While Florida is still reeling from the destruction left behind by Hurricane Irma, Texas is far from out of the woods in its recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
American Red Cross volunteer Alan Day left his Lynn home to spend two weeks helping victims in Texas 1½ weeks ago.
“We went into an area yesterday where part of the road was closed and there was a golf course where people’s furniture had washed up,” said Day, who works at Greater Lynn Senior Services. “The furniture washed out of their houses and off of their patios and when the water receded, it ended up on the golf course. It’s just unreal.”
Though he’s seen the devastation left by disasters before — while tending to New Yorkers after Hurricane Sandy, and fleeing the finish line during the Boston Marathon bombings only to return to help others — he said it never gets easier.
“People have been trying to donate clothes and stuff like that but at this point, that’s not their biggest need,” said Day. “Some houses have portions of the roof torn off and they have tarps covering the holes. You go down the street and you see people with their entire house on the front lawn — their bedroom sets, appliances, furniture. They had to completely empty the house because the water was two to three feet high inside. You see flooring piled up on the lawn. It’s heartbreaking.”
When he arrived, parts of the city were still being rescued in areas first responders weren’t able to reach sooner. He began the deployment working in a small shelter for displaced Texans and is now delivering meals to residents of devastated neighborhoods in Katy, Texas, a city located about half an hour west of Houston. He and his partner, Mohammad Matin-Nejad, who was beside him in New York after Sandy and is now delivering meals beside him in Texas, are two of about 75 Massachusetts residents volunteering with the organization.
The Red Cross has about 30 makeshift kitchens set up, which each producing food for about 30 trucks. Each truck holds an average of 300 meals for lunch and 300 meals for dinner. Most grocery stores have yet to reopen, and many of those who have had gas and electricity restored are still unable to cook because their appliances were ruined by flood water, said Day.
“Every time — it’s amazing to watch the community come together and watch neighbors helping neighbors,” he said. “Even when we start running low on meals and only have enough for eight or nine people, someone will say ‘my wife and I will split one. Give this one to someone else.'”
Day said he continues to help because whether he’s responding to a single-family house fire or a hurricane, he looks at the victims and realizes it could have just as easily been him experiencing such devastation.
“I know that if anything happened to me, I would want people to help me,” he said. “I want to help and I’m able to do it. Everybody needs to take care of one another.”
