The question wasn’t when it would hit. It was how hard and where. Hurricane Laura made a powerful landfall and left devastation behind. So many people without homes, that lost everything in matter of minutes. Here in Texas we only got some rain and thunderstorm. Not even a margin of what could have been. Thank God for that!

But now there are all these people in Louisiana making their way towards Texas just to get some roof over their heads until they can go back. And they have nowhere to go. Normally there would be shelters put up but we are still in the middle of a Covid pandemic so that is avoided to all costs. Austin has a huge shelter ready to go but it’s too risky to open it.
Texas State Guard had been assigned to set up a Shelter Hub outside Mesquite where people could come for hotel vouchers. EastTex CERT was asked to help out with that. The first day was already Wednesday but I was at work so I headed there after work yesterday instead. Already when I got there, around 11 am it was lined up cars for miles. It was going to be a long day. But this is what we are here for. And at the end of the day, I can go home to my bed, my dogs and rest. They on the other hand have a long journey ahead of them. So I am blessed and honored to be there, able to help out and do what I can do to bring a smile on their faces and maybe ease up their situation a little bit.

The process was that the state contacted the hotels and got a list of available rooms. Then the state gave the different hubs (like us) the information and we handed it out to the evacuees. But like everything that has to do with the state and emergencies, it is a very slow process. The hotel assignments came in bulks, 10-150 rooms at a time. With hours in between. And there was hundreds of cars. It was hot, they were worried, hungry, thirsty, tired, ran out of gas, had medical issues, you name it. I made it my mission to make every car smile and be a little bit happier when they left. We handed out water and checked on people in the down time, tried to explain what we were waiting for. And I was impressed with the people, how patient they were. Most of them in a very good spirit. They were just grateful to get some help.

We got a great teamwork between Texas State Guard, City Of Mesquite, DPS and us so once the hotelroom came in we were very effective and could get it out to the cars fast. I believe that the evacuees saw that and understood that there was nothing that could be done to speed the process up.

Deployments are rough. But fun. I must be totally crazy, coming off a week where I had already worked 70 hours so far and goes straight here to do another 12 hours in burning sun with mask, unpaid and then on top of it all, actually enjoying it! Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me.

At 10:30 last night I gave up. At that point I was so tired so my brain could not function. There was not even worth fighting anymore because I would just mess up things and not do any good. So I went home. To bed.

Right now, Friday morning. Eating some breakfast, about to take a shower before heading back to Mesquite for a couple of more hours. The hub will be open for days and they need all help they can get. It won’t be as many hours as yesterday but I can at least do some. I am back at work tomorrow so I will have to rest a little to be able to function there as well. But for me it is really an honor and a blessing to be able to help out!