just finished re-doing the bathrooms and worked her butt off painting. Phil is going to have to work for a few more years to balance out the loss and reconstruction. FEMA did send the $2,000 check but my parents will have to pay it back if the insurance company comes through. I say "if" because Louisiana is filing lawsuits with three different insurers, including my parents' carrier. They may have to go to court to collect. They're saying that the flood was due to a tidal surge and not rising water. Uh, excuse me, this was a STORM SURGE caused by a Cat. 3 hurricane that created rising sea levels, and the onshore winds pushed the surge six to seven miles inland. I'd consider that rising water, wouldn't you? Of course the companies are going to try and get out of it as this may render them insolvent. It's going to get ugly.
My grandparents house was pretty much destroyed. Mom, Larry and Lori have been trying to salvage some things like my grandmother's coin collection. My grandparents' house, TB and Lorena's house, and Madeleine and Jeff's house are going to have to be bulldozed, as there's just too much structural damage. Jeff built his house himself 25 years ago. Our cousin Jimmy who lives in my great-grandparents' old house is racing to try and save it. That house is a family treasure, my mother came home to that house after she was born and spent every visit to Henry in that house. Jimmy took beautiful care of it; I hope he saves it. Bart will have to reconstruct the downstairs but it looks like the house will survive. And his father Sammy had about a half-foot of water (considering Henry is 6 feet above sea level and his house is 11 and a half feet up - imagine how high that surge was) so his house is salvageable. They found a dead calf in the yard between the church and another cousin's house.
The pictures I've attached are from the Lafayette newspaper. The first is the entrance to the Henry School, which is across the street to the east of my grandparents. You can see the mud left behind on the walkway - that is what was left in all the houses. The second one is another house nearby. You can see it covered in marsh grass, which was also left behind in the houses in Henry. My aunt Lori took tons of pictures and will link us to them when she gets them up.
As for me, I've had a rough patch this past week dealing with all this. Aside from the depths of sadness that I feel, I'm frustrated that I don't have the financial and independent means to get down there and help out. I can't pay my bills if I don't work so I'm stuck here. It makes me feel like a failure on some level.
Another problem I'm having is dealing with a shockingly absolute silence from people I thought were my friends. There are certain individuals and even family members (from my father's side) who I have received no response or reply from. I just find it deeply disquieting and disturbing to say the least. Are friends really that busy with their lives that they can't click the fucking reply link on their email or pick up the phone? My mom was telling me about her longtime friends who have been calling her and crying on the phone over everything that's happened. I think it is something endemic of my generation - this sense of disconnect. The President certainly has it, not to mention most of our society. I don't know what to make of it or how to respond to it.
Things are chugging along at my parents' house. Phil had to go back to work in Leesville so my mother is by herself during the week, staying in the trailer at the house. I'm constantly worried about that, but she says she's armed and dangerous - she knows how to use the gun! And there are other neighbors at home staying in trailers and they all have each other's cell phone. The power is back on so my mother leaves the lights on upstairs to look as if someone is home. There hasn't been a problem with looters per se, but some of the furniture that's been put out on the street has been taken. Why, is beyond anyone's guess - all the furniture is contaminated. A theory is that people may be roaming about looking for damaged furniture to put in their homes and claim it's theirs for insurance or FEMA or something. Whatever, if I saw someone out there pilfering I'd shoot first and ask questions later - sounds like looting to me. BANG!!!!
All the carpeting has been ripped up. The next step is to tear open the walls one foot above the water line - so four feet up - so the insulation can be taken out. Once that gets saturated it doesn't dry, which leads to mold growth, which destroys the house. My mom's been having to clorox some areas anyway since there has been some growth as it was damp and in the 90's for several days until they could get back. She noted how hot the house was when they returned. So the house has to be partially gutted pretty much, which means the beautiful wainscoting that adorned the walls downstairs comes off. And my mom had just finished re-doing the bathrooms and worked her butt off painting. Phil is going to have to work for a few more years to balance out the loss and reconstruction. FEMA did send the $2,000 check but my parents will have to pay it back if the insurance company comes through. I say "if" because Louisiana is filing lawsuits with three different insurers, including my parents' carrier. They may have to go to court to collect. They're saying that the flood was due to a tidal surge and not rising water. Uh, excuse me, this was a STORM SURGE caused by a Cat. 3 hurricane that created rising sea levels, and the onshore winds pushed the surge six to seven miles inland. I'd consider that rising water, wouldn't you? Of course the companies are going to try and get out of it as this may render them insolvent. It's going to get ugly.
My grandparents house was pretty much destroyed. Mom, Larry and Lori have been trying to salvage some things like my grandmother's coin collection. My grandparents' house, TB and Lorena's house, and Madeleine and Jeff's house are going to have to be bulldozed, as there's just too much structural damage. Jeff built his house himself 25 years ago. Our cousin Jimmy who lives in my great-grandparents' old house is racing to try and save it. That house is a family treasure, my mother came home to that house after she was born and spent every visit to Henry in that house. Jimmy took beautiful care of it; I hope he saves it. Bart will have to reconstruct the downstairs but it looks like the house will survive. And his father Sammy had about a half-foot of water (considering Henry is 6 feet above sea level and his house is 11 and a half feet up - imagine how high that surge was) so his house is salvageable. They found a dead calf in the yard between the church and another cousin's house.
The pictures I've attached are from the Lafayette newspaper. The first is the entrance to the Henry School, which is across the street to the east of my grandparents. You can see the mud left behind on the walkway - that is what was left in all the houses. The second one is another house nearby. You can see it covered in marsh grass, which was also left behind in the houses in Henry. My aunt Lori took tons of pictures and will link us to them when she gets them up.
As for me, I've had a rough patch this past week dealing with all this. Aside from the depths of sadness that I feel, I'm frustrated that I don't have the financial and independent means to get down there and help out. I can't pay my bills if I don't work so I'm stuck here. It makes me feel like a failure on some level.
Another problem I'm having is dealing with a shockingly absolute silence from people I thought were my friends. There are certain individuals and even family members (from my father's side) who I have received no response or reply from. I just find it deeply disquieting and disturbing to say the least. Are friends really that busy with their lives that they can't click the fucking reply link on their email or pick up the phone? My mom was telling me about her longtime friends who have been calling her and crying on the phone over everything that's happened. I think it is something endemic of my generation - this sense of disconnect. The President certainly has it, not to mention most of our society. I don't know what to make of it or how to respond to it.
posted by Rg at 4:11 AM
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