An Update From Julie in Houston
As an Ike survivor — one who lives WAAAY inland, where it was relatively safe to “hunker down” — I agree that the Galvestonites who stayed are a burger short of a Happy Meal. And worse is the PRESS who keeps lauding their “heroic” stories of what they went through (i.e. one family who had to WALK across the causeway two days after Ike. Hello — if you’d left 3 days earlier, there were BUSSES!)
The breaking point for me was two consecutive stories on a newscast Monday: the first showing the mayor’s press conference that no one was allowed to come to or stay on Galveston; the next was the announcement that FEMA opened a distribution center on Galveston. Why would you need a distribution center on an island that no one can live on?? Eleven distribution centers for millions of people and they waste one on a spit of land that was a mandatory evacuation zone.
And, by the way, where are our credit cards and gas cards like the Katrina survivors got? What are we, chopped liver?
Sigh.
Anyway, I posted an update in a comment on Ken’s Ike post, if you want to take a peek. Thank you sooo much for the prayers and good wishes. It is getting me through a very trying time.
Julie
We’re with ya, babe.
Big Blows | Mr. Bingley | 
September 17, 2008 8:13 pm
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My thoughts are with you, Julie. Us Katrina survivors never got gas cards. We got disaster cards from the State of Louisiana we could use for groceries. How much you got was dependent on how many people were in your household. In my case, it about covered what spoiled in my freezer and a couple of week’s groceries. Every little bit helps, though, especially with so much uncertainty in the near future. I’m sure the State of Texas has something similar available to her citizens.
AllTheBest,
Rob
Thanks for posting this, dear girl. I read it too late in the evening to post.
Julie – best of luck. Get whatever they’ll give you – every little bit helps.
After Charley, we were quite grateful for even bags of ice (which was about all we got–along with a bit of water). It was HOT – and no power. But we cleared our roads, cleaned up what damage we could, shared generators. My area still had clean water – and that helped a lot. We spent a lot of time sopping wet – and much cooler for it.
We weren’t at ground zero for Charley – just close. But ground zero got the attention, and the rest of us got ice (kinda like Katrina and everywhere outside of N’awlins). We lived. So will you. And do pay attention to Rob and I. Every little bit helps. Really.
And things will get better.
Oh P.S. – You need a FEMA distribution center to feed the workers who are trying to get the island back to livable condition. (Some of them are local…)