Living in the aftermath of a natural disaster

The picture on the left was a few blocks from my home in downtown Little Rock

I can consider myself quite lucky or very blessed in the realm of natural disasters. I have lived in the aftermath of 3 major tornados where my neighbors had severe damage, lost their homes and some their lives. I have also had to endure some very severe ice storms. Although I have dealt with the war zone of a disaster stricken area, I have been fortunate not to have ever found myself with out a home or more than minor damage.

The first tornado that I experienced close up was the March 29, 1976 tornado that hit Cabot Arkansas. http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/henrichs/ I was in my 9th grade algebra class when someone looked out the window and saw it coming and asked the teacher if he could throw a desk through the window. A few seconds later the alarm went off, and we went to our shelter area, I was under a work table. I didn't see much of the tornado as I was taking cover, but I sure heard it. The school was in a valley and only suffered minor damage because the tornado ramped over it. If it had hit a few minutes later, school would have been out, and the school busses and walking students would have been in the path and there would have been many more than the 6 deaths that did occur. When we left school, we were overwhelmed by the damage. Luckily, my home was almost a mile outside the path, though we had no electricity and were under a boil order.

The second tornado I experienced in the basement of a mall in the early 80's. I didn't think much about it until I was driving home, and had to show my drivers lisence to get into the area where I lived to prove that I belonged. This time, the tornado was only a few blocks away, but yet again our home was not damaged. No power again.

The third tornado was on 1/21/99, it was an F3 (wind speed of 158–206 mph). This tornado destroyed houses ½ a block from my house, tore the roof off of my sister’s house who lived a block away, and ripped trees out of the ground across the street from my house. Many friends lost homes and my pharmacist was killed while he was at work. My church was damaged, but the stained glass was unscathed.

The entire neighborhood was like a war zone. The first night, there were downed power lines and it wasn’t safe to venture far for fear of electrocution and injury from scattered debris. It was January so it was cold. Many people were afraid to leave what was left of their homes for fear of losing what remained of their possessions to looters. There were also the crazies and the gawkers. We had the Sheriffs department and city and state police patrolling the area to stop gawkers and looters. When the National Guard arrived, then we had the steady rumble of Humvees and choppers. Although it was hard to sleep with all the noise, at least we felt safe.

This was an historic nineteenth century neighborhood, thus it was blended racially and financially. There were the very poor, middle income people restoring homes so that they could have a nicer home than they would otherwise be able to afford, and there were wealthier people. The Governors Mansion was also in the area. Overall, everyone pulled together, no matter their income, race or ability.

As we lived in an 104 year old house, we did not have central heat and air. Being without electricity for about a week in January, this was actually a blessing. We did have the kitchen stove, the fireplace and gas space heat, we did stay warm and were able to cook, unlike many neighbors. Some areas didn’t have gas either because of broken lines. During the day, we picked up, cleaned up and cooked. At night, we played cards and backgammon. Electricity isn’t necessary for amusement and fun.

Disaster brings out the best and worst in people.

On the best side, those of us whose houses stood, helped to feed our neighbors and provide temporary shelter. Many people from the community and from far away volunteered to help in the cleanup and people from everywhere gave money. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, UMCOR, and countless other agencies helped. You can’t imagine how good it is to see a Red Cross wagon when you don’t have palatable water.

There is also the bad side, you always have looters. There are people that feel like they have to drive around to see other peoples misery without offering any help. Then there are the storm chasing contractors who offer to clean up at a minimal fee UPFRONT, often not doing much if any work. Business at the neighborhood crack house continued even while there were electric power lines down.

As bad as the situation has been in the aftermath of the storms I have lived through, this is nothing like New Orleans is today. These people desperately need our prayers and our help.