While I was at Kentucky Music Week, FEMA called me to come and work the North Dakota floods. So I left early on the last day, and drove the almost-1200 miles over three days, arriving in Bismarck on Sunday. Carri turned over 100,000 miles on the trip. She only had 1800 when I got her, so I've put almost 100,000 miles on her in the past seven years. How about that!?!?!?
I was running on adrenaline until yesterday, then realized I was exhausted. We are working 7x7x7 (7 AM to 7 PM, 7 days a week), which is typical at the beginning of a disaster (well, this time we're actually working 6:30 AM to at least 7 PM). But today I feel a lot better. It usually takes me about three days in the beginning of a disaster for my body to adjust to the long work hours. So I'm on schedule here.
I was lucky to be able to get a spot for my RV at the local KOA. The campground is filled with people who have been flooded out of their homes. There are lots of families with kids. The campground has opened up their overflow spots, in order to accommodate more rigs than usual. Hotel rooms and rental resources are scarce in the western part of the state. There never were many rental resources in this state, to start with. And all available rentals were snatched up by the oil field workers, even before the flooding and evacuations. So it's a very tough housing situation here.
I'm doing a job for FEMA I've never done before - Disaster Recovery Center Manager. When I arrived on Sunday, they told me that I would be opening a DRC the next day. My manager jokingly said that she hoped I'd have some staff to open with, that my staff were stuck in various airports around the country!! :-) The next morning they told me I would be in charge of the DRC in Bismarck that was opening to the public at 1 PM. It is located on the second floor of a local bank building. At 10 AM I went over to the center, to tell them how I wanted it set up. Our Logistics folks were setting up the IT network. Fortunately, all my staff made it before the opening (whew!) and we opened to the public as scheduled, though not all of our computers were operating until about 1:40. And within three hours of opening, the governor dropped by for a visit! He held a media conference in the lobby before he came upstairs to visit in the DRC. His entourage included a congressional aide, and several media representatives. There is a disadvantage to managing a DRC in the capitol city, not far from the JFO headquarters. We've had lots of visitors, and lots of media attention. I've been interviewed a couple times for local TV stations. So far, we've had a steady stream of applicants through the door and have been kept pretty busy. The bank is volunteering their space, and has been very accommodating for us. They couldn't be nicer for me to work with. I know that one of the bank VIPs is a flood survivor, along with many of his neighbors. It's really heartwarming to see, again and again, in whatever community we are in, how the community pulls together, with a real community spirit, and neighbors help neighbors, when disaster strikes.
There isn't going to be much in my life except for work for awhile. So I don't expect to write much anytime soon....
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