Hi Kyle,
Oh, I am so sorry. But thank you for what you are doing. I know that
its makes a difference in many people lives. We frequently forget to
thank the unsung heroes - who make such a difference.
Trisha
-----Original Message-----
From: Cerebral Palsy List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of KE Cleveland
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 4:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: I found some irony in Ike
I just got a message from home that the remnants of Ike came through
Ohio
between 4:00 and 8:00 yesterday. My hometown, Powell, OH experienced 74
mph
winds with substantial damage to trees and power lines. For the moment,
my
little suburban development of about 50 homes has power, but most of the
surrounding community does not. The power lines are underground in my
'hood, but that's not the case in most areas. Laura says we lost two
very
old, very large pin oak trees that were uprooted--one demolished the
neighborhood picnic gazebo. The city finished construction on that
about a
month ago. :-(
According to Laura, our neighborhood has quite a few visitors. Friends
and
family (ours and those of our neighbors) are stopping by to shower and
cook
meals (lots of "all electric" homes around here). Too funny!
She said about half of the homes in the Columbus metro area are without
power. Almost all of the corporate tree surgeons like Asplundh and
Davey
have their crews down here--there's a call out for people with chainsaws
to
assist the electric companies and fire departments. Laura says there
have
been 4 fatalities in the state and about 1 million homes without power
in
the state. We are committed down here in Houston with a lot of assets
in
place. It would be a nightmare for us to try to re-deploy back home
immediately, so we are trying to figure out if there are troops
available in
Ohio to help with the cleanup. Still, we are pushing to get the process
started, if at all possible. The problem is finding transportation back
north. Just about every vehicle in the inventory is down here If
this
ain't irony, I don't know what is.
The situation here is pretty chaotic. We have set up an aid station in
cooperation with the Red Cross. Their assets are running very low, so
we
are handing out HUMRATS (humanitarian rations) and water. I don't know
what
the water situation is like, but I do know that we have been forbidden
to
shower--even with cold water. We are making do with baby wipes and
talcum
powder at present. We deployed with three sets of the new ACU uniforms,
but
mine are absolutely filthy. Many of us brought along our old BDU
uniforms
and black boots out of habit, even though the Army has phased them out.
Commander's have the option of allowing their troops to wear the BDU if
they
have them. Some commanders are allowing this, some aren't.
Fortunately, my
boss has given the thumbs up, so I have a stack of nice, clean uniforms
that
should (hopefully) last the duration. I don't have enough brown
t-shirts,
but I bought a couple of green ones from a Marine Reservist. I doubt
that
anyone would care, at this point.
Things don't seem to be drying out much. I would say that there is
probably
a lot more water damage than wind damage--at least in the areas that
I've
been in. I flew over downtown Houston yesterday. There were lots of
windows blown out in the skyscrapers, but I couldn't see much more than
that. We were going pretty fast. I do know that there was no
electricity
downtown. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a lightbulb yet that
wasn't
connected to a generator. We flew east over the ship channel and there
was
lots of debris, but I didn't see a whole lot of damage from the height
we
were at. The chemical plants looked ok, but I didn't know what I was
looking at--just a bunch of tanks and pipes. The fires had been
extinguished by the time we got there.
We flew over the bay and swung southwest to follow Galveston ilsand from
the
east. The number of aircraft in the air ware terrifying! It looked
like
swarming bees. I couldn't tell if there were any news helipcopters, but
Coast Guard, National Guard, Police and Medical helos were everywhere.
Lots
of fixed-wing planes here and there, as well. Galveston is pretty much
gone. I didn't see a single street that was dry. It was actually neat,
in
a weird way, to see boats tooling around like cars. Must be what Venice
is
like.
Haven't seen any death yet, thankfully. I hope it stays that way.
Tomorrow
I'm heading out with a Chaplain to see what we can do for the local
faith-based charities. Oh, and Laura leaves for Israel tomorrow morning
at
7:00. I'd hope I would have made it home before then, but it just
didn't
work out.
More later.
Kyle
Sent from Kyle Cleveland's Palm IIIc
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