Welcome to a special edition of the Holbrook New Media Audio Feed. holbrooknewmedia.com
In the early morning hours of June 23rd, 2016, I recorded more than 15 minutes of a thunderstorm. Little did I know the devastation it would cause in our state of West Virginia. Lives have been changed forever with the loss of homes, businesses and with the more than 20 deaths attributed to this event.
While many types of disasters can affect your home and loved ones, there is none quite like a flood. A few days of torrential rain can cause a condition in a mountainous region like West Virginia that is rather unique. You can see water rising toward your home during the rain, but after it stops, and you think it's over, the water continues to rise from the runoff out of the mountains.
In slow motion, over a few hours as you watch in complete helplessness, the water rises, and rises. It finally enters your home and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Then it goes up and up, 2 feet, 4 feet, 6 feet, etc, and finally stops rising and then slowly subsides.
If your home is not washed away, in a flash flood area, then you are left with a massive cleanup in a very toxic enviroment. Waste treatment facilities get over run and chemical storage areas that flood turn the waters into a toxic soup that creates an incredible public health danger.
The most surprising thing I encountered helping with flood relief in the past was on the interior of a friend's house. There was around 10 inches of hard packed sand on the floors that had to be chipped away before any cleaning could take place.
Another issue is the fact that tetanus shots need to be administered to all who are helping with the cleanup. I heard today that the American Red Cross does not have the shots available here.
Please help the Red Cross, and local organizations and churches who are feeding the workers and helping those affected by the devastation of their homes, and from the many deaths attributed to the flood.
One final note. Please don't drive into the stricken areas just to take pictures. Clogging up the relief areas for your own satisfaction of seeing a spectacle creates even more problems. There are hundreds of images on Facebook already. If you aren't coming in to help, just don't come at all.
In the show notes for this episode at holbrooknewmedia.com, you will find links for the West Virginia regional Red Cross site and a flood image album by Aimee Mullinex Ramsey.
Thank you so much for your help and prayers. Here is the recording of the thunderstorm. I just wish the circumstances could have been different.
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Thanks for listening. you can find us at holbrooknewmedia.com
Flood Image Album by Aimee Mullinex Ramsey
http://www.redcross.org/local/west-virginia
