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HURRICANE DIARY
From Ellen Jareckie
About six years ago I read a terrific book by Terri Crisp entitled Out of Harm's Way, in which Terri described what it's like to work in a disaster zone rescuing all the animals that had been left behind to fend for themselves. I was so inspired by the book that I immediately signed on with EARS (Emergency Animal Rescue Service), an organization Terri Crisp worked with at that time. I had been one of the many who watched television footage featuring people and animals in distress and always wished I could be there to alleviate the suffering I saw. Signing up with EARS afforded me the opportunity to take an active part in helping the animal victims which in turn helps the human victims when they can be later reunited with their beloved animal companions. I had not been called to action until this september when hurricane Katrina struck the gulf region causing catastrophic damage to such a wide area that volunteers were needed from all over the country. I received an email from EARS notifying me of impending deployment so Mike (my significant other) and I began packing our supplies so that we would be ready when the mobilization call actually arrived. I was a bit nervous because I didn't know what to expect as we made arrangements for the trip. We decided to drive down to Louisiana so that we could bring camping equipment and other supplies in the event that hotels couldn't accommodate us down there. Here is a chronology of the events that took place during the week we volunteered in Monroe, Louisiana.
Sept. 13
We got a call from EARS that we were mobilized and were requested to leave the next morning, on sept. 14. That created alot of last minute scrambling to make sure we were ready.
Sept. 14
After spending days gathering supplies for the trip to Monroe, Louisiana, we were finally packed and ready to go. Since we weren't sure what our accommodations would be we packed a tent, cots, camp stove and plenty of cleaning and disinfecting supplies in case there would be no water or power. The first leg of the journey took us to Middleburg, VA where we spent the night with Kelli and Ritch (Mike's daughter and son-in-law) at their horse farm. What luxury to visit, go out to dinner with them and get a hot shower knowing that showers might be nonexistent at the shelter area.
Sept. 15
As we drove down through Virginia we were already beginning to see relief vehicles heading south along with us. A tractor-trailer marked "hurricane relief", a convoy of school buses, each with a smaller vehicle in tow, modular buildings marked FEMA, etc. At that point, hurricane Ophelia was making landfall in the Carolinas but was not affecting the weather where we were.
Sept. 16.
We stayed overnight in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the next morning as we left Tuscaloosa on rt. 20/59 we began to see trees and limbs that had been recently snapped off. The amount of damage increased as we passed Meridian, Mississippi. Road signs were lying crumpled on the ground by the road and one billboard was blown so hard against some trees that it was partially wrapped around the trunks. There were quite a few electric and telephone service trucks coming and going down the highway, usually in convoys. We noticed that the school buses going toward Louisiana were all empty and those on the opposite side of the highway (coming out of Louisiana) were filled with people, presumably citizens being bussed out of relief centers. As we entered the Monroe area, the sky was dark and threatening another downpour, eventually producing a couple of deluges that were so heavy we nearly had to pull off the road. It's so flat there that you can see storms coming from a long way off.
Finally, we arrived in Monroe itself, which turned out to be a busy town with no hurricane damage at all. All the stores, restaurants and hotels were operating, giving us the opportunity to obtain all the food, supplies and sleep we needed. We found the Civic Center, where the storm evacuees were staying and eventually found the EARS shelter which was located behind the Civic Center in an equestrian facility. It was a large building with a dirt floor and there were a few kennels with barking dogs in them but the facility was surprisingly empty compared to what we had expected. We soon found out that this building housed the animals that belonged to the evacuees who were staying at the Civic Center next door. We were also told that the shelter was in the process of moving from the equestrian building to another facility a few exits down the highway, which accounted for the small number of dogs remaining. There was temporarily no official information desk and no place to check in because everything was in a state of upheaval. Nobody knew what to tell us to do so we worked hard to fit ourselves in and help out the best we could. We spent the day learning the process for watering, feeding and walking the dogs, among other things. Apparently there were a large number of strays that needed to be housed due to the other shelters being filled far beyond their capacities. Many of those strays were to be sent to the new building we were moving into. However, this was what I call a "raw" facility--an empty building that had not yet been set up to house any animals. The building needed to be cleaned, fencing repaired, kennels built, electrical connections set up, supplies brought in and on and on. We drove to the new building, unloaded chain-link kennel partitions off a trailer, scouted the place out and conversed alot about what needed to be done. We finally started putting together the kennels, each of which were about 10'x10' when finished. the floor of the new place was made of dirt, giving us a nicely dusted appearance when we were finished at 8:00 PM. Mike had found a hotel (luxury!) and after showering off the dust we went next door to Hooters for dinner--a first for me.
After dinner we stopped by the local Walmart so I could buy posterboard and cleaning supplies because I decided to clean the dirty bathroom and put up signs at the new place. The next morning we planned to be there by 7:30 AM to start working.
Sept. 17
We got a late start and arrived at 8:30 at the shelter-to-be. Although I had planned to start by sweeping the huge number of rat droppings out of the restroom, Marie appeared and told us that after we all unloaded some supplies from the flat bed trailer we were to have a meeting at the old facility with Cora heading the meeting. We were briefed on what needed to be done as well as what animals might be due to arrive--supposedly strays that had overwhelmed the Gonsalez shelter south of us in Louisiana. My day was spent checking empty crates for the names and phone #s of local people who had lent the crates to the shelter. I then had to call each person to see if they wanted their crate back before we moved or if they wanted us to continue using it. Considering the mountain of crates, that took most of the day. Mike helped load supplies like dog and cat food, crates and kennel walls onto a trailer and hauled it off to the new place. It was in the mid 90s and I started to lose it as the day wore on, the heat causing a feeling of faintness. The following day was due to be 99 degrees. Anyway, by 8:00 PM we had gotten most of the supplies to the new building. A nice family arrived with an adorable long haired mini dachshundt and had decided to give it up for foster care because they were homeless for now due to Katrina. I felt so bad for them and for the little dog but the woman who came to meet them (the foster care giver) was very sweet and said she has nine mini dogs at home who have a yard and a cat door to go in and out anytime they want. In addition, she said, all nine dogs sleep with her at night. I sure wish I had a photo of that.
Sept. 19
We were told that 150 stray dogs would be arriving in the middle of the night so we spent the day yesterday finalizing our preparations at the new shelter. We did things such as placing water and food bowls inside each crate, hanging leashes and collars, putting up signs, etc. It was over 100 degrees which made us all feel a bit slow. There was no air conditioning in the barn, of course, so we were using fans directed at the 150 cages and crates to try and keep the animals as cool as possible. The fans kept blowing fuses in the barn and Mike was being called upon to fix that problem among other things.
We went to sleep in our cars just outside the barn to await the arrival of the two tractor trailer loads of dogs. The trucks pulled in at about 2:00 AM and we were jolted awake by adrenaline. Each semi backed up in turn to the entrance of the barn and all of us watched intently as the rear door was opened on the first truck. There was incredible tension in the air and everyone's face looked lined and stressed because we were all so worried about the welfare of the dogs who had already been through a horrible time, only to be loaded again onto these trucks and hauled off in the pitch black interior, not knowing what was happening. The rear door was finally open and the smell hit us like a wave as it rolled out of the truck--a sickly sweet stench of fear and dog manure accompanied by barking and howling dogs. The fact that some were almost screaming put everyone in tears. The dogs were in separate crates which were unloaded and lined up in the dark outside the entrance. Each dog was taken out of it's crate, photographed and taken immediately to the volunteer veterinarian on duty in the barn. All of us stood around waiting to take the incoming dogs one by one to the vet and then on to a crate or kennel within the building. When we saw a german shepherd who could barely walk due to starvation stagger out of a crate, we were in shock that it could walk at all because there was practically nothing left to it's body--just bones covered by skin. Quite a few of the dogs arrived looking this way, but luckily only a couple of them had trouble walking. Some were little puppies, others were old dogs with sweet, gray faces, others were young dogs in their prime years. They arrived in all shapes and sizes and all were scared and stressed but at the same time sweet and friendly and in need of reassurance. You could see that these were animals that someone loved and that I'm sure are missed by disaster victims. The reason each dog was photographed on arrival is because we make every effort to reunite them with their human families if possible and a file is kept of these dogs. Petfinders.com is listing these animals so that people can go to that web site to try and locate a lost companion. In addition, there is another helpful website called The Pet Rescue.com
At any rate, it took us from 2:00 AM until 6:00 AM to finish taking in all the dogs and settling them into their cages within the building. The truck drivers kindly waited all that time during the process and finally left after all the dogs had been unloaded. I'm grateful to the drivers of these trucks who took the time to bring those dogs, as it was the only way so many of them could have been transported out of an area where the numbers of rescued animals had become completely unmanageable. More rescued animals are still arrving each day, adding to the already severely overloaded shelters who are doing a magnificent job of working hard to do their best despite the extreme circumstances.
After getting two hours of sleep we returned to the shelter to continue caring for the dogs. The more vocal ones were barking incessantly, a sign of stress in such a situation. After a short time we tuned out the barking and didn't really notice it, even though it was pretty loud. Mostly, we just focused hard on giving the animals basic care while talking to them in order to reassure them. Each of us was assigned a group of dogs to walk, feed and clean up after and this is what we did all day. We all wished we had time to sit with each dog and give him/her attention but this was impossible due to the sheer numbers we were trying to shelter. Now we were concerned that the potential arrival of the new storm (Rita) might further complicate efforts to save the people and animals that were still missing if it were to strike in the same area. We had briefly discussed this at the shelter but it was such an overwhelming problem that nobody wanted to think about it quite yet. Since we were so far north we were not particularly concerned about wind damage but we did worry about flooding as well as a power outage which would prevent us from using the fans to help cool the dogs.
The good news was that these animals were off the streets and out of the toxic floodwaters. They were being sheltered, fed and cared for by a group of people who really cared about them and who were working hard to do their best in a difficult situation. Other organizations such as the local PAWS and the Red Cross had been supporting us and we were incredibly grateful. A kind family had donated the use of their barn and property for the shelter location and we couldn't have done this without their help, as it's not easy to find a building to house a large number of animals in a disaster situation.
Sept. 21
We were up until 12:30 AM (I was wired again) and then I woke up at 5:00 AM worrying about the animals in Rita's path. In the morning we got to the shelter and started walking and feeding the dogs at 7:30 AM. I would tell you what went on the previous day but I actually can't remember! I just know we had been walking, feeding, cleaning and that sort of thing. It took us awhile but we finally got into more of a routine which made all the chores more effcient. We also discussed plans for the incoming hurricane Rita and according to the weather reports we were not due for any hurricane force winds--just regular stormy winds and lots and lots of rain. The building we were in was an old steel structure and the roof was just steel, nothing more, so we hoped it would hold well enough to keep the dogs dry. According to the directors, we would not be allowed to stay in the shelter during the storm because the organization is strict about vounteer safety. The directors themselves planned to be at the shelter to care for the dogs instead. It was difficult, however, to think of these dogs going through another hurricane after what they had been through already.
Speaking of the dogs, I thought I would put a face on some of those who were at the shelter--those that were my favorites. One of them was a little white dog who was completely blind in both eyes due to cataracts, we think. All the people who saw him for the first time felt so sad when they realized that he had gone through the entire ordeal without being able to see. He was incredibly sweet and very tentative when he walked outside because he didn't know his surroundings. Mike liked to carry him out of the shelter and set him on the ground so he didn't run into anything inside the building. Another dog was a completly deformed young german shepherd. He was also very sweet and loved attention but was such a sad sight. The dog walked with his hocks all the way down on the ground, his back hunched over and the front feet splayed badly out to the sides as though the front feet were double jointed. We can only think he was really poorly bred or given very bad nutrition as a pup. He was also very emaciated but Mike says he was very strong and pulled on the leash, which made me happy to hear that the dog had some strength. Another adorable dog was a tiny black chihuahua who was so friendly that his whole back end wagged when he greeted me. All he wanted was to come out of his crate and visit with people. He too was rail thin, a tiny bag of bones who also had some skin problems from having been in the toxic waters. Then there was a young cocker spaniel who at first was very shy and kept his head down in submission. He cowered at the back of the crate for a couple of days and yet three days after he arrived he began jumping forward and greeting people, wiggling his tiny tail and asking for attention. When I walked him and knelt down beside him, he would come over and put his head against my chest as though he needed comfort. He was emaciated also, but starting to recover from his starvation. There was an incredibly thin german shepherd that had come off the truck, barely able to walk, who I had mentioned earlier. Everyone kept checking on him as he lay in his kennel on blankets, making sure he was still alive. The volunteer vet had been tending to him by giving fluids and working on his feet. He had been found clinging to a hot roof and his feet were also burned from chemicals in the water. The vet worked on his feet but decided to send him/her and another emaciated dog to a local vet for critical care. I still have not heard an update on those dog's conditions but I know the vet will do his best. There are many other dogs there that are such lovable personalities that I could go on and on.
Later in the day, in preparation for the upcoming hurricane Rita, we brought in sandbags to put at the entrances to the barn, placed the dog's crates up on wood pallets and reorganzed some aspects of the shelter in case of flooding--our main concern.
That night, just before we left the shelter, I gave each dog a treat and as I handed the treat through the bars, each dog happily and delicately took the tidbit. It felt good to give them any kind of happiness, even if it was just a treat.
Sept. 24
We decided to leave on saturday morning because we felt that if we stayed longer we might be caught in the storm and unable to leave for a few days. We needed to get home to check on our own animals who were staying with a kind friend and our hotel reservation had also run out. Evacuees and their animals needed a place to stay and had filled up the hotel, so our room was needed for that reason too. At any rate, we got up early saturday morning and noticed the outer edge of the hurricane had arrived, with intermittent winds and rain. We packed up the car and drove to the shelter to check on everyone there before leaving. The volunteers had been allowed to go to the shelter that day because the winds were not bad at that point. When we walked into the building there was some chaos as everyone was trying to feed and water the dogs while the directors were doing their best to deal with the leaking roof which had bullet-size holes in various spots. They were also frequently listening to the weather radio because there were tornado watches in the area. We were told that it was a good thing we were leaving at that moment because the state was considering closing I20 as a disaster zone, as the flash floods and tornados were apparently a big concern. We drove through the gusty winds and rain and eventually drove out of the storm completely. Two days later, when we arrived home, I checked my EARS email and discovered that all those volunteers had spent the day dealing with a flooding floor (nothing major at that point, I heard). In addition, as the winds picked up they said that 10 volunteers spent a good deal of time using all their strength to hold the tarp-covered "door" from blowing loose. I don't know how accurate that description is since I wasn't there, but whatever they did, it sounds exhausting and stressful. One good thing I heard is that the dogs acted fairly normal and didn't seem to be stressed by the storm.
It's nice to be home but I felt terrible about leaving just at the moment when the storm was hitting. It was not easy to leave all those hard working volunteers, knowing they might be in for a rougher time, as well as all the needy dogs, many of whom I had gotten to know and like. This was my first experience volunteering in a disaster zone and I came away with a very good feeling after meeting so many kind and caring people. Before we even left home, people were bringing us donations, supplies for us, supplies for the animals and offering any help they could via phone or mail/UPS. Not only that, when we got home one of our great neighbors brought us over a fully cooked meal which was pure luxury. We've had support from everyone and I've really enjoyed reading the great email messages from House-Mouse customers and from friends.
As we worked in the shelter I got to know and enjoy all the volunteers. Each of them worked incredibly hard and gave their best despite the fact that a couple of them had health issues. Also, some people were more easily overcome by the heat and had to rest a bit more often. Each person's body is different and we have to work with what our bodies will allow us to do. I consider myself a bit of a wimp when it comes to our 95 degree days in Vermont and wondered how I would do in the 107 degrees we were going to work in. I felt very fortunate that I adjusted quite easily to it and was pleasantly surprised. For some reason, however, my legs filled with fluid and swelled up during the day and I'm not sure why but I think it was consuming too many salty foods. We had ant and chigger bites up our legs and I fixed that problem by spraying my shoes and pants with insect repellent that is designed for clothing. I learned how to approach aggressive dogs, though I still have alot to learn in that department and mostly used my instincts when it came to handling all the dogs.
Even though it's a very rewarding experience to help out in a disaster, everyone is under quite a bit of stress. Under these circumstances people needed to be approached with a positive and friendly attitude, as the stress made them even more sensitive than usual. Rather than complaining to others, when someone had an idea about how we could make things more efficient, it was brought up at our morning meetings and often those ideas were very helpful. Therefore, those people who were positive, helpful, friendly, smiled at others, didn't complain all the time and worked as well as they could were well thought of and liked--hmmm, just like in our normal lives! Occasionally a person just has to bite their tongue, but that's far better than burning bridges.
Overall it was quite an amazing experience on all levels and I would go back again anytime if work schedule and finances allowed. For those who are considering volunteering at some point, I would tell you to be prepared to spend quite a bit of money on gas, hotel, food during travel, etc., unless an organization is funding you. It is wise to stay in a hotel (as opposed to camping) because there had been some trouble with crime in certain areas, according to the directors. In addition, the Red Cross told us that biting ants, snakes and spiders can get into a tent so camping isn't the best idea for that reason too. In certain situations, camping is the only option but you'll want to think about these issues if you do.
I'm so thankful for everyone's support, interest, enthusiasm and concern for all those helpless animals. Doing this volunteer work allowed me to witness the best side of humanity--plus, I got to know alot of really sweet dogs!
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