Our County Is Now a Literal Disaster Area

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I hope things are continuing to trend positively, apl68!

[apl68]

I hope things are continuing to trend positively, apl68!

Thank you!

Yesterday's storm did no further damage that I'm aware of.  Everybody's a bit jumpy about storms after that recent experience, I think.  And we just keep getting them in the forecast!

Although we've had some level of disaster area declaration, local residents have so far been unable to access any sort of programs for their necessary residential damage claims.  There are a number of houses with serious roof damage.  Our church has already fixed the roof and cleaned up the yard at some members' house that was affected.  I'm hoping we can take care of some more fairly quickly through our county church association.  The Association is trying to start an outreach program to repair local residences over and beyond what churches do for their own members.  Our Chamber of Commerce director and I were discussing that this morning. 

[apl68]

Today the Mayor spoke to the Rotary Club about the recent disaster response work by the city's staff.  She said that the head of Streets and Sanitation was out doing preliminary damage assessment before the winds had stopped blowing--which was also before five a.m. that morning.  There were two dozen houses damaged, and about sixty trees or parts of trees blocking streets.  City crews came in immediately to start clearing debris and reopening streets.

Since then they've hauled several hundred loads of storm debris.  A walk or drive around town will quickly indicate that the clean-up is still far from finished.  The city also worked with representatives from the electricity utility to try to make sure that nobody got overlooked when power was being restored.

The city also had to activate backup generators to keep city water and sewage systems running despite the power failure.  I could hear one of them running near my house for days.  Having the water remain on was a huge help during the days without power.

The Rotary Club then started taking pledges and making plans to hold a cookout for the city's crews next week as a way of saying thank-you.

[apl68]

We've had multiple violent storms come through since the one that knocked out all the power.  I know people must be holding their breath each time, afraid the grid is about to go down again.  It hasn't happened in town, but a couple of days ago a rural substation elsewhere in the county was wrecked and blacked out a substantial area.

A house a few blocks from where I live kept a generator running for weeks after the storm.  Evidently their meter and line were wrecked.  The house also has tarps on the roof from storm damage.  Yesterday I passed by and heard no generator noises.  I hope that means that their power is finally fixed.

[apl68]

And the hits just keep on coming.  Saturday I traveled to another town in some of the loveliest weather we've had so far this summer.  The forecast called for no rain until the following day either there or here.  Around supper time, we had a storm blow through where I was.  I got home afterward and found the town blacked out, in a repeat of what had happened a month ago.  This time the blackout wasn't as extensive.  My house came back on a little after midnight.  Some didn't get power back for a day or more. 

My block lost power a second time Sunday evening at the first breath of wind when another brief storm threatened.  There was no actual rain, so line crews were able to get us running yet again within a few hours.  Still getting reports of trees down and outages here and there around the region.

Meanwhile, we still have tarps on roofs here and there from last month's storm.  Earlier this year the county Baptist association received an anonymous donation of $40,000 to set up an outreach fund that area churches can access to help pay for improvements to needy households' residences.  The rules specify that the households must not be already church members, since a church will presumably prioritize taking care of its own members with its own resources.  Churches also have to supply an in-cash or in-kind match. 

I know people on the committee that administer the fund.  They say that the donor's idea in setting it up was specifically to encourage churches to reach out to people who are not churched.  Local churches are now starting to tap the fund to repair storm damage to neighbors' houses.

[apl68]

I learned yesterday that a local church has just gotten a roof replaced for a family who had no insurance to fix theirs after the storm.  The family said that their three-year-old was telling people that their house had been sick and was now better.

Still tarps on roofs here and there.  It takes a long time to set things right after a disaster--even a very small one like this.

[apl68]

This morning's total surprise storm thankfully seems to have done no damage in our town.  However, our nearest neighboring town is without power again.  A library staff member who lives there is off today dealing with that situation.  The rain will also presumably slow down the ongoing work of repairing storm-damaged roofs around the area.

[apl68]

The power is now back on in the neighboring town.  And the roofers are back hard at work.  Our staff member who lost power said that it wasn't restored at her house until late last night.  That day off with no air conditioning can't have been fun.