grim reminder

There is still a lot of suffering in Texas.
I have only gotten out once myself since we
were prepared with food and water and fuel to
stay put. My neighbor however has gotten out
and was saying how grim things are. Ten miles
from here, a man was killed over a bag of ice.
One restaurant, on a generator, has security posted
at the door and if you did not have CASH you could not
even enter. People were standing in the parking lot
begging. Up north of Houston, the relief has not
been as evident as places shown on television. When
I did go to town, I looked for water or ice at a
relief center since I had so many neighbors in need,
but there was none and of course the stores were all
closed. I did find one store open, or their parking
lot was open. They had some card tables set up with
some snack items and fruit and vegetables and cases
of water. They had no electricity but they would
bring you an item from inside the store but you had
to have cash and they were price gouging. They were
emptying their store of the rotting stuff into the
parking lot which is why they were there.

They are still without power and people who did not
prepare are without water and food and so even at
the gas station, my neighbor's son waited for two
hours to get gas yesterday, and people went from
car to truck begging for food, water, or cash since
those with plastic had few options without ATMs,
no electricity, and banks being closed.



Certainly, for me, and for others hopefully, this
grim reminder will serve as a warning to others that
during an emergency, the best you can do is to prepare
and have supplies, including some cash, on hand. It
is just at a week after the storm and it looks like
there will be problems for the foreseeable future.
For the folks down in Galveston and other beachfront
communities, the future is even more uncertain~~

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/ap_on_re_us/ike_beach_houses

We are okay here and feel blessed to have power and
phone again. We have damage and no hope of seeing an
insurance adjuster for many weeks we are told. We have
one tree on the roof and have one bid we are trying to
use. Most tree people say they are swamped and to call
back in a couple of weeks or months. The one we have
is going to charge our insurance 56 hundred dollars
to remove one tree from the roof. We know it is high
and yet we cannot afford to let it stay there and risk
further damage and with rain coming...to further
compromise the roof and ceilings inside the house.
So, nothing to sing and dance about with the exception
that my time and energy spent preparing did pay off and
that we have had no need to accept help and have been
able to help some of our neighbors and friends.

best wishes,
Zoe

-_-

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