As Irma was taking aim at Florida, the goodhearted folks of Eureka Springs were responding to the devastation Hurricane Harvey left in Texas as readily as they would to any disaster here at home. Last week trucks with relief supplies departed from ECHO; a truck taking donations was being loaded at SunFest in Holiday Island, another was accepting donations at a Center Street location and several churches were responding to the relief effort in various ways.
Even those who didn’t have goods or funds or trucks to spare found a way to share support for our Texas neighbors. Sue Setzer of Beavertown Boarding offered half price boarding for any dogs belonging to those traveling to Houston with supplies, and then reconsidered. “You know, I think I’m not going to charge them anything,” said the hard-working kennel owner.
It seemed everyone wanted to do something, whatever they could.
Although it was nearly three weeks after Harvey, one relief driver from Eureka Springs, Lemia Laval, said some roads were still closed due to flooding, but a drive around Houston revealed many neighborhoods and areas that looked as if they had not been disturbed… until one slowed down and noticed the waterline on garage doors and privacy fences, water lingering on curbsides, windows fogged on the inside of hundreds of cars in closed car lots, closed restaurants and grocery stores, and the ubiquitous green Servepro Disaster Cleanup Team trucks from Alabama, Michigan and other states.
It was obvious a gargantuan cleanup effort was in process but just one turn around the corner, even in the best neighborhoods, would reveal mountains of debris piled in front yards and at the curb, street after street – a heart wrenching reminder of hard work and dreams lost amidst the heaped drywall, furniture, mattresses, clothing and kids’ toys.
And now Irma.