Me in downtown Pass Christian, MS -2005. That's town square right there, folks. (click for larger view) You can see the vault for the bank just left of the tree, one of the few things left standing. That's not wind damage. Where I'm standing was under about 9 ft of water!And here we go again. Summer's just around the corner. We activate our EOC probably 4 or 5 times a year because of these cursed tropical storms. We're good at it though. My region of the United States has got their stuff together, let me tell you. Katrina was less than a year ago. Now we're gearing up for it all again. We were fortunate last year. We didn't take a direct hit from Katrina. We did take a direct hit from (-CENSORED-), but the world hardly noticed. We still haven't recovered from Hurricane Ivan and probably won't for years to come. Katrina gave us a pretty swift kick in the ass, but nothing like Missisippi. Those poor folks in Pass Christian lost their whole town. Screw New Orleans. The world never even noticed Mississippi.
If we don't get hit, this year, almost certainly someone nearby will. And very likely, those of us who are field deployable will be on some task force for response. So far, I've deployed out of town for Hurricane's Charley, Katrina and Ivan. How does a dispatcher deploy you say? I drive and operate this:
If we don't get hit, this year, almost certainly someone nearby will. And very likely, those of us who are field deployable will be on some task force for response. So far, I've deployed out of town for Hurricane's Charley, Katrina and Ivan. How does a dispatcher deploy you say? I drive and operate this:
"--CENSORED--" Command Center
It has deployed more frequently than I ever would have guessed. It looks roomy, but a week on that son of a gun with no showers, eating MRE's is no cake walk. I do make very good money while deployed and for that I feel very fortunate. While the rest of the impacted community must stay at home, unable to work, those in public service are able to continue to make an income. Though we get no time off during times of disaster and must sacrifice the ability to be at home to make needed repairs and see to our own belongings and families, we are able to continue to provide financial support.
That's the bright side...all of it. Man I hate summer, but here it comes anyway.
That's the bright side...all of it. Man I hate summer, but here it comes anyway.
3 comments:
Even though I don't live in hurricane central, I'm glad that there is folks like you that willingly gives up your own saftey to keep others saftey.
Dude, are freakin sayin I smell. After all we have been through. I expect a little clarification in the next article....d
You did that week! But so did I. Baby wipes...that's what we smelled like. Baby wipe baths are not something I exactly look forward to.
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