Spring Break, 2006: Wreck, Ruin, and Roofing, As Reported In Retrospect by an Engineer
This is a long one.
As I (presumably) mentioned at some point or another, this year's spring break was a mission trip to the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast. To that end, me and 11 others, some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn't, piled into a van painfully early Saturday morning and started driving. 13 hours later (ahead of schedule!) we arrived in Gulfport, MS, which apparently bore the bront of the storm. It was late at night, and therefore we could not assess the extent of the damage. Keep in mind that the storm hit 7 months ago.
We took up residence in a local Presbyterian church, apparently the oldest on the coast. It had at one point been a stereotypical cute little white gingerbread house of a church, right down to a white picket fence. It was damaged in the storm but had been more or less repaired, save that it was still lacking its steeple and the picket fence had been reduced to its posts. They had been hosting volunteer groups since the storm hit, and their operation had been steadily expanding to the point that there was no longer space to house us all. Sunday was spent building additional temporary housing on the grounds. Various groups more or less kept to themselves, although some organization was required to prepare meals and clean.
Once day broke, we could see more completely what the storm had done. Up where we were, it was mainly wind damage- roofs missing, signs blown over, trees down, etc. Home improvement and supply stores were doing buisness hand over fist and were more or less rebuilt. Others... not so much. We drove down to the coast where the storm surge had come ashore. There, for the entire length of the coast and for several blocks inland, the damage was complete and catastrophic. Residential structures, regardless of whether they were brick or wood, were completely swept away and there was little evidence that they had ever been there to begin with. Steel-framed commercial structures had their frames still standing, but the walls perpindicular to the onslaught had been knocked out and the interiors were completely gutted such that you could see clear through to the other side. This had been reported by national media, but one can't appreciate the seemingly endless nature of the situation merely by watching TV. Time to recover, at least 5 years, they say.
Obviously, our little group couldn't do much about that sort of thing, but they assigned us to re-roof a house that was otherwise more or less intact. I had done a roofing project on a servant event in high school, and a few others had done some work as well, so we had the experience on hand to complete the project more or less on our own. This was done without injury or major mishap in 3 1/2 days. Not too bad. The weather was excellent except for occasional threat of rain.
On Wednesday, we took the day off and travelled to New Orleans. We mainly kept to the older sections of town that had been spared the flooding we've all been hearing about. These were completely intact and it appeared that nothing was wrong. Interestingly, nothing that had been settled before 1870 had been flooded. I guess that says a lot for modern urban planning. We wandered around the French Quarter, where I had been for a youth gathering, again, back in high school. This was more or less as I remembered it, although much less crowded. Part of this was that we visited during the day on a weekday, but tourism has definitely taken a hit. We also visited the infamous Lower 9th Ward. This was completely deserted except for work crews. The houses were still standing, but it was clear that they had sat under water for a good long time. Occasionally, one could see a hole in the roof through which someone had broken out of their attic. All houses bore spray-painted X's with initials, dates, and numbers. These indicated when someone had checked the house and how many survivors or non-survivors had been found. All are damaged beyond repair and will have to be demolished. Again, the media fails to convey the extent of the damage. We're talking on the order of several hundred thousand structures in the city alone. Time to recover: 10 years at least, if ever.
We fixed one roof and made one family a lot happier, but there's still much to be done. They need all the labor, money, and other help they can get. The faith-based community has stepped up big time, and for that they are greatful. They also feel (apparently without exception) abandoned by the government that was supposed to help them. And they really were, regardless of who was at fault. They do have a sense of humor though, at least when it comes to T-shirts. They have everything from "F*** FEMA" to "NOPD [New Orleans Police Dept.]=Not Our Problem, Dude" to (from Mardi Gras) "Show Your Boobs, FEMA Will Send Beads in 8-10 Weeks." And that pretty much sums it up.
And so I find myself back at school. Time to restart everything I put down so hastily a week ago. The engineering department has no mercy and homework is due this week, just like any other. But that's okay. I completely and utterly annihilated the last set of midterms, so all I have to do now is hold it together. I have a bike and an internship. What could possibly go wrong?
As I (presumably) mentioned at some point or another, this year's spring break was a mission trip to the hurricane-stricken Gulf Coast. To that end, me and 11 others, some of whom I knew and some of whom I didn't, piled into a van painfully early Saturday morning and started driving. 13 hours later (ahead of schedule!) we arrived in Gulfport, MS, which apparently bore the bront of the storm. It was late at night, and therefore we could not assess the extent of the damage. Keep in mind that the storm hit 7 months ago.
We took up residence in a local Presbyterian church, apparently the oldest on the coast. It had at one point been a stereotypical cute little white gingerbread house of a church, right down to a white picket fence. It was damaged in the storm but had been more or less repaired, save that it was still lacking its steeple and the picket fence had been reduced to its posts. They had been hosting volunteer groups since the storm hit, and their operation had been steadily expanding to the point that there was no longer space to house us all. Sunday was spent building additional temporary housing on the grounds. Various groups more or less kept to themselves, although some organization was required to prepare meals and clean.
Once day broke, we could see more completely what the storm had done. Up where we were, it was mainly wind damage- roofs missing, signs blown over, trees down, etc. Home improvement and supply stores were doing buisness hand over fist and were more or less rebuilt. Others... not so much. We drove down to the coast where the storm surge had come ashore. There, for the entire length of the coast and for several blocks inland, the damage was complete and catastrophic. Residential structures, regardless of whether they were brick or wood, were completely swept away and there was little evidence that they had ever been there to begin with. Steel-framed commercial structures had their frames still standing, but the walls perpindicular to the onslaught had been knocked out and the interiors were completely gutted such that you could see clear through to the other side. This had been reported by national media, but one can't appreciate the seemingly endless nature of the situation merely by watching TV. Time to recover, at least 5 years, they say.
Obviously, our little group couldn't do much about that sort of thing, but they assigned us to re-roof a house that was otherwise more or less intact. I had done a roofing project on a servant event in high school, and a few others had done some work as well, so we had the experience on hand to complete the project more or less on our own. This was done without injury or major mishap in 3 1/2 days. Not too bad. The weather was excellent except for occasional threat of rain.
On Wednesday, we took the day off and travelled to New Orleans. We mainly kept to the older sections of town that had been spared the flooding we've all been hearing about. These were completely intact and it appeared that nothing was wrong. Interestingly, nothing that had been settled before 1870 had been flooded. I guess that says a lot for modern urban planning. We wandered around the French Quarter, where I had been for a youth gathering, again, back in high school. This was more or less as I remembered it, although much less crowded. Part of this was that we visited during the day on a weekday, but tourism has definitely taken a hit. We also visited the infamous Lower 9th Ward. This was completely deserted except for work crews. The houses were still standing, but it was clear that they had sat under water for a good long time. Occasionally, one could see a hole in the roof through which someone had broken out of their attic. All houses bore spray-painted X's with initials, dates, and numbers. These indicated when someone had checked the house and how many survivors or non-survivors had been found. All are damaged beyond repair and will have to be demolished. Again, the media fails to convey the extent of the damage. We're talking on the order of several hundred thousand structures in the city alone. Time to recover: 10 years at least, if ever.
We fixed one roof and made one family a lot happier, but there's still much to be done. They need all the labor, money, and other help they can get. The faith-based community has stepped up big time, and for that they are greatful. They also feel (apparently without exception) abandoned by the government that was supposed to help them. And they really were, regardless of who was at fault. They do have a sense of humor though, at least when it comes to T-shirts. They have everything from "F*** FEMA" to "NOPD [New Orleans Police Dept.]=Not Our Problem, Dude" to (from Mardi Gras) "Show Your Boobs, FEMA Will Send Beads in 8-10 Weeks." And that pretty much sums it up.
And so I find myself back at school. Time to restart everything I put down so hastily a week ago. The engineering department has no mercy and homework is due this week, just like any other. But that's okay. I completely and utterly annihilated the last set of midterms, so all I have to do now is hold it together. I have a bike and an internship. What could possibly go wrong?
posted by Kevin H | 12:33 PM
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