Seabrook/ El Lago
Damage estimate: $287 million in residential and business damage.... El Lago $83 million
At a glance: 1,000 homes either destroyed or severely damaged to point where not livable without significant repairs. Majority of the businesses on The Point are no longer standing. City Hall had six inches of water, the roof was damaged, and the A/C unit caught fire and was severely damaged. Sewer plant flooded and had several motors damaged. Police department needs new flooring and furniture. City swimming pool and rec center was damaged.... The Landing Condominiums suffere sever structural damage and has been declared unsafe for habitation. Both the El Lago and Clear Lake marinas were decimated. Residential areas suffered major tree losses.
- Houston Chronicle
Today, for the first time in more than two weeks, I have a day off. After working 12-15 and running myself into the ground, I almost don't know what to do with myself in Houston on a weekday. Still, a day off in this environment is still a day off, so...what am I going to do? I'm going to play turista. After my trip to Galveston on Monday, I figure that I saw things that, with any luck, I will never see again in my lifetime. So, I'm going to spend today recording some of those things on my digital camera. Perhaps I'm looking for something to show to my nonexistent and likely never to be born grandchildren. Or maybe it's just that what's happened here is something so far beyond my ability to comprehend it that I just want to have some sort of visual proof. All of what I've seen really did happen...and I find it almost impossible to fully comprehend it, much less understand it.
I live in a part of the country where getting an inch of rain is a major weather event. Trying to explain something like Hurricane Ike to people back in Portland feels a lot like an exercise in futility. I can talk about it, and I can describe what I'm seeing, but no mortal vocabulary could possibly do justice to the scope and breadth of the damage and devastation I've seen over the past two weeks. I've seen things that I know I'll never be able to forget. After living in Portland for the past year, I'd never imagined that I would be returning to Houston under these circumstances. To say that my time here has been stressful and emotionally draining wouldn't even begin to accurately describe the toll this has taken on me. Even so, I maintain what perspective I can by reminding myself that (if all goes according to plan) I'll be waking up in my own bed in Beaverton a week from today.
Speaking of going home, it's beginning to look as if I may well be coming back after I return home for a week. I don't have confirmation of that, and it may not happen, but I can understand why my company would ask me to come back after a week's break at home. Having lived here for ten years, I can add a lot to our work here that no one else on our catastrophe team is able to. I know the city, I know the traffic patterns, and I've got a lot of local knowledge that can be, and has been, very helpful both to me and those around me. I don't have the words in my vocabulary to express how much I don't want to return, but if asked to do so, I will say yes without hesitation. If the need is there, I can offer a lot of things that few others in my position can. This is what I volunteered for, and some things really are bigger than myself.
Today, though, I'm going to relax and try to do what I can to put the emotional strain of the past two weeks behind me. Tomorrow I'll be back at it, but the good thing is that there will be only five more days until I head home...and yes, I will freely admit to being homesick. I want to go home and get back to normal...even though it's beginning to appear that normal might be a ways down the road for me.
