Remember those pictures with the boats from last week... those were Paterson,NJ and the Passaic river. The river had gone back down, within it's banks on Saturday and Sunday.... and on Tuesday.... back up it began as the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee came through...
These pictures are from Wednesday.... the crest did not happen until Friday... which means everything you see was back underwater.... the river rose another 2-3 feet after these were taken...
On Thursday I went first to Little Falls, NJ.... again... same story... the river was rising... This was Thursday moring...and again they were expecting 3 more feet before it was going to crest... My heart went out to these people..... They had JUST pulled everything out of their homes from Irene...when in comes the next flood.....
See all the machinery? The streets sounded like a construction site... they were trying to scoop up all the debris that had been piled outside from the gutted homes post-Irene, so it didn't get picked up by the river and do damage to people or homes.... it was a 24/7 operation trying to get as much up as they could before the river took over....
My final flood story of the week was a positive one...at least as positive as you can get for a flood story... I was sent to Manville, NJ... Manville had one area where literally hundreds of homes had been flooded out. As the people who lived there were able to go home, a 'scout team' from Christian Aid Ministries was with them... They are a Mennonite and Amish based group.
Team Director Leroy Heatwole surveyed the area saw how bad it was and went immediately back to Va (where they were based) packed up their 'disaster aid' team and headed back.
They came with volunteers about 150 strong, generators, tools and started going home by home asking people if they could help them. Now... I'm not talking a little help here.... They would send teams of 10 or more into the home and get all the water out, muck it out (meaning get all the gross sediment that was in there out), take out all the destroyed items and pile them outside,rip out ruined floors, carpets, drywall, everything! and clean it all up as much as they could. When they were done, the residents could literally start rebuilding. They honestly were faster and more effective than professional demolition teams at what they did... just astounding.
This picture shows one of the piles they made in just one day in front of the house on the right.
The homeowners I talked to said it would have taken them months or thousands of dollars, or both to do what these folks did in a day....They called them a blessing, a godsend, and were beside themselves with gratitude....
And they stuck around all week doing this work for 100 homes in the area.... What did they take in return? Nothing... One of the homeowners said he was even trying to give them some bottles of water, but they said they had their own and did not want to take from those who had already been through so much...
Truly an amazing group of people and their efforts truly touched the hearts of people who were having a tough time... so.... for that, I offer a plug.
Christian Aid Ministries
They do take donations from the rest of us :)
And my funny side note on this topic.... so.... there I am... covering a group of Mennonite and Amish folks.... it's lunch.... they're in a circle for a song and prayer (which by the way was beautiful!)
All I can think of is that as I look around the circle... I look like the heathen.... I was the ONLY woman in pants.... add to that I had makeup, my hair was down, and.... for the love of God, I had midnight sky (sparkly black) nail polish on....So, yeah... 'heathen' written all over me!!!
But, they were kind, hospitable and humored me, even offering me lunch that they had prepared for their group.... and Leroy gifted me a Mennonite Choir CD before I left - the giving just seemed to never stop from them!
Did I mention how wonderful they were? And that was the final flood story I covered this week... I so love ending something on a positive note!
"there I am... covering a group of Mennonite and Amish folks.... it's lunch.... they're in a circle for a song and prayer (which by the way was beautiful!)
ReplyDeleteAll I can think of is that as I look around the circle... I look like the heathen.... I was the ONLY woman in pants.... add to that I had makeup, my hair was down, and.... for the love of God, I had midnight sky (sparkly black) nail polish on....So, yeah... 'heathen' written all over me!!!" LOL at least you weren't in your busty Pirate garb...that really would have 'heathenized' you Michelle :)