From the Cop side: Hurricane Ike created a giant mess in Texas. This is one time I wish my National Guard unit would call me so I could go help. I have experience. I have training. I've been to 2 floods, a fire, an earthquake, a riot, and a war (and Bosnia, but that just had landmines and bad drivers)...but when it's your home...it's different. I've been lucky...my home has always been safe.
When I returned from Iraq in 2005, I took 30 days off before I went back to work at the Police Department. Now, I wish I had taken more time off...or picked a different time to have gone back.
My first day back in patrol we had a bank robbery. Our town had not had a bank robbery for at least 15 years! Why did he wait until the day I came back from Iraq? Was it Taliban?
TWO weeks later, the entire down town flooded. We lost our fire station and the police station....and all but one or two businesses in the down town were destroyed.
For the next 11 days, I worked 12 hours a day walking a foot beat in the down town.... because I wanted to...and because most of the other cops working (who were half my age) wanted to be in a patrol car because their feet hurt from walking the first day. I felt that a bad day in California was still better than a good day in Iraq. Yeah, even though it was a mess, I was happy to be there to help.
Some people expect the government to come and help.... 2 days before the flood, I was given fliers to hand out in one area of town we were sure was going to flood. The fliers explained where to pick up free sand and sand bags. Some of the people I handed the fliers to asked if the city public works was going to deliver the free sand and sand bags. I pointed out on the flyer that each citizen was responsible for getting their own.
Guess how many citizens went and got their free sand and free sand bags?
ZERO, NONE, NADA, ZIP. Not one single person in that area did one thing to prepare for the flood. Those I talked to in person...I told: "It is going to flood here, you need to sand bag your home."
If you ask me...they were a bunch of useless, whiny, ...... well you get my point. Then...they wanted to sue the town for not doing anything to prevent the flood.
(Every time the town tries to clear the creeks, some tree hugging hippies come out and complain that they are killing some endangered weed or something.)
God, I can't wait to retire.
When I returned from Iraq in 2005, I took 30 days off before I went back to work at the Police Department. Now, I wish I had taken more time off...or picked a different time to have gone back.
My first day back in patrol we had a bank robbery. Our town had not had a bank robbery for at least 15 years! Why did he wait until the day I came back from Iraq? Was it Taliban?
TWO weeks later, the entire down town flooded. We lost our fire station and the police station....and all but one or two businesses in the down town were destroyed.
For the next 11 days, I worked 12 hours a day walking a foot beat in the down town.... because I wanted to...and because most of the other cops working (who were half my age) wanted to be in a patrol car because their feet hurt from walking the first day. I felt that a bad day in California was still better than a good day in Iraq. Yeah, even though it was a mess, I was happy to be there to help.
Some people expect the government to come and help.... 2 days before the flood, I was given fliers to hand out in one area of town we were sure was going to flood. The fliers explained where to pick up free sand and sand bags. Some of the people I handed the fliers to asked if the city public works was going to deliver the free sand and sand bags. I pointed out on the flyer that each citizen was responsible for getting their own.
Guess how many citizens went and got their free sand and free sand bags?
ZERO, NONE, NADA, ZIP. Not one single person in that area did one thing to prepare for the flood. Those I talked to in person...I told: "It is going to flood here, you need to sand bag your home."
If you ask me...they were a bunch of useless, whiny, ...... well you get my point. Then...they wanted to sue the town for not doing anything to prevent the flood.
(Every time the town tries to clear the creeks, some tree hugging hippies come out and complain that they are killing some endangered weed or something.)
God, I can't wait to retire.
1 comment:
I feel for the families of those who might never be found. As far as those who stayed and survived, I'm tired of hearing the excuses. There is no excuse. They were told when the ferry would stop running and informed of the MANDATORY evacuation in plenty of time. In this type of scenario, a poor choice costs you your own life and risks those trying pluck your a$$ from the rising waters. The Coast Guard has some awesome videos on YouTube of some of their rescues. They flew until conditions wouldn't allow it any longer. Army blackhawks took over when the Coast Guard couldn't fly. Hats off to all those heroes. I have friends working the recovery in an official capacity and they are working long hours, but not complaining.
More stores are opening up around here and gas stations are finally getting gas. I was without power for 2 days and lost a windshield, but that pales in comparison to those by the water who have lost everything.
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