Beyond Katrina

Beaumont residents: Hurricane Ike is no Gustav

BEAUMONT – Darrell Washington figured better late than never when it came to escaping the wrath of Hurricane Ike. Continue at the Dallas Morning News...

   

Hurricane Ike 65 Miles S/SE of Galveston Texas

AT 9 PM CDT...0200Z...THE CENTER OF LARGE HURRICANE IKE WAS
ESTIMATED BY NOAA DOPPLER WEATHER RADARS...AND AIR FORCE RESERVE AND
NOAA RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT...TO BE NEAR LATITUDE 28.5 NORTH...
LONGITUDE 94.3 WEST OR ABOUT 65 MILES...105 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF
GALVESTON TEXAS AND ABOUT 90 MILES...140 KM...SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF
BEAUMONT TEXAS.

Perry issues disaster declaration for Gustav

BEAUMONT, Texas — Gov. Rick Perry has issued a disaster declaration for 61 counties as Texas prepares for a possible brush with Tropical Storm Gustav. Continue>>>

Call for Katrina/Rita Families

Over the past few days I've been writing about Post Santa - www.postsanta.com - a new bulletin board focused on Christmas wish fulfillment for hurricane impacted families.  I am delighted to report that we have heard from many folks who stand ready to adopt a family this Christmas -  They represent people from schools and businesses along the Gulf Coast who are saying, "Where's a family I can adopt, I am ready to do this now"! So while we have adopters lined up, we've yet to hear from families who want to be adopted - and I know there are many folks who could use the extra help this Christmas. And here's the thing.  To make this special the adopters need time.  If the adoption is  a group effort, they need to inform people, collect money, gifts, and get them to their adopted families. So if you are family in need or if you know of a family in need, please let us know. To get the particulars, head to the site.

A Hurricane Rita Survivor Speaks Out

I got the following email from Hurricane Rita survivor Wendy Tabor....

We gave up hope of any help what seems like forever ago.  We gave up being taken seriously as victims because of this storm what seems like forever ago.  We have felt alone in our effort to recover from the destruction that Rita brought to lives, in dealing with the sheer terror that I felt and the helplessness that my husband felt stranded at a gas station for 18 hours, with my 8 year old son in the car, as the first band of Rita reached us, in finding a way to make rent every month, in trying to find a new job that is more than a hold over, in living our lives without fear of losing our home again (we were late on rent and I felt actual terror creeping into the periphery of my mind at the thought of being without a home yet again).

We have been laughed at by people offering help to hurricane evacuees and victims when they found out that we were from Rita, from Texas, from Beaumont.

We finally got two blocks of rental assistance from FEMA about seven months ago, now they want us to repay one of those blocks while there are folks here from Katrina that are making two and three times more than we are who are still recieving rental assistance (the management of our apartment complex were infuriated enough by FEMA's action against us that this was disclosed in our discussion). Yes, we are appealing.

I want to thank you for your site, for the fact that there is still someone out there that doesn't think that our situation is a joke.  Some days I get very overwhelmed by all that transpired that week, those days I look for any acknowledgment that I am not imagining what went on, what we went through, that we have had to start our lives over from scratch, that I am not invisible, that my terror was real.  I never knew real terror in my life until that day.

Thank you so much for the weight of solitude and abandonment being lifted a bit from my heart and soul.

Thank you so much for a glimmer of hope.

Thank you so much.

Wendy

I wrote Wendy back thanking her for her kind letter and asking for permission to post it here. This was her response...

Anything that might possibly open someones eyes to the other places and other people that were ravaged by this storm is a wonderful thing.  I know that Katrina was terrible, and what it did to New Orleans was beyond comprehension, we recieved and helped as many of it's victims as we could there in Beaumont.  I never want it to be forgotten either. But whole cities were laid to waste by Rita, too, and nothing is ever said about it anymore.  I remember watching the news and seeing what happened to Cameron Parish, I cried and cried, just like I did when I saw Gulfport, when I saw New Orleans.  I have not seen my old home since a friend drove all the way up here to the Dallas area, picked us up and drove right back down there to attend my mother's funeral in Houston, drove us to Beaumont and made the trip back again, all of this just a month after Rita.

The Golden Triangle flooded horribly in places, boats left on roads the whole bit.

And I know about the lack of coverage, I didn't know anyone in Cameron Parish but I often find myself wondering and worrying about the people there, and never see anything about it. Gulfport I at least see some mention of every rare now and then.  (these are just the two that my mind latched on to out of so many)

The Katrina evacuees in Houston have it so rough, ever city has an bad element, Houston just seems so focused on that part of the mass of souls that ended up there. I always hope to see some of the good stories, but the media doesn't seem to even deem those stories worth a blink or a nod, and that just makes it harder for all of them.

Wendy