sshoemaknc's Xanga

Monday, November 21, 2005

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:24:18 GMT

I have been home for 3 weeks now. The situation in the hurricane affected areas does not get much attention in the national news. The long term rebuilding is just beginning with thousands still affected. How quickly this leaves the news cycle.

I found an interesting NOAA site that provides detailed aerial photography for Katrina, Rita and Wilma storm damage. The picture above is from that site. It is a bit tedious so I put some links below. Some damage is beyond imagination. After the photo loads you will be able to use the zoom feature in IE for greater detail. It will take a few moments depending on your connection speed and you will see a menu in the upper left and an Expand button on the lower right. Click the expand button and use the scroll bars.

Katrina Base Map Page

Bay St Louis, Mississipppi

Bastion Bay Louisana

Wilma Rita

Hurricane Hunter photos of Katrina

I have been contacted by the National Red Cross regarding registration for RTT support in the future. I will update the Blog with information on the training as it happens.

Monday, October 31, 2005

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:22:43 GMT

I arrived back home on Saturday. Each volunteer is required to talk with a mental health councilor before out processing. After being so involved, working 10 or more hours a day, maintaining a very fast pace, some people experience a let down returning home. I can identify to some extent. I am glad to get home after being away for so long but feel like there is still so much work to do there. I left just as a new group of volunteers arrived.

Here are some of the folks I worked with in Covington.

Special thanks to Nortel, my manager Mike and my fellow engineers for covering for me while I was away. This was an experience I will never forget. I have been asked to attend follow up training and will become active in the local Raleigh Red Cross chapter. Hats off to the THOUSANDS of volunteers from the organizations working in the gulf region and Florida. These people are from all walks of life, young and old. This is what America is all about.

For more information on Red Cross Disaster services go here.

The Red Cross has distributed over 1 Billion dollars in aid for Katrina and Rita relief but donations have not kept up with the distributions. To fill the gap, the Red Cross has borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars. If you are able, please make a contribution.

http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html

Friday, October 28, 2005

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 14:46:19 GMT

Red Cross shelter living has to be approached with a open mind. It can vary from a hotel room (unlikely) to an air mattress under the stars in a supermarket parking lot (as reported to me by a Katrina first responder). My first 5 days were luxury in a Montgomery hotel. My Covington experience was very different and at first glance not as good. But there were a few amazing folks that took our Camp Abbey situation and made it better than a hotel, it was like being home. Several of us were long term residents of Camp Abbey and had it not been for Phil and Leslie from California, we would have been just another shelter experience. They went out of their way to make us feel at home with great continental breakfasts and home cooked dinners with tables decorated with candles each night. Even one night guests were made to feel at home. Thanks Phil and Leslie, you made the stay fun and enjoyable!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 14:24:08 GMT

Things here are going well with most of the move related issues being resolved. We are sending teams out to check on shelters and other locations on a regular basis. I have an official battle field promotion to RCO Mgr. RCO is Response Computer Operations. With my leaving this Saturday I will be training someone to replace me.

All eyes were on the outcome of Wilma. The Red Cross has several DSRVs (Disaster Response Vehicles) already in place in south Florida. The operation there will staff up very quickly as the damage is assessed. We expect several folks to transfer down in the next few days.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Sun, 23 Oct 2005 17:15:33 GMT

Sorry again for no updates since last Wednesday. We have been very busy. On Thursday we learned that the two Red Cross operations in Covington, LA would be merged into a single location. We got the keys to the new site at 7 PM Thursday and had to have it up and running for all of the departments to move in on Saturday morning. WE DID IT! I was responsible for deploying all new laptops as none of the existing ones would be moved. This is to make a clean move to the new disaster operation covering southern LA. Most of the original equipment had been assembled from several national recovery efforts and was an accounting nightmare. It was also much easier to support the network if all the machines were part of the same domain. This site will eventually be moved to New Orleans itself as the situation improves there. I had my first solo VSAT install (Red Cross satellite rig). It is installed on the roof of the new building. I also had some quick training on the W2K server now installed here.

I have a few more pictures below of the damage in the Covington and New Orleans area. One house near the Red Cross chapter had literally been cut in half by a tree. Clean up still continues 2 months after the hurricane. There are also some signs of normality, take a look... click to enlarge.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:05:30 GMT

It is hard to believe how hurricane Wilma has intensified over night! http://www.thestormtrack.com/

We are watching closely and this will REALLY stress the response effort. The plan here is to move into New Orleans with a permanent (for the duration of the local relief effort) building in the next few weeks. We may move to a consolidated location in Covington first for a few weeks. The HQ and operations center are in different buildings and very crowded. Getting it all under one roof would be great. My new job is to stop by the operations center each morning to check out the network.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:06:04 GMT

On Sunday when I went to the kitchen in Slidell I took some pictures of a Baptist Kitchen out of Virginia. They are a wonderful group of people who set up huge mobile kitchens for the Red Cross. Here are some pictures of their operation.

I had yesterday off and went down to New Orleans. It is spooky in a disaster movie sort of way. Most businesses in the French Quarter are still closed. A few bars are open and an occasional restaurant. I had lunch at Huey's just off of Canal. They had a limited menu and were very glad to have patrons. The following are pictures I took in New Orleans.

The Superdome

Bourbon St.

Bourbon St. looking west.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 18:15:50 GMT

Sorry for no updates, I was not able to get access until today. Well, my location now is Covington, LA. It is about 35 miles north west of New Orleans, directly north of the Lake Ponchatrain Causeway. The RTT (Response Technical Team) is working out of the local chapter building in town. I arrived on Friday evening after driving down from Montgomery. The damage became very obvious as we went down I 10 to Gulf Port and Biloxi. First tree damage then the every present blue tarps on roofs and then more major damage. Here is a common site on the road, billboard towers with no signs left.

We are staying at a Franciscan camp run my the Knights of Columbus. Pretty basic with a cot and a hot shower. I will have some pictures soon. I was immediately deployed going out to fix things in the field. Yesterday I went down to Houma to set up a connection for a shelter that to moved. Today I went to a large mobile kitchen to help fix the radios on some ERVs (emergency response vehicle) that were delivering meals to workers. This afternoon we are installing the new network in the Covington HQ.. Tomorrow I am OFF!

Here is the DSRV in action in Covington.

Here some damage I saw on the road yesterday.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 21:50:49 GMT

Change of plans! My new destination is Baton Rouge. I hope to have the travel and Disaster Recovery transfer paperwork done by tomorrow. I may drive down if it is faster.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 18:58:59 GMT

Yesterday I had an outbound assignment to visit closed shelters and to pick up communications equipment that may still be there. The people who ran these shelters were great! They all had stories of the evacuees that broke your heart. But they all shared a contagious enthusiasm.

This morning I met a woman who was from New Orleans and had lost almost everything. She was living in a hotel with her kids. She had tried to go back to her house and in doing so had broken a window and gotten glass in her eye. I was able to get her some help from the local Red Cross chapter.

Today we received Disaster training on Satellite operations, PC and Network deployment and Cabling. With that training I expect to be moved to Texas in the next few days.

The new sat link dish and LNA.

The alignment software with a good signal.