Putting communities, and lives, back together after the storm September 5, 2008
Posted by dianehuhn in Coastal Restoration, Hurricanes.add a comment
Please click the link below to read an excellent blog post written by Kate Barron on the Anderson Cooper 360 site. Kate works with Oxfam America as a Community Development Specialist. She’s worked with numerous non-profit organizations throughout southern Louisiana over the past 2 1/2+ years in the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In her post, Kate recounts some of her recent conversation with Courtney Pellegrin Howell, Director of Bayou Grace Community Services (the organization that I will be working with over the next year as a volunteer.)
Kate does an excellent job of outlining the challenges faced by small coastal communities. Help spread the word regarding the need to provide the lines of defense that are not only critical to protecting this national treasure, but critical to it’s very survival.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/04/putting-communities-and-lives-back-together-after-the-storm/
Bayou Bound: Delayed But Not Deterred September 2, 2008
Posted by dianehuhn in Bayou Bound, Hurricanes.add a comment
Many thanks for all the phone calls and emails enquiring about conditions and needs in Terrebonne Parrish. I don’t have a ton of information to pass along at this point as initial damage assessment is slow going due to numerous downed trees and power lines. Many areas in Terrebonne have limited access even on good days so the full picture is going to take a while to develop. So far I’ve heard of a lot of wind damage, but haven’t heard news of the wide spread flooding that we feared. According to the Houma Courier, Point-aux-Chenes and Isle de Jean Charles does appear to have had some flooding, but specifics are rather limited.
The Bayou Grace team is safe and working to figure out next steps as information begins to come in.
At this point, it appears that residents will not be allowed back in until at least Friday. I hope to arrive some time next week. Stay tuned.
Link to The Courier: http://www.houmatoday.com/
Go Away Gustav! August 28, 2008
Posted by dianehuhn in Bayou Bound, Hurricanes.2 comments
So I haven’t been posting a whole lot recently. Mainly because not a whole lot has been going on with me. I’ve just been thoroughly enjoying my time with family and hanging out on Gun Lake.
I had kind of thought that my next post would be about the countdown to my arrival in the bayous of Terrebonne Parrish, Louisiana and how excited I am to start this new chapter of my life. But that countdown is a bit up in the air at the moment. I had planned on leaving the Great Lakes state on Wednesday and arriving in Chauvin on Thursday. But it looks like Gustav has other ideas for me.
Right now, Gustav is about 80 miles east of Kingston, Jamaica and beginning to strengthen. It’s projected to pass east or south of Jamaica today and then turn back to the west. It’s forecasted to enter the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend and continue tracking north or northwest. Most forecasts are suggesting Gustav has a strong possibility of becoming a Category 3 hurricane as it enters the Gulf, with the potential to develop in to a Category 4 or 5. So at this point, I’ve never wanted a weather forecast to be so wrong in all my life. A storm like this could be utterly devastating to the Gulf Coast. So folks, let’s channel all our positive energy to knock Gustav off the radar.
The good folks at Bayou Grace will be spending today getting the office and tool shed and the families and students they serve prepared and ready for evacuation. And then close the office starting tomorrow so they can get themselves and their families prepared and off to safe locations.
As many of you know, last March I joined 70+ volunteers from the Detroit Presbytery on their sixth Hurricane Katrina relief mission trip to the Gulf Coast. I was quite excited when I received an email the other day announcing the seventh trip (back to Pearlington, MS) set for the last week in October and the first week in November. Let’s just pray that Katrina 7 doesn’t become Gustav 1.
