Saturday, November 12
After a trip of 699 miles, 12 hours and 20 minutes, we arrived at Gateway United Methodist Church. We went the southern route, through Savannah, Jacksonville, etc., on 95 and 10. Patrick had a GPS, which kept us safely on the interstate. We had a nice trailer loaned to us by Don Poettiger, which enabled us to carry all our tools plus some relief supplies.
We were met at the church by Elaine Barnes, a minister from Pennsylvania. She was to be our coordinator for the week. We would also be led by Elijah Mitchell, who is a local superintendent of 2 churches, both of which were destroyed.
Elaine said that this is the largest disaster ever in the United States. We are moving from rescue, to relief, and on to recovery. Mostly now we are in the recovery stage. She pointed out that we are not tourists – she said that we need to be sensitive, and to folks if that is needed. Folks are walking around dazed, and we will be sorting through things and throwing them out because they can’t stand to.
She said that this is a journey – not a task. We should listen for the stories. She gave us two stories – one of a sofa that was carried out, and the carriers then wiped their shoes unintentionally on the sofa, which was that family’s only decent possession. Another was of a carful of folks that were picking stuff up, then dropping it. When questioning, they said they were “praying” over it. Finally, one guy asked to take a picture of a man’s destroyed house. He said yes, but he’d have to break the camera.
After worship, on Sunday, we would take a tour of some of the damage and scope out the work we would be doing. That is when we would need to be sensitive, along with the rest of the week.
Elaine said that we would be doing demolition at a church in Waveland that was nearly destroyed. The church itself is down to the slab, and the youth center has just a corner left. The Fellowship center is 3 blocks away. We were warned that it hasn’t been opened, and that we should not open any refrigerators. Also that we should wear gloves and masks.
We unpacked, then went out and ate at TGI Fridays. All restaurants were packed, so serendipity put us there. They said we’d have an hour wait – but miracle of miracles, the bartender Rita got us a table right away. And the food was wonderful. The manager told us her story, how she was jobless and her trailer destroyed by a water leak – now had a job, but frustrated with trying to get her subfloor fixed on her trailer. So mission and listening can happen anywhere, even in a Bar. Upon return, all tired puppies went to bed.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
We started with a devotional, by Patrick. It was multiple verses, all on mission, Matthew, James, etc. The Word Made flesh – why we are here – the Jesus they see. Working side by side – we are going to get the most out of this trip. Then we went to breakfast at the Waffle House, since church would be happening, and we didn’t want to clog the fellowship hall. After that, we came back to the church, where some of us went to the adult Sunday school class, where the leader gave a lesson on Paul and Lydia – the importance of hospitality.
The sermon was on the mountaintop and the valleys. Once you experience the mountaintop, must also experience the valley. The verses were about Elijah, who had driven out the prophets of Baal, followed by the death threat from Jezebel. Stress is destructive mentally and physically.
After church, we struck out with Elaine for a tour and to scope out where we would be working. This took us until about 6pm, and left most pretty hungry, as we took only a little food with us.
Passing through Long Beach, Pass Christian, East St. Louis, and finally Waveland, we saw a shocking amount of damage. The further West we went, the worse the damage was. Access was controlled at the railroad, with National Guard and concertina wire. We stopped at a Methodist church in East St. Louis, which was operating as a relief center. One could get bleach, cleaning supplies, etc., there. From there we went to the Gulfside Assembly, which was totally destroyed. The straps holding the building down failed, and the less than six-month-old apartments were missing – nothing left but the piers. Behind, the older adults bungalows were also gone – brick buildings, down to the slabs and furring strips.
Destroyed cars were everywhere – houses either missing or off their foundations. Many office buildings and motels and the Wal-Mart were see-throughs – could see daylight on the other side, nothing left but the struts if that.
Tremendous piles of debris at the side of the road – taped refrigerators, other destroyed appliances. Munchers were picking it up as possible – loading dump trucks for transport. But they’ll be doing that this time next year, based on what we saw.
In the car, Elaine said she was in the East Pennsylvania conference – along with Cecil Poettiger (whom she called Dietz).
We finally went to Waveland, where we went to the St. Rock UMC, where we were slated to do demolition on Monday. The Youth Center had been washed 2 blocks, and needed to be destroyed. The remainder of the Sanctuary was to be knocked down, along with a stray roof and an adjoining damaged building.
We split up and some went to the Home Depot to pick up hard hats, saw blades, and other needed gear, while some went back to Church and others to the grocery store. Another group, from Plano TX came in, and we offered to feed them also (luckily Dudley had pushed an extra package of Chicken on me, and we had plenty of other supplies). Had Chicken Paprikash – good time by all. Elaine offered to do a breakfast casserole, and I did some pork for use tomorrow night.
Wakeup will come early – it gets dark here @ 5pm, so we want to leave @ 7:30.
Monday, November 14
We began early, after eating casserole and making sandwiches, and convoyed to Waveland. Stopped at Wally mart to get gas for chainsaw and a few odds and ends. Started with a prayer thanking God for the opportunity and praying for safety. We had safety glasses, hard hats, many safety boots, etc., but still – we were climbing on roofs, knocking down walls with sledgehammers, and so on. We began on end of chapel with sledgehammers, and progressed to pulling down walls with pickup and mule tape. Snapped it a few times, but finally got it to fall. Fellow going by with “muncher” pulled down the last wall, before his muncher broke.
Meanwhile the other team was pulling off the roof – climbed up on it to pry off the boards, which we carried off to the street. The Muncher and truck came eventually to carry most of it off. Dudley fired up the chainsaw and cut rafters and joists. Sometime in the morning the Red Cross came by offering hot lunches – we passed because we already had ours, but it was nice to have the choice. It was fairly hot today – drank tons of water.
When dump truck stopped to pick up, someone went over and got the scoop from him – a 57 cu yard dump, gets $6 a yard, or $342 – this fellow is running 3 trucks with one loader, doing 7 – 8 loads per day per truck, $7,500 per day total. As Keith said, he pays for the truck rig in 2 days (pretty ragged looking truck and trailer). But sure was nice to see him, as he agreed (wasn’t supposed to) to knock down remaining concrete block wall.
We met son of Manson Peters, who had been the preacher at this Church. 4 freed slaves settled on this land after the war – one of the sisters gave the land for the church, which was built in 1908. The current building, which we were destroying, had been built in 1948. I asked whether there was any insurance – he said no. We talked about the hurricane – he said water where we were had been about 6 ½ feet high – the cars showed that, as several were on sides or upside down or against each other. About 40 people were killed right there in Waveland, although he said none in this Church. Did, however hear some amazing survival stories from those few that stayed.
He was interested in salvaging the stained glass windows, which dated from the original construction, and had been provided by the Bishop in 1948. We kept our eyes out for anything else valuable – only things we found were a ledger book, which said who was doing what in the services, and some Sunday school attendance pads. Mr. Mason said that the building was condemned, but that steps were nearly complete to allow occupancy at the time of its destruction.
Apparently, there is some tension between him and the pastor, as we found out they had slightly different ideas about what would happen (particularly with the slab!) Big discussion on Rebar, and what if anything we could do if the slab had it (nothing, likely – without a torch, which we don’t’ have). And, if we do get it cracked, how to get it to the street?
Serendipity – we have been feeding the Plano, TX folks – sat next to a fellow with a bobcat – have been sweet talking him tonight into coming to help us (he was complaining about not being busy!) He doesn’t have a jackhammer, but would be very useful in transport, and perhaps in tearing down some of the house. We’ll see.
Ate Chili Verde and Mexican Potatoes tonight- plus last of Ice Cream. Plano folks are going to do Spaghetti tomorrow. Played some cards, discovered we had internet, and crashed early – tired tired puppies.
Tuesday, November 15
Started the day with Blueberry and Banana pancakes and link sausage, cooked by C. Huey. Sweet-talked the Texas folks, hoping that they’d bring their bobcat (with a bucket, a fork, and chains) to the site.
At the site, broke up into two or three crews. One group used chainsaw to cut joists on remaining subfloor; another began attacking foundation walls with sledges; and Bob attacked block subfloor with sledge. George and I filled up wheelbarrows (350lb or so) with broken masonry by hand and carried to street.
Like ants, we ate at the remainder of the church, and were making some progress, cracking parts of the slab (which mercifully had no rebar!). The former pastor’s son, Mr. Peters, showed up – I helped him lift the church bell into his pickup – he told me that that floor had been poured over an existing wooden floor, when it started to sag. At some time, though, it must have been filled up with sand, cause that’s what was under the subfloor.
The subfloor crackers got into a rhythm, with teams of two doing swing – swing – swing.
And the Cat showed up! After unloading, he scooped up a lot of the material that George and I had been carrying to the street. The area under the subfloor got too soupy (the wheels would sink in), so at the end we were using it as simply a powered wheelbarrow, which is great. He also picked up big chunks of unbroken subfloor, and we cracked it either with leverage (drop onto a block) or with hammers.
After school got out, a couple of kids came by, stopped and talked to us. One with a gameboy (Glendrick), and another his smaller sister (Kimberly). We found out that her bike had been lost in the flood – so we resolved to go to Wal-Mart and get one. We did, and also got her brother a football.
Brad had been swinging the hammer, but at some point snuck away and climbed up on the roof. There he started peeling tin, and jacking boards. I went over and picked up some of the tin, plus other debris in the woods – Sam had cut the small trees in front, which we pulled out of the way. I also hauled a sofa bed, ceiling tiles, etc., out. At the very end, the Texas folks hooked a chain to the side and pulled out a couple of yards of wall – but it was time to go, and we were worn out. Was about 4:30, and we’d started @ 7:30.
A fellow showed up at 4:30 with a wheelbarrow at the close, and asked what he could do to help – then admitted he was just joshing us. He gave a harrowing account of the storm – which was seconded by another lady. They said the water rose to the second row of shingles, and the only people that lived were on roofs – after the eye passed, in 100+ mph wind. He talked about how a fellow was chasing his boat – and was found the next day next to the boat, like he was asleep, up the road.
Back at the Church, we ate the wonderful spaghetti (fresh herbs, mushrooms, etc) and had a great time recounting our work together.
Wednesday, November 16th
We opened the day with breakfast from the Plano crowd. Eggs, sausage, coffee cake, biscuits, etc. Was colder this morn – pickup temp said 53. When we were working, seemed fine – but got cold later when we watched the Cat. At the site, we began with house demolition – I cleaned out the second room, while one crew knocked down the first. Then we sledged and pickuped the majority of the house down. We heard mid morning that the heavy equipment was due at 2:30, so we stopped early, and switched to prep work for the equip – particularly cut up a bunch of the larger trees, so we could haul them out. The equipment arrived, a Cat 3200 excavator with a thumb, and we used it to first knock down the house and second clean stuff off the site. We got the use of it through the good efforts of David, who worked a deal.
David also was kind enough to let some of the rest of us drive it, even though we quickly demonstrated our novicity. After a few dropped loads, swimming pool holes and hit trees by swinging booms, those of us using it today such as Patrick, Dudley, and Brad got the hang of it. David helped complete the day, clearing the site. We’ve got about an hour left, then finish the youth building which migrated 100 yd down the street.
We gave the bike and football to the girl and boy after the school bus let them off and they got their Mom – they were very very pleased – and their mom, grandma, and dad all came up at separate times and thanked us. After an initial shy period, she was riding up and down the street, with her brother.
After we got back and got cleaned up, we went back to O’Charley’s with the TX folks – had a great meal and great fellowship. They’re heading back tomorrow, so after breakfast we’ll say bye.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
We began today with a repeat of Pancakes, with blueberries & bananas, sausage, etc. Then we finished up at the Church site in Waveland. First, at the main church site, we moved the cut logs, smoothed out the foundation sand, and removed the remaining foundations walls – all made easier by the excavator. We also dropped several of the damaged or leaning trees, and piled them at the street. We were very pleased to see two dumpsters, and shortly thereafter a fellow showed up with a bobcat to fill them. Then another fellow (his supervisor) showed up and explained that he could go no more than 15 feet into the property, so we promised to pile stuff close to the curb. In fact, David wound up putting a lot of it into the dumpster directly – particularly the steps, which were ultra heavy. The truck man came & said (to bobcat man) “don’t you go packing no dumpsters like this no mo – they too heavy” - but it did travel, and they brought back a couple of empty ones. The bobcat man said he’d get it all loaded, plus the youth hall if we got it down, within the next day or so. He said that not enough destruction permits had been issued.
Sam and George got turns in the Cat – also Dewey and Patrick did repeat performances. Then David completed the work, and headed up the street to the youth center, which had floated about a quarter mile. It was basically a doublewide, butler building, and had had robes, church equipment, freezer, refrig, computers, etc. All now was junk – they had rescued communion elements and a file cabinet with records yesterday, so all that remained was taping the refrigerator and freezer and moving them to the curb. After the hurricane, they recommend not even opening refrigerators, but taping them and curbing them. This is because food left for (now 2 months) without electricity turns into something green and foul – a small part of which Dudley managed to spill on his gloves while carrying them out. After that his gloves (at least) had to ride in the back of the pickup.
Our leader here, Elaine, had the initial turn on the youth hall – and was thrilled. Then David pulled it away from the power lines, shredded it, and piled it. The crew swept up the broken glass and the boards that the cat couldn’t.
After we piled up the remains, we parked the Cat and called the equipment company to come pick it up, and moved to our next assignment, Waveland Methodist, just across the railroad tracks. At Waveland, a church with normal attendance of 40-50, and membership of 150 or so, the floodwaters came up above the regular ceiling, but not up to the rooftop. We talked with the pastor about the damage, and what he needed. We agreed that the best thing to do in their fellowship hall, which was provisionally condemned, is to tear out the interior walls, ceilings, and floor, and to inspect to see if it is at all salvageable. If not, general demolition could continue. We proceeded to roll up and cart out the carpet; tear out the sheetrock and siding, and pile it up at the curb. Since we began at 3pm, we knocked off at 5, with this part mostly done. We’ll return in the morning to begin to see how much we can get done in our final day. After eating out (too tired and too late to cook), we stopped for some final groceries, and turned in.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Today began with muffins (Jiffy) with fruit, which we got from Wallymart last night, coffee cake and link sausage. After we made sandwiches, we took off for Waveland, for our last day, at Waveland UMC. We continued to tear out wallboard, ceiling, and various tiling (several layers since it was the oldest part of the church). Some folks from Clinton showed up mid morning to continue resheetrocking the current church. They also brought a door, and installed it in the afternoon. Brad and Dudley cleaned out the back closet, which still reeked with floodwater and the aftermath. Bad news when the junk closet floods.
George and I were mainly on pickup detail – fill a wheelbarrow, and run it outside. We had three, and Sam was doing the church-curb run, so we kept him hopping. The ceiling tiles generated a lot of dust when we pulled them, so David had to change his shirt after dropping a cup or two down his back. We all had to stop periodically and pull off our masks – they were very hard to pull air through when working.
We talked to the pastor, Rev. John Pastore. I noticed he had a box of new bibles and old (1932) hymnals. He said he and his wife had left after praying – went to Starkville – two of his neighbors drowned. We reiterated that we thought the hall could be saved – needed a couple of joists jacked and reattached to the frame, then rewired and resheetrocked, and probably new floor.
We completed the stripping of the church, and helped just a little with the doors – then hightailed back to Gateway. We sorted tools and things, leaving a lot of what we brought at the church. Also decided on an early departure, trying to get back at least for second half of Clemson/Carolina game. Cooked dinner – pork chops, collard greens, baked potatoes.
