Hurricane Katrina Pictures » Hurricane Gustav Aftermath Continues Day 3 to 2 Weeks

Hurricane Gustav Aftermath Continues Day 3 to 2 Weeks

This is part 4 of a series of articles about preparing for, riding out and living in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

You can read part 1 here: How to Prepare for a Hurricane

You can read part 2 here: Riding Out Gustav in Baton Rouge

You can read part 3 here: Hurricane Gustav Aftermath Begins

We Need Ice

At day 3 after the storm, we had been without power for 60 hours and we needed ice because we don’t have a generator powering our freezer. It was hot and we had been using ice to cool drinks, keep bottled water cold and salvage a few perishables from our refrigerator like milk, butter and eggs.

After walking the neighborhood, we knew that many of the routes we usually used to get out were blocked by fallen trees and power lines. We had to navigate around to get through the mess to get to major roads. On day 3 we didn’t want to venture very far because almost all stoplights were not working and that made driving extremely dangerous. Clear Channel radio had broadcast that we could pick up supplies at the Walmarts in Baker and on Siegen Lane, both locations several miles and big intersections from our house. We decided that going that far in such hazardous conditions was not a good idea.

We decided to go to the local Tiger Mart about a mile from home. They don’t sell ice in bags, but you can buy their giant-sized drink cups with ice for 50 cents each. I bought enough ice to last us a day.

The Department of Public Works was busy cleaning up roads and the electric company was working furiously to get traffic lights at major intersections working. On day 4 we found out that the state and Red Cross had set up several locations to pick up ice and other supplies closer to us. There was a National Guard/FEMA distribution center at the Walmart up Florida Blvd 2 miles from us. Traffic on Florida was very light so making that trip was relatively safe. We got in line and they loaded us up with 50 lbs of ice, a case of MREs, a box of 4 tarps and a case of bottled water. If you had a big family you could get more water and meals, but most people just needed one case to start. They were there every day so there was no need to stock up.

Fifty pounds of ice sounds like a lot, but it’s only 5 ten-pound bags and it melts after 2 days. We used half to keep food cold and the other half to ice down drinks. Staying hydrated and keeping from becoming overheated were big health priorities, so we drank everything as cold as we could.

Every other day we either went to a National Guard/FEMA distribution point or a Red Cross distribution point to get more ice. We didn’t get MREs, tarps or bottled water that we didn’t need. We only restocked on food and water when we ran low and the grocery stores either weren’t open yet or still didn’t carry ice. We had to go every other day for 10 days to keep ice supplies up because after the power came back on it took a day for the ice maker to produce enough ice to use for drinks.

The lines moved really fast. We only had to wait about 5 minutes. You didn’t get out of your car. You opened your back hatch, coolers and back seat windows and the Guardsmen loaded your supplies up for you and sent you on your way. They were loading at a rate of 10 seconds per car. Louisiana’s National Guard units are the Army Reserve’s logistics units, so moving supplies and distributing them is their specialty, and it showed in the efficiency with which they moved people through the lines.

After the power came back on we purged the freezer water sump and ice maker to clean them which meant throwing out the first few batches of fresh ice and emptying the water sump 4 times. It probably would have been okay to use the fresh ice, but after 9 days of the freezer being a dark, damp, warm place, I felt we needed to be sure everything was clean. I wiped everything inside the refrigerator and freezers with a strong solution of Pine Sol and then rinsed and left the doors open until power was restored, but I decided it would be a good idea to make sure the lines were purged. It would not have been cool to get all the way through Gustav and live without power for 9 days to get sick from contaminated ice or water coming out of our own refrigerator/freezer.

During that time I also worked in the yard a little every day, even if I only dragged one big limb down front or cut up one big limb. It was really hot and I was out of shape and not used to working in the heat. When the power came back on I was able to put in longer hours to clean up. The front yard was easy. It only took about an hour to pick up the limbs and then I mowed because the grass had grown a lot with all the rain and heat.

Then I started tackling the back yard, which was completely covered and some of the limbs were too big to drag or carry down so they had to be cut up. I have a hand tree saw so I did some serious muscle-building cutting up those limbs. We got most of the big stuff out within 2 weeks, but there was so much medium and small stuff that I had to go back and rake up the medium sized sticks and leaves.

In part 5 of this series I will describe the aftermath starting at two weeks after Gustav and continuing in the present. You can read part 5 here.

Share and Enjoy: