Water, Water, Everywhere
EXTRA! EXTRA! 1st-person Account of Being in Houston during Hurricane Harvey!
The experience really has not been too bad. Which is kind-of why I haven't posted anything much on social media, because other stories deserve more attention.
But diversity is the spice of life, so here is a not-so-scary account of riding the storm.
Thursday and Friday of last week was a panic rush to grocery stores and gas stations. But I had gone grocery shopping on Wednesday, so we were okay there; we didn't even try. And Mark filled up with gas in the late evening when the lines didn't occupy the whole parking lot. So nothing much going on there. I did end up cooking a quiche in-between the normal shifts at work, so that we would have some healthy food that is still delicious to eat cold. That's it.
Saturday it was raining all day; I knew things would be closed, so Mark and I basically stayed in the apartment and watched episodes of The Wire. [We're on a season that highlights the school district in low-income/high-violence neighborhoods, which reminded Mark of his experience substituting in the Houston school district.]
We did prep for some possible disasters: putting furniture up on bricks (Lowe's ran out of concrete blocks), putting bags of ice in the freezer, putting together a food bag to grab in case of evacuation, charging up portable chargers, locating our crank-powered radio, parking our cars in high parts of our fairly-flat parking lot, filling up water bottles, filling up our tub with water for non-potable needs (cleaning, flushing the toilet, etc.) and running as many loads of laundry and dishes as we could.
That night, rain starting coming in harder, and our parking lot started to flood, but it never got above our tires.
Overnight, our power blipped out, but it was back on when I got up on Sunday morning. Some of my co-workers started texting to see if any nurses had been able to report for the Sunday day shift...and we found that NONE had. Two day shifters had stayed the night at the hospital, but other than that, night shift (from Saturday night) still had to keep working to keep our patients safe and minimally cared-for. I had signed up to be on the team that works in the hospital during the crisis, but we weren't 'activated' until Sunday morning, and we couldn't figure out a way in! ALL of the roads were flooded, as far as we could tell, and the medical center itself was taking on a LOT of water.
Hearing from a neighbor that her power had gone out, I started cooking some of the food from the freezer (chicken and vegetables, basically) and using up fresh produce and eggs so that we wouldn't have a lot of food waste if our fridge stopped working. [I made chicken alfredo parmagiana with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes for a main course, then I made some peanut butter bars for a treat. They are both delicious, BTW.]
I also tried scouting out the situation on the roads, taking Mark's bike to see what was flooded where.
Basically, it was flooded everywhere, but we were dry and had power.
It felt terrible to be so safe knowing that my co-workers in the hospital had been on the floor for 24 hours and counting. I couldn't send them cookies, cards, flowers, any of the typical care-packages. But more importantly, I couldn't send them help.
A couple of my co-workers were able to get inside the hospital on Sunday during one of the lulls between bands of rainstorm, but the biggest relief was when 7-8 nurses (just from our unit, mind you) were able to get in and start working Monday morning. I was one of those; I drove to work on a route I've never taken before, but heard that someone else had been able to use safely. So as of Monday, we were able to give all of P7 night shift some time to sleep.
But we still have a ways to go before we (the hospital, the medical center, the city, all of it) are operating normally. M.D. Anderson has had 3 cooks for all patients and staff; just 3 people to prepare and package meals for HUNDREDS of people. No deliveries. Water has come in and damaged walls, ceilings, floors, even on units above the flood mark. The operating room is closed. Many departments are operating on a skeleton crew.
More medical staff are coming in now, so I'd say we're over the hump as far as immediate needs, but this is gonna take some time.
A lot of time.
The experience really has not been too bad. Which is kind-of why I haven't posted anything much on social media, because other stories deserve more attention.
But diversity is the spice of life, so here is a not-so-scary account of riding the storm.Thursday and Friday of last week was a panic rush to grocery stores and gas stations. But I had gone grocery shopping on Wednesday, so we were okay there; we didn't even try. And Mark filled up with gas in the late evening when the lines didn't occupy the whole parking lot. So nothing much going on there. I did end up cooking a quiche in-between the normal shifts at work, so that we would have some healthy food that is still delicious to eat cold. That's it.
Saturday it was raining all day; I knew things would be closed, so Mark and I basically stayed in the apartment and watched episodes of The Wire. [We're on a season that highlights the school district in low-income/high-violence neighborhoods, which reminded Mark of his experience substituting in the Houston school district.]
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| Water is just 3-4 inches below the drain in our parking lot |
That night, rain starting coming in harder, and our parking lot started to flood, but it never got above our tires.
Overnight, our power blipped out, but it was back on when I got up on Sunday morning. Some of my co-workers started texting to see if any nurses had been able to report for the Sunday day shift...and we found that NONE had. Two day shifters had stayed the night at the hospital, but other than that, night shift (from Saturday night) still had to keep working to keep our patients safe and minimally cared-for. I had signed up to be on the team that works in the hospital during the crisis, but we weren't 'activated' until Sunday morning, and we couldn't figure out a way in! ALL of the roads were flooded, as far as we could tell, and the medical center itself was taking on a LOT of water.
Hearing from a neighbor that her power had gone out, I started cooking some of the food from the freezer (chicken and vegetables, basically) and using up fresh produce and eggs so that we wouldn't have a lot of food waste if our fridge stopped working. [I made chicken alfredo parmagiana with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes for a main course, then I made some peanut butter bars for a treat. They are both delicious, BTW.]
I also tried scouting out the situation on the roads, taking Mark's bike to see what was flooded where.
Basically, it was flooded everywhere, but we were dry and had power.It felt terrible to be so safe knowing that my co-workers in the hospital had been on the floor for 24 hours and counting. I couldn't send them cookies, cards, flowers, any of the typical care-packages. But more importantly, I couldn't send them help.
A couple of my co-workers were able to get inside the hospital on Sunday during one of the lulls between bands of rainstorm, but the biggest relief was when 7-8 nurses (just from our unit, mind you) were able to get in and start working Monday morning. I was one of those; I drove to work on a route I've never taken before, but heard that someone else had been able to use safely. So as of Monday, we were able to give all of P7 night shift some time to sleep.
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| So much water in the sewer system that it bubbles up |
More medical staff are coming in now, so I'd say we're over the hump as far as immediate needs, but this is gonna take some time.
A lot of time.
I'm so very grateful that you two have been blessed so abundantly. My prayers for your continued safety and the well-being of everyone affected by this horrible event! Love you!!! ❤️
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