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The News from Tejas
Sep. 15th, 2008 11:44 pmDad arrived in Kemah today after a harrowing drive, collected my stepmonster (staying with her sister in another part of Houston, still without power), and they managed to make it through newly cleared and relatively dried-out streets to their house.
It's not as bad as it could have been. By which I mean, the house is still standing. The yard, of course, is a disaster area; he didn't even bother to describe it to me. The roof is missing shingles and entire chunks of the roof had caved in, so when they arrived it was to inch-deep water over most of the floor, dripping sheet rock and insulation in several rooms, and -- surprisingly -- a library/office that survived unscathed. Since Dad feels about books the way I do, it's the best room to have possibly remained intact. Also, power was restored in their area today, so they have lights and electricity and can use the WetVac to some effect. They've got the roof tarped and are trying to dry the inside out now, while operating out of the one-and-a-half rooms that still have a dry floor.
I want to be there helping out. It's hard not to pick up and drive to Texas. But every person who's there is one more tiny strain on a city that still doesn't have working gas pumps and grocery stores in most of the metro area; just my presence would do more harm than good.
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accipiter, you will be pleased to know that Dad took things from his emergency kit with him. He was really happy to have the water purification tablets and the radio handy. It was only a sad happenstance that the kit wound up on the wrong coast when a hurricane actually hit. (I guess I need to make him another one for Christmas...)
It's not as bad as it could have been. By which I mean, the house is still standing. The yard, of course, is a disaster area; he didn't even bother to describe it to me. The roof is missing shingles and entire chunks of the roof had caved in, so when they arrived it was to inch-deep water over most of the floor, dripping sheet rock and insulation in several rooms, and -- surprisingly -- a library/office that survived unscathed. Since Dad feels about books the way I do, it's the best room to have possibly remained intact. Also, power was restored in their area today, so they have lights and electricity and can use the WetVac to some effect. They've got the roof tarped and are trying to dry the inside out now, while operating out of the one-and-a-half rooms that still have a dry floor.
I want to be there helping out. It's hard not to pick up and drive to Texas. But every person who's there is one more tiny strain on a city that still doesn't have working gas pumps and grocery stores in most of the metro area; just my presence would do more harm than good.
P.S. -
accipiter, you will be pleased to know that Dad took things from his emergency kit with him. He was really happy to have the water purification tablets and the radio handy. It was only a sad happenstance that the kit wound up on the wrong coast when a hurricane actually hit. (I guess I need to make him another one for Christmas...)
