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Personal accounts
of experiences
This is a small collection of stories told by those who have looked at nature's rage. They are presented here in the hope that others may be helped by them.
Some (minimal) editing may have been done.
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Hurricane Floyd
| Subj: | UPDATE on daughter |
| Date: | 9/15/99 11:43:00 AM Central Daylight Time |
| From: | KM NANA119 |
| To: | LadyisREAL |
Hi Linda,
I just got off the phone with my daughter. They arrived in Columbia, SC at 6 am today. It was a 23 hour trip that normally takes 1 & 1/2. Said the traffic was just like it showed on TV. She & the kids are doing ok. The next thing to do now is to buy a can opener so they can eat.... She is anxious about going home. They just hope looters don't get there before she does. May not be able to till Sat., & the storm is predicted to hit the coast where she lives, in about 18 hours. Thankfully, from what I have heard, Florida was spared a lot of the destruction. It would be wonderful if SC could be that lucky.
Once again, thank you for all the updates & talks. At least now, this household will be able to get some sleep tonight.
| Subj: | Thursday in Penna-raining cats and dogs |
| Date: | 9/16/99 10:43:49 AM Central Daylight Time |
| From: | Diadsie |
Hello, Speak of some weird weather! We are getting the effects of ol' Floyd. The schools in our area finally closed this morning. The ones over in Jersey and Delaware closed in advance. We talked Brian into staying home too. He is usually in his car most of the day, and they say that is a bad place to be in a flood watch. That is how most people get stuck and perish. Just stay home, it won't break the bank if you miss one day! We are watching the weather and the basement. We could get up to 6 inches. Just to think a few months ago it was like a desert environment around here-dead grass and cracked earth. Now it is a swamp! I get unnerved when I hear the fire sirens and we have heard them 3 times already in about 4 hours.
Wish us luck!
Dianne in southeastern PA.
CNJBIGBEAR: want a NJ report?
CNJBIGBEAR: they let me go home from work at 1pm it took me 1 1/2 hrs to get here, flooding all over the place. I'm in the NW corner of NJ and work in central NJ. Just mainly raining real hard and flooding, heavy winds are expected later ;-)
CNJBIGBEAR: your busy so I'll catch ya later if the electricity stays on :-) cya O L8ter
| Date: | 9/16/99 2:57:27 PM Central Daylight Time |
| From: | AgedNmello |
| To: | LadyisREAL |
Dear Linda:
After a nap my mind is a little clearer and I was hoping I could ask a favor
During out trek fleeing from Floyd..... there were 1 or 2 things that stayed clear in my mind and i would like to share them with the family so if you wouldn't mind could you add this into the press sometime soon
We live at the beaches of Jacksonville Florida, we were ordered out of our homes Tuesday morning, assured our homes would be save guarded and that no one but police would be on the beaches, if we didn't leave..we would be subject to arrest .......
Of course we left, now i understand many had it harder than we.... I am not whining, i am really madder that a wet hen !!!!!!
1) the intestates out of town were so backed up that family's with small children were stuck in traffic for HOURS, some ran out of gas before they had gone 10 miles, because to keep their kids comfortable to any degree they needed their cars on for ac.........instead of closing the east bound lanes and allowing all these displaced people out, you ended up with hundreds of thousands trying to leave thru 2 lanes..not just from Jacksonville, but from further south also.......... every westbound road out of here was so congested that to travel 50 miles took over 10 hours..........
Why didn't they close eastbound lanes and allow these people a faster way out ????????
2) Because we only had radio contact once we decided to start making our way back, imagine hearing that news crews were describing the waves at our local pier at the beach, describing the people out watching the seas and telling Beach residents that they couldn't return home because the mayors had closed all bridges until further notice (remember we were ORDERED to leave assured no one but police would be here) to my knowledge no arrest were made ......or are any planned.... Yet people were allowed here!!
Why were news crews allowed in After homeowners were forced out ?????
Now this is personal note to the people of Alabama.
THANK YOU ALL for opening your hearts to those of us temporarily displaced........ We drove over 12 hours, finally ended up in Dolthin (sure hope i spelled this right) the warm caring welcome we were shown here
sure made our fleeing almost worth the trip...... believe me we made a few stops along our journey and until we landed in Dolthin, it was a trip from hell
We are home safe if not sound today and i will always remember some of those wonderful people who shared smiles, offered coffee and shelter
THANK YOU ALABAMA from my heart
To the state of Carolina..........may God be watching over you all !!!!!!
Thanks Linda... i just needed to vent some of these feelings i have inside today.... My pops is a little better after a good nights sleep, but he still worries me ..... have to tell ya, having pets you understand that we couldn't leave them, but no one welcomes you with them.........we learned a lot these past few days and only a small handful of people out of all we met... understood the turmoil we were living ........
I am blessed to have wonderful friends and my loved ones are all safe today
so I'll count my blessing and smile..while praying for all those others out there trying to settle back into a ""normal"" life once again
Hugs ******
Candi
| From: | kernicksk1@aol.com |
Subject: Help....anyone in Denton ...Maryland......
PLEASE if anyone can help Terri and Connie (they are the only volunteers trying to help these animals) please contact Terri at Muttluvr@yahoo.com. Needs help right away You can also contact me at dforay@suffolk.lib.ny.us and I will contact them for you. This is an awful situation and they need help immediately!!!
Thank you
Debbie Foray * Shih-Tzu Rescue * dforay@suffolk.lib.ny.us
(516)754-6301
**********************************************
The Animal Control building in Denton, Maryland has been critically damaged by the ravages of Hurricane Floyd. The flooding is 3 feet in some areas, the dogs were set free by the county this morning and are running throughout the landfill. Cats and puppies were moved up to higher spots indoors, but conditions are horrendous (even more so now). Myself and another Humane Society volunteer went down this afternoon to find dogs everywhere, swimming in deep areas, trying to get into our
vehicles.
We scooped up as many as we could, but it is not enough. Kittens have drowned and we found one wedged between a fence, had to pry him out with the force of the water against us. He is at the vet and alive so far. I have kittens and a dog in my home tonight. We are planning to return in the morning to begin more rescue.
My plea is for anyone in the Maryland or Delaware area that can help rescue any of these animals!!! If you are able to come to the landfill please e-mail me asap!! We cannot find foster homes for all of them and will probably have to euthanize. If anyone can participate in our rescue please contact me. I will be checking my email periodically and can contact serious inquiries only.
Subj: Re: REAL Family Press - 09/16/99
Date: 9/18/99 4:03:46 AM Central Daylight Time
From: Dkdempster
Lady, (and family) Just got home, living room carpet completely soaked, leak in ceiling, lots and lots of sand............the condo lost its palm trees, and walkways, but the pools did not get damaged, just FULL OF SAND,and sea animals.....i'm sorry to say...dead. The kids in detention learned how to live without, tv, lights, water, flushing toilets, clean clothes..............they did great, we played games, and told stories, everyone made it, and learned from this experience, whats really important, and valuable...........i'm glad to be home......took my birds with me, they are fine too............all my own kids also did well, minimal damage..................hopefully Gert, and Harvey will stay out..............way ooouttttttttt, and this will be the end of hurricanes for this year.........thank you everyone.......prayers count, and they did............ dk
Date: 10/27/1999 6:35:39 PM AST
From: Dkdempster
To: F Klusmann
Fred........it takes 136 hours for a 11 story condo to prepare for a hurricane..............we've done it 3 times this year............the most serious part of preparing, surviving is ATTITUDE.............we live here, we love it, 3 months out of the year its hell..................the rest of the time..........its always worth it.................dk
Storms in MEXICO
lizquan5@hotmail.com
HEARTWARMERS4u COMMUNITY MESSAGE BOARD
Storm at Mexico
Friday, 08-Oct-1999 15:26:19
204.164.62.238 writes:
Always, since a year ago that I enjoyed Heartwarmes, I wanted write many
things and many situations that in my condition, as inmigrant I have
been going throue. But my limitations writing English , it has been
stoped me. It is like to tie up my tongue. But this time I overcame to
those feelings, triying to search any sort of help for the people in
Mexico that lately It has been suffering all kind of natural desasters.
Three states of this country, they are suffering deaths and hunger, they
do not have the minumuns necessities covers and I thing they really need
a lot of help, after I had been reading the papers, under Internet. I
though that probably some of the many kind readers of this site, put
their prays together at favor of that people, may be God will hear
louder. So it is why I decided to write, even with my short English
because I read that the mexican people, they are totaly incommunicated,
since those areas are, really, really poor. If somebody us wants to go
and read more about, you can go to:www.hidalgo.gob.mx
If someone can read this mesagge and say a pray fot that people: God
bless you. Thanks!
Compassion needed for NC neighbors!
Thursday, 30-Sep-1999 16:58:13
205.188.193.26 writes:
Dear fellow heartwarmers, I am writing this on behalf of the people in
the Carolinas. I have been corresponding with fellow heartwarmer, JT
Garrett for quite some time and have just learned of his involvement
with the flood victims there. We have all seen the pictures on the news
and can only imagine the devastation that these people are suffering! I
have asked in what way I could help and am now trying to recruit as many
people as possible to do ANYTHING they can to help out. The people there
have lost everything and are in desperate need of everything from daily
personal hygiene items from clothing to food to water to diapers... well
basically anything we all use on a daily basis! Many people are still
stranded and many people are homeless and staying in shelters. The water
is STILL rising and there is now the threat of health problems stemming
from sewage and the carcasses of animals. Many of the roads are flooded
and it is more difficult now for trucks to get in to deliver desperately
needed supplies! If ever there was a cause in need of compassion and
dedication, this is one!
I am asking anyone and everyone I know to PLEASE do anything you can to
help! No matter how small it may seem to you or I, it is probably a
major need to these poor people so anything you can do will surely help!
You may contact the American Red Cross at 1-800-435-7669 for more
information on what is needed and how to get it there. Also, if anyone
has ties with businesses that might be able to help on a larger scale,
please urge them to pitch in! Anything they do should be tax deductible.
Also, if anyone has access to planes or helicopters that could be used
to get supplies in to the area, I urge you to call the Red Cross and
volunteer the usage of them or of your own assistance for delivering
supplies. As a heartwarmer, I know you all have compassion from reading
your letters and stories so I am hoping to get a huge response! Please
join me in prayer and in the effort to help our neighbors and to "do
unto others". You may reply to me personally at BertieLou@juno.com Thank
you at H4U for giving me the opportunity to present this to your readers
and thank all of you for caring and sharing in all that you do!
Sincerely, Rhonda Hunt
Re: About evacuation from hurricane
Tuesday, 28-Sep-1999 07:42:29
4.17.66.78 writes:
You can find all the Heartwarmer's archives at this site:
http://dispatch.mail-list.com/archives/heartwarmers/threads.html
Enjoy,
Cookie
WINDS OF KINDNESS
This hurricane evacuation has been one of the most horrible
experiences of my adult life.
500,000 to 1,000,000 automobiles, trucks, boats, motor homes and
campers, all in a line, on every street, road, and highway and all
headed West out of harm's way. The 178 mile per hours winds of death were
blowing at our backs -- looking to suck up and destroy everything we have worked so hard to accomplish, not to mention all that we hold dear to our hearts. As I traveled down Highway 82 from our home in Brunswick, Georgia, to Waycross, with my wife, son, daughter-in-law, friend, six dogs, three
cats, all packed into three small automobiles -- none of us realized that only an hour down the road an even bigger, faster, larger wind lay before us.
Traffic was so backed up that we never traveled more than six miles
per hour nor did we ever move forward move than 500 feet without having
to stop. I reached over and turned on the C.B. radio to see if there was an
accident ahead.
Suddenly I noticed a woman and her friend stranded along the road with
their hood raised. Their car had overheated. People were jumping from
their cars and dropping off gallons of their own drinking water to the
woman. As we passed, giving her another gallon of water, the woman was
pouring water into her radiator when it spewed back into her face
scalding her on the side of the head. Immediately three or four strangers jumped from their slow moving cars to rush to her assistance, offering her
towels, and several men came over to cool her radiator for her.
Another mile or so down the road a trucker came on the radio and asked
if there was anyone who could tell him where he could stop and get a
soft drink -- he had nothing to drink as all the stores were sold out of
beverages or closed. A voice responded and asked him his location. He
replied that he was passing road marker 19. The voice came responded and
told him to look on sign post 21 when he drove by it. Suddenly horns
started blowing which could be heard for miles. As we passed marker 21
there sat a cold refreshing Mountain Dew on top the marker.
People who would ordinarily be pushed to their limits were jumping
from their vehicles trying to help anyone and everyone they could. When
we finally arrived in Waycross nine hours later (a drive that would
normally take about 35 minutes) we had no where to go as all the motels for three states were full. We slept in the automobiles with all the animals. It
was also one of the most restless nights I have ever encountered but we
made the best of it.
The next morning we arose at about six o'clock and just stood around
with thousands of other stranded people. It was cold, cloudy and the
wind was blowing at about 45 miles per hour. Along comes the local electric
company, asking us if we need any help finding a local shelter. We could
not go to a shelter because we had animals and we were not about to
leave our pets, even if it meant warmth and hot food. There were no
restaurants open for fifty miles so there was no hot food and we could not find any bread as all the stores were sold out. So we just ate what we could and made the best of it.
Several hours later an African American woman drove up and stopped
where we were huddled and said, "I know you do not know me from Adam but
I would like to invite you to my home to take a hot shower and clean up if
you wish."
As we traveled to her home we talked about her new WebTV and how proud
she was of it. My son and I, being WebTV wizards, left her house that
day leaving her unit packed with search engines, folders, web sites and as
much stuff as we could get into her unit. Not to mention signing her up as a
new Heartwarmers4u member!
When the authorities gave the all clear we headed back to our warm
sweet home. Yes, it was a bad and dangerous experience and one that I
never wish to repeat. But the strong winds that were ahead of us yesterday were the winds of kindness, friendship, courtesy and love. Not even the dangerous winds of this deadly hurricane could ever change the determination, the fortitude or the compassion of the wonderful people who make this country as great as it is.
AMERICA, I am so proud of you!
-- Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
c. September 15, 1999
Cookie
see http://dispatch.mail-list.com/archives/heartwarmers/msg00422.html
HURRICANE HERO
Last week, my 12 year old daughter, Jessica, had to do an assignment
which involves three hours of civic/community service. All the kids have
to do this and then write a paper on it.
Jessica decided she wanted to do her time at the visitor's center at
the National Seashore Visitor's Center on the Gulf of Mexico coast in
Southern Texas. The people there thought this was great and were going to
have her help the visitors with maps, and with the beach walk/talk, etc.
About 30 minutes into her "job" there were some major things that
happened at the Park. Since we are only about 10 miles from Baffin Bay,
where Hurricane Brett was headed, the Park was put on yellow alert.
Visitors were being told it could upgrade to a red alert and the Park would
be evacuated. This lasted about 10 minutes - a Park Ranger came in and
told us that the Park was being evacuated and that we should start
spreading the word.
One of the ladies in the concession stand had to go down to the beach
to tell the people who had rented umbrellas, chairs, etc. to bring them in
and leave the beach. Jessica chose to go with her. When they got down to
the beach there were only about 3 people with rentals and about 50 people
on the beach. Jessica went one way with the lady from the concession and
started telling all the people, and I went the other way.
I told an elderly lady she would have to leave the Park immediately as
the Park was being evacuated and she was very upset and concerned. Her
sister had left her about 30 minutes before walking the other way, and she
did not know where she was. When I met up Jessica I told her about this.
We could see some people quite a ways down the beach that no one had warned
yet. We figured we would see if theRanger could drive down there.
When Jessica talked to the elderly lady who was worried about her
elderly sister she never even hesitated. She looked me right in the eye
and said "I'll be back." And off she went. I started to stop her, but I
knew that the only Ranger on duty was very busy and it would be quite
awhile before he could get down there, so I let her go.
Close to an hour later, here comes my precious baby girl. Hot and
sweaty, with the biggest smile on her face I have seen in a long time. She
not only found the lady she was looking for and sent her back to her
sister, she walked/ran almost two miles past this lady telling everyone she
could see that the beach was being evacuated, due to the hurricane and the
rising water.
On our way home I asked her what she was going to say about her
civic/community service project in her report, and she was devastated. She
said, "Mom, I will have to re-do it next weekend because I didn't work
three hours inside the Center, only about 30 minutes!"
She had no idea that what she had just done was a major
civic/community service. Now she can't wait to write her report. I am
sure she will be the only one in her class with a "real" story to tell.
She is so proud of herself for finding the elderly "sister." And of
course I am SO proud of her I just had to share.
I would like to ask a favor of all of you -- if it's not too much
trouble. Would you be kind enough to send her an e-mail note to give her a
pat on the back? She can't know that I asked this of all of you.
Jessica's address is: dragonfly51@juno.com
Thanks!
-- LeAnne
from http://dispatch.mail-list.com/archives/heartwarmers/msg00408.html
http://members.aol.com/EKlusmann/Prepare/Stories.htm
-- File: \WebSite\EKlusman.n\Prepare\Stories.htm
Last Modified: Nov. 16, 1999 by Fred Klusmann
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