Monday, September 15, 2008

de-hunkering

the aftermath of hurricane ike has a strange feeling. we received absolutely no damage; in fact the rain was a benefit. but i have many friends who have no electricity and leaky roofs.

i just saw three black hawk helicopters fly down 290 right out my front door.

on the news i see palettes of FEMA "meal replacement equivalents" being unloaded by guys in camo in familiar areas of houston, near where i used to live. (i'm dying to know if they're any good.)

even my brenham walmart is eerily low on supplies. milk, meat, eggs, water, all completely empty. the parking lot is full of cars and RV's. all of the hotels in our area are full of evacuees.

i just saw an arial view of the energy company headquarters. they had hundreds of trucks. they're bringing crews in from out of state to try to get service back up. i saw several energy trucks going down the highway toward houston this morning. insurance company mobile units, also.

it's always a strange feeling to be on the receiving end of this sort of thing. i'm not receiving any aid or anything, but a city that i love is, and it's weird. i'm used to seeing these images on the news and thinking of them as the other side of the world. but this time they're not. they're close, and familiar.

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3 comments:

Alison Kerr said...

I'd imagine it's a culture shock type of experience. I wonder if there is really a food shortage or if the shortage was caused by hoarding. I hope people on the whole are behaving sensibly - no break-ins and stuff.

mandi said...

i hear ya. seeing images on the net has been weird. the shop where we always browse (since i was a little girl) in galveston- gone. restaurants, destroyed. my parents not allowed in their neighborhood. and not being able to get in touch with them daily has been hard. i need to hear them several times a day. it's too weird.

Unknown said...

well, we survived another Hyde Hurricane Hunker-down. Thanks for everything!
love you