Hurricane Relief and Recovery?

If you get there within a week of the storm, most of the power will probably still be out. Anyone who has electricity are running generators. People are already helping each other. Local restaurants are emptying their freezers of thawing food. Anyone who has a Grill is cooking for half the neighborhood.

There will be 5-6 mile long lines for water, Ice and Gasoline.

There will be several fires every night caused by someone knocking over a candle.

Sewer systems will start to back up because there is no electricity to run the lift stations. There are most likely not enough generators to run these lift stations. Houses that are still standing will start to back up with sewage.

It will be dificult to drive anywhere because of all the debris. After the debris has been removed, there will be many accidents because the traffic lights are out.

People will be fighting over supplies.

Most people will get little sleep, because there is no air conditioning or heat.

If it rains again, those without tarps on their damaged roofs will get major water damage, if they are not already water damaged by the hurricane.

There will be looting of destroyed and damages homes and businesses.

People protecting their property will have guns, and may fire on people they think are trying to loot.

generally neighbors will be helping and taking care of neighbors.

I have a lot more to share, just not enough time.

Robert
http://www.roberttgasperson.com

An interesting fact I learned about Katrina: It's been several years, but there are many people that cannot move back into their homes because deadly species of mold have been growing in their homes. It's nearly impossible to get rid of without tearing down the house, and is harmless in small amounts, but the enormous amount of mold in these houses are making them completely unlivable. If you ever want your MC to come back months later to the site, I thought it could be some detail you could use.

Molten

We went to Slidell, LA in the December after Katrina to rebuild a church. The landscape was in bad shape with a lot of uprooted trees. The roads were clear, but the ditches were filled with trees, photos, clothing, toys, and furniture. There were twisted billboards and boats literally IN trees. In the places where there had been less clean-up, it looked like a bomb went off. Also, you saw a lot of houses with tree-sized holes in the roof. Almost every roof will have a blue FEMA tarp over it. Also, a lot of buildings will have graffiti on them (one I saw was "You loot, we shoot").

I don't know if this will help, but since there wasn't a lot of hot water we had to take our showers at this trailer set up for the workers and it was ICE COLD.

http://kiwikero.deviantart.com/art/Our-Flag-Was-Still-There-52691861

I took this outside of New Orleans. That flag was literally the only thing standing for a mile.

Hope this helps!

NaNo 2005: Under the Influence - failed
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NaNo 2007: ???????

I went to Louisiana about three months after the storm. One of the first things I noticed was the smell-- kind of like sewage, but it was actually a remnant from the ocean surge. It's the smell of the sea after it's come up on land and then dried up-- really salty, kind of, but the really nasty smell came from all the plant and animal material that had been washed up and started to decompose. Dead fish, crustaceans, seaweed, you name it. It's not really something you can see (except maybe the seaweed caught in the trees), but it's definitely something you're aware of the entire time.

Also, someone mentioned something about mold. Part of our job was to strip down houses and other buildings from the inside out. This was because of the mold. After just three months the mold smell was so bad in places that if you didn't wear a face mask, you would puke upon entering a house. No kidding. It showed up as a black, green, and red pattern on walls, furniture, and whatever else got wet in the storm surge. Places that didn't get much light were worse. Not just the smell, but being around it can make you feel really ill if you don't get enough fresh air.

A note about the people we met: for the most part, they were the most thankful, gracious people I've ever met. Even though they had next to nothing, they opened their arms to us wherever we went, and did their very best to make us completely comfortable. It was a lot more than we ever expected.

Hope some of that helps!

10 days after a Cat 4 Hurricane shelters will be still be up, full, and well lived in. Most Shelter Volunteers will have been swapped out for at least one shower, and a good 14 hours of sleep undisturbed. The smell inside the shelters will be unmistakable of people who have gone for days without a bath. Every space will be full if not from someone who was smart and got there before the storm, then by someone who wasn't and who came afterwards. The shelter will be well set up with clearly marked restrooms, food stations, medical facilies, and an ARES desk, along with a check-in desk for new arrivals and for people who are leaving.

There will be quiet hours, but activity never really stops.

ARES stands for Amatur Radio Emergency Services, and their tasking is to assist in disaster communications, before during, and after the storm. There will probably be a long line of people there seeking to get word out to unaffected relatives that they are ok, as well as seeking information about relatives who are affected.

My main area is ARES but I know a little about most everything else. If you have further questions, you can feel free to either NaNoMail me, or ask here :)

~pherring

http://pherring.livejournal.com

Katrina is probably not a very good example because the damage there was not caused directly by the hurricane, but by the levee's breaking. There's not many places that would happen like that. A better example you could use is Captiva Island and Port Charlotte, which were hit by Charley in 2004. Or, better yet, Hurricane Andrew's devestation in Homestead, FL in the early 1990's (though that was a Cat 5).

10 days after the storm, much of the debree on streets and such will likely have been picked up. Water in the streets and homes would have receeded, though there will still be a lot of flood damage in homes. Down power lines will have also been removed. But there will still be many street lights down, some dead power poles, etc. There will likely be power at major intersections for traffic lights, but not at smaller streets... which means each light is a 4-way stop. There will be a lot of blue tarps on roofs. Those last for up to a year or more. A lot of broken windows... some are just left that way in abandoned homes, some boarded up, some with a plastic bag covering the window. Police patrol is up, but 10 days after I'd expect most of the national guard to have left unless it's a particularly devestated area or if a lot of people had to leave their homes and they are left empty.

There will be immediate gasoline shortages, but by 10 days, that should be fairly eased, though some stations will still be out. Ice is a rare comodity. Water is generally easy to come by 10 days later, but buying bottles may be rationed in certain areas. A lot of people just drive out of town a couple hours, pick up what they need and then leave.

Schools will likely be open 10 days later, but not necessarily. Schools that sustained damage will shift their students to other schools with little or no damage.

The question as to who gets power first depends on the city's emergency response plan. They evaluate which areas HAVE to have power first, such as hospitals and schools (which often function as shelters) and restore those areas first. Then they go about seeing which power lines need to be fixed and would provide the MOST benefit... kind of like a triage system. 10 days out, a LOT of people will have power, but a lot still won't.

For whatever reason, I've always found phone lines rarely go out, and those that do are restored fairly quickly, because most of them are underground these days in Florida.

A fun thing to note is that everyone claps for gas-refill trucks and utility trucks. hehe, the only time that they get the appreciation they deserve is when everyone realizes how important they are!

Anyway, I've gone through 1 cat 4 hurricane (Charley) and a few Cat 2's in a Florida coastal town, so PM me if you have any other questions....

The above post is for literary purposes only and is NOT LEGAL ADVICE, no matter how know-it-all I sound. ;)

Thank you everyone for the responses so far. They're giving me a lot of ideas and visuals, and I really appreciate your help. Anyone else who has something to add, even if you think it is trivial, please add it anyway. Everything helps!

friendof, I may just nanomail you if I have any specific questions - thanks for helping. I know Katrina is not the best example - but the Biloxi and Gulfport area is what I am trying to focus on. I haven't looked into Charley yet but I will start. Thanks for the suggestion!

I worked for a major international nonprofit that did work in New Orleans immediately after Katrina. I was there about a month after the storm--and that's the soonest they were letting most people, even relief agencies, in for any long-term efforts.

What I saw in New Orleans:
- No signs of life--even things like birds chirping, totally absent. There's an eerie stillness.
- Seeing other people startles you--we were assessing one neighborhood and there was a homeowner there trying to salvage things. We mutually scared the crap out of each other!
- Watermarks--the sort of muddy-chalkly lines that show the water level as it rises and drops. In a big storm, it's up to the second story of a house.
- Things that are oddly untouched: picture frames that are still on a table--even though the table has somehow floated out into the street; a refrigerator that has been swept blocks away, but still has photos magneted to it, and unbroken bottles of wine inside...
- Things that are "almost right," but not: cars that have floated slightly askew on the street; dishes that are cracked, but lying so that you can see that they were and that they used to like in that spot...

There's a very bad smell. There's no electricity. There are likely National Guard or other military enforcing curfews, limiting where you can go, etc.

Feel free to message me if you want additional details/specifics. I lived this very scenario for almost a year--till it burned me out and I got another job... :-)

Most things in life can be described in one of two ways: a good time, or a good story.

I remember living in Ft. Lauderdale when Andrew went through in the early 90s. We were all boarded up. We were able to see through a small crack between the boards. The trees in the back yard caught on fire from the powerlines that ran through them. Luckily the rain put them out.

We did aftermath relief in Homestead in later weeks. The trailer parks were completely demolished. I got some pictures of cars that had been completely flipped over by the wind.

There was the wet Hurricane called George. I think it was a Cat 1 or 2. I remember everything being flooded. We had to help push cars out of waist deep water in the streets.

We got part of Katrina, Ivan, and finally Wilma was a Cat 3 when it went through. It was the one that caused power outage for 12 days at our condo.We lived on the bottom floor. Everyone was still using their toilets. Sewage filled the bathtub and toilet, overflowed and ruined the wood floors. We moved out before it got too bad. It took 2 months to get it cleaned up, checked for bacteria and retiled.

During wilma, we watched window awning get ripped off the condo behind us. We watched palm trees fall. We watched as sheets of plywood (from our roofs) fly accross the yard. It was a scary sight.

Needless to say, fe finally moved away from South Florida Last Year.

Robert
http://www.roberttgasperson.com

Katrina is not a good example for how hurricanes are in Florida. I've lived here all my life, 21 years. Not once have my family and I evacuated our home, let alone the state. Few Floridans do. I live on the coast too, during the school yeah I'm in Tampa Bay and all other times directly across the state in Cape Canaveral. With my experience, after ten days things are almost back to normal. Even in 2005 when we had record numbers of hurricanes we were only out of power for 9 days which is not typical for us. Most power lines and the like are below ground now, making it easier. More and more homes have hurricane shutters instead of plywood and I think almost all new home come with them already installed, same with new condos. The first people to respond are power companies and then gas tankers come in and put fuel back in our pumps. Florida it better prepared for hurricanes, we have the evacuation routs all set up and typically people know how to ready themselves and their homes for storm. Also, looting has never been an issue where I've lived. If a person leaves their home, it's all boarded up and there's no getting in.

Umm....what else? During the Eye of the storm lots of people (my family included) go outside and survey the damage and fix what we can, move debris form the roads and such. With a slow moving storm (which are more deadly) the eye can last for over an hour, plenty of time to take care of hazards. Following the end of the storm (which could easily be a day and half after it makes landfall) people in their pickup trucks start circling the neighborhoods looking for fallen trees and then guys with chainsaws hop out and take care of them. Grocery Stores such as Publix or Win-Dixie get their power restored first and then they provide ice and basic food stuffs for free for probably two weeks at most after the storm, at least in my part of Florida. Large cities and towns will get power back before tiny places. People who live on the barrier islands are allowed to return home a few days after the storm if the flooding has gone. And the flooding is never as bad as it was in LA with Katrina. Schools are functional right away since all schools are built to serve as shelters and as long as the shelter is need then school is suspended but I honestly can't remember ever missing more then three days because of a 'cane. The Fires that Florida experiences during our Summers are more destructive and cause more evacuations then our hurricanes do. The main damage by hurricanes is their tendency to take down pine trees, which tend to fall on houses and such. Just remember that the slower the hurricane moves the more damage it will inflict.

Sorry that was so disorganized. Hopefully I was of some help.

><><><><><><><
2006: Unstable Bodies
2007: Knowing When To Jump

Just another bit of info ~

We live in Jackson, MS which is about 3 hours north of Biloxi and Gulfport. Katrina was still a Cat 1 when it came through here. Many, many people were without electricity for up to two weeks even this far north due to trees falling on power lines. We still had 2 and 3 hour long gas lines for at least two weeks, shortages on groceries, ice, etc. due to the number of people who had fled this far from the storm as well as the people living here who were without power. It was almost impossible to get from here further south than about Hattiesburg which is still about an hour and a half from the coast for a number of days. The interstate was closed and Highway Patrol were out in full force to make sure no one who didn't have official business headed down that way.

Just thought this might help add some background for your MC as they travel down to the site of the storm.

BTW - my uncle's house in Bay St. Louis and my ex-inlaw's house on Daulphin Island both vanished in the storm and nothing has ever been found of either of them. Bay St. Louis was almost totally wiped off the map so there certainly wasn't just a flooding problem.

an*no*ta*tion
http://annotatedbooks.blogspot.com/

Tell me about the town. Did the hurricane go directly through it or did it pass by one of the sides? If it wasn't a direct hit, did the storm pass on the east or the west? One direction (I can't remember which) gets more damage than the other. How close is the town to the water, not only the ocean but rivers too? What types of buildings are nearest the water? Is it isolated? Has the town any experience with other hurricanes?

I used in live in Diamondhead, MS, and my home was completely destroyed by Katrina. I lived in one of the areas that the news media forgot about when the levees broke in New Orleans, if they remembered at all. If you message me, I'll send you the link to the CNN special that shows my family and what used to be where I lived. My dad was making copies of before and after pictures and the copy guy was really impressed because he thought my dad had photoshopped the entire house away.

First thing, the cell phones are probably going to be screwed up with all the towers down. Even cell phones that came from the area, but are no longer there will have problems. My father went down a few days after the storm to Bay Saint Louis (approximately 20 minutes from where we used to live) and could only find one place in the entire town where cell service worked -- the edge of what used to be the Bay Bridge. I heard satilite phones work, but I'm not certain. He said that people were walking around like zombies wrapped in blankets to stay warm.

There will be debris everywhere. This is not only things like tree branches and mud. There will be the wreckage of houses and everything that was inside. There will be beds, tables, computers, just about anything. It will look like a war zone. The strangest things will survive, too. My mother found her clay plaque that said "You can't scare me. I have children." I dug through the dirt using a piece of glass and found my sister's Snow White snowglobe. The music wouldn't play and the ball was covered in dirt, but there wasn't a crack in it.

Areas nearest the water will be damaged the most. If the town is near water, chances are that when the town was founded everything was centered near the water. Anything as old as the town will be damaged. The historic district if there is one will probably be destroyed. Old churches will have heavy damages. If there are any parochial schools under control of the churches they will be damaged too.

If the area has a history of storms, you're looking at more bodies especially if the area faced a lot of near misses or low level storms. Most of the people who died on the MS gulf coast died because they did not think that Katrina would be that bad. They stayed in houses that they swore would survive because they had survived Camille. After a few near misses, more people tend not to go. Think of a fire alarm that keeps going off. After four 3 AM alarms, you get sick of getting up and that's the night you burn in your bed. My mother seriously debated about leaving because she had finally put away the evacuation boxes from June.

If you have anymore questions, just message me.

Ten days after a hurricane a lot of stuff should be finished if they're prepared for it (and by now, most towns are). The first thing that happens is that the hospitals get power back. They have generators, but they can't handle everything. My mother was in the hospital a few days after one hurricane and their biggest issue was ice. They couldn't power the freezers and all they could get was ice that relief workers were giving out. When you have patients that can't eat or consume liquids, ice is their only option and they are stuck with I.V. fluids because a lot of ice is needed to keep medications cool. If there are still relief people giving out ice, water and food, those with medical need get it first, such as diabetics who need cool insulin. Other than that, it's first come, first serve and the lines are easily several hours long.

Not everyone loses power and there are some grids that go up faster than others. After Wilma, we had friends whose electricity went on within two days, while we were out of it for three weeks. In neighborhoods where the power isn't back up, anyone with a generator is a God. There are some generators that will power almost the entire house, even the hot water heater (though they cost a lot more money to buy and run, they're worth it when you need a hot shower after three days).

A lot of people will still be boarded up because they don't have the energy to take down the shutters or they're just leaving it up in case another hurricane is coming their way. Anyone who has a barbecue will be cooking all the meat they can find and most people will let their neighbors use it as well. Charcoal grills are generally better because you don't have to wait hours in line to get propane.

Ten days into it, any store that sells food will be open. Publix, CVS, etc. A lot of them will use generators to run the cash registers, A/C and coolers (though anything that can spoil will have already been spoiled). Any employee that can physically make it to work will be required to work. The midnight shift is usually called off because they have to run all of the lights and it's usually dangerous, but those workers will be called in to work during the day to get the store straightened up and deal with the huge lines of people who need easy food that doesn't have to be cooked. The biggest issue will be getting more food in because it's usually difficult for delivery trucks to get down there, especially if traffic lights are out. A lot of time, the corporate office won't bother trying to send anything. Places like Lowe's and Home Depot may be open too to provide tarps and anything else that people need just to keep their houses in livable conditions.

Most traffic lights should be up by then. The government will be focused on fixing up any structures that got damaged such as hospitals and particularly schools. If they're out of school that long, kids will be wining because they have to make up hurricane days. ;)

Like others have said, Katrina was a rather atypical hurricane. I've been in Florida all my life and hurricanes are rarely that devastating in the US [Latin America / the Caribbean is another story, but that's not the topic here, lol]. Coastal areas definitely get hit the worst, but depending on where the eye actually crosses the coast, they may get nothing more than an intense summer storm. If the eye is east of the city [ie - the town is being hit by the west side of the storm] they will inevitably be facing stronger winds and much more torrential rain.

For a more stereotypical hurricane on the stronger end -- I would also suggest hurricane Andrew, or the hurricanes during the late summer of 2004. Or, I do remember Hurricane Erin crossing while I was in middle school. They had hyped it up like it was going to be something dangerous and devastating, but then it ended up being a whole lot of nothing. Of course, we still had damage from the flooding, but *shrug* it happens. Those would be more stereotypical storms, however.

If you'd like any other, more specific info from the "riding out the storm" end, I'd be more than willing to help. I'm kind of a hurricane-nerd and like to go out and play in them far more often than I should. xD

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I used to live in Florida and the storm that had the biggest impact on my neighborhood was Hurricane Wilma. School was canceled the day before it was supposed to make landfall- giving us the chance to go home and help our families prepare. Houses are boarded up, items such as lawn furniture and garbage cans are brought inside, and of course most everyone stocks up on food and water.

Wilma was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Trees were uprooted and thrown down the streets and debris was flying everywhere. My neighbor's wooden porch was torn to bits; pieces of the wood flying at our house. Our cars got scratched up, the lock on my shutters actually broke off from where something had hit it, and my other neighbor's awnings were ripped off. One of them got picked up by the wind and was hurled into our backyard, breaking our phone and electrical wire. That same awning later relocated to the top of someone's car. And I was watching all this (stupidly) by the glass door in my garage.

When it was all over, people hesitantly came out of their houses. Huge ficus trees had been uprooted, breaking our water line; other trees, wires, and all sorts of debris covered the streets. It was impossible to drive anywhere and survey the total damage. With no electricity, telephone, or water, you have to learn to make use of what you got. A lot of people use generators to run fans and refrigerators and until the water is fixed, baby wipes are often used to keep clean. Fortunately we had working water in two days time, but the electricity wasn't fixed for another 2-3 weeks. Shops that didn't suffer severe damage usually reopen within a couple of days, same thing with schools. Places like Home Depot, gas stations, and groceries stores generally the first to open. In short I think that your characters can expect to find a lot of "blue roofs," working electricity in limited parts of the city, people helping each other out (funny how that was the only time I'd see people in my neighborhood) but the roads will definitely be cleared by that time. Hope that this helps.

"Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." - Gene Fowler

We helped relatives and adjusted insurance claims from day 1 after Katrina, across Louisiana and Mississippi. Coastal communities hit by storm surge were lucky to have a building standing. Mostly, they were pilings of all shapes and sizes (raised homes) or slabs, with scattered bits of debris. The recognizable debris on the slabs, the roads, in the grass, in any remaining bushes or trees and hanging off the pilings included tattered plastic (bags, tarps, whatever) that caught every breeze (a prominent feature), clothing, shoes, plastic toys, splintered pieces of wood etc. Of course, at the edge of the main wave surge there is a line of heavier debris (like you see on the beach when the tide goes out), but it can be, and often is, up to 30 feet high. It includes fallen trees (think of a pile of pickup sticks), decorated with broken front doors, window frames, golf bags, televisions, refrigerators etc. etc., all decorated with the earlier list of debris. That was in my sister's front yard. It included, for her, a diver's oxygen tank and a life preserver (as it turned out both had been in a house a block away).

By the tenth day, one person had returned to camp in the one remaining room of the upstairs of his former home (until the authorities forced him to leave). By now the smell of rotten food and dead animals and humans (some floating and bloated in swimming pools) is becoming prominent. Other people were camped in tents on their slabs or moved into their storage sheds, cars etc. The first order of business at the edge of the main surge debris was to return the mailboxes, if possible, to their rightful addresses. This required that the owner be milling about looking for their Calloways or whatever; so they could ID the box. By day 10, many were. More often, volunteers and everyone else relied on hand-made signs w/ the address or word of mouth. Some volunteers were arrested as looters. Many looters were mistaken for volunteers. "Will shoot looters" signs were intermittent. Nuts with guns, shooting people they didn't want in their neighborhood were too, but they were there

After a grocery on the outskirts reopened, it quickly ran out of food due to disruption of supply routes etc.. This resulted in a fight over the last pack of chicken, police details, restricted hours and prohibition. If you're story has MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) , the Vegetarian Manicotti really wasn't bad. I have one left if you need to experience it for yourself.

If a roof was found in the street, every adjuster in the area would measure it to see if it fit their assigned slab, if they found the slab. Damage to cell towers prevented all but about every tenth text message from getting through. Cell phone service was mostly out. Even into the third week, here on the northshore, FEMA disaster representatives (the government's adjusters) were forced to drive out of state (It probably wouldn't be as bad in Fla?) to get their files uploaded and check for new assignments by their deadlines, making them very ineffective and stressed.

Home Depot and WalMart lots were like hoovervilles of tents and campertrailers where victims, insurance adjusters, chainsaw-blade sharpeners, construction workers and volunteers lived side-by-side for weeks. The tents got the little grassy strips. Medical volunteers from out of state set up trailers in parking lots with canopies and such and did field triage for the many injured, first by the storm, then in chainsaw accidents (one guy lopped off a finger cutting a jet ski out of a tree) and dispensing tetanus shots (rusty nails from buildings and torn metal everywhere).
Sorry, that's it. My eyes are bugging. ..Need a specific reference? If I don't have it I probably know someone...