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Old 08-28-2017, 09:01 AM   #144
Group9
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City: Alexandria, VA
Vessel Model: 2000 Wellcraft
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,467
Quote:
Originally Posted by Insequent View Post
I can but echo Pete's comments.

However, one thing I have noticed. Folks affected still need help in the weeks, and months, after the floods have receded and the news/talking heads have lost interest. At those times people that are impacted can really struggle. It then that you/we can really help them get back on track a little bit.
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So true. A month from now, the media will have forgotten this ever happened, and along with them, most of the rest of the country. We got 23 feet of water in our home from Katrina (in Pass Christian, MS). Ad noted above, the media actually thought Katrina landed in New Orleans. It didn't. It landed a few miles from my house, so I'm pretty sure about that. In one news report, their map actually left out the state of Mississippi and had Alabama and Louisiana joined together. The reporter pointed to where Mississippi should be and referred to it as the land mass between Louisiana and Alabama. So, they didn't waste any time in forgetting about us!!


Here was our time table to recovery.
Aug. 29, 2005 - flooded. Family living with relatives 180 miles away. I, as a first responder, sleeping on an air mattress on the ground
September 10 or so. I actually get a trailer to sleep in, agency provided, not FEMA
January 10, 2006 - electrical power restored to our neighborhood, moved our non-FEMA trailer and RV into front yard. Family returns. Repairs start on house.
July, 2006 - Repairs completed, moved into house, removed trailers and RV.
Spring 2007 - telephone service (landline) restored.

The other component is the mental health issues that often take years to surface. In 2008, my parish priest told me he had had to deal with more parishioner suicides in 2006 and 2007, than in his entire twenty five year career.

The don't call it "post" traumatic shock, for nothing.

We watch the news reports from Texas and we think back to what it is like to have a ruined house full of wet, rotting and mildewing stuff, with your whole neighborhood, and town, destroyed, and wondering how you are ever going to get your life back, and I feel so sorry for these folks.
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