The Front Porch, Elmo St. House

Katrina Updates

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September 30th, 2005 4:37 PM

The Front Porch, Elmo St. House

Update from Ralph, Tennessee

Writing from this porch is a pleasure tonight, with just a small breeze across the bow of this ship.

Speaking of ships, I will tell you of what I saw today. I saw a barge, nearly 3 football fields in length and close to 40 feet tall, sitting in a yard nearly 400 yards from where the levee broke. I mean, it was sitting in their yard. On top of their car. This is a large barge. The type that you see some tugboats steering down the river.

I also saw an oil spill. Not a small small spill. More like someone did an oil change on about forty square blocks. Where there was a definite water-line on houses in some areas, this was an oil-line up to four feet high on brick walls. Cars that floated in the yards were now at rest in the street or neighbors yard, covered in oil.

A small refinery sits just a 1/4 mile away. No EPA, no refinery folks in the area feverishly cleaning this mess up. I did see where they had been using small pumps to empty the drainage ditch of it's oil/water mixture, but that was as efficient as removing water from a swimming pool with a turkey baster -- not helping. No warning signs posted in the area nor yellow tape to cordon off the mess. An oil slick in New Orleans, or Arabi to be exact.

I also saw some doctors giving really great care to sick and still injured people. Nurses are seeing many more folks than they're used to FOR NO MONEY. They are here for no pay and a lot of work. That is some good stuff.

Nice clean folks show up here with some fresh energy and we are quickly reenergized. The cool thing is that what the effort gives back is triple. Some folks can't leave. Helping the victims means too much to them. Some, including myself, leave and return again because the folks here know us now. They have adopted us and we are needed.

I can't say when I can return, but It's definitely not soon enough. I know too much about this place, and have seen the real muck, literally.