Last week, South Carolina experienced the worst flooding is has seen in 1,000 years. World Mom, Sophia, shares her search for clean water after the storm last week…
Today the National Guard had two posts at which troopers were giving out clean water bottles by the case. As I prepared to go get some of this water, I thought of the safest, most effective and expeditious way of getting through the line of people waiting.
Would there be a truck at which troopers would be handing out the cases? Would there just be a group of us standing there with no adhered-to order, or would there be a line? How could I carry more than one case back to my car? I surely couldn’t get to the front of the line (or group) more than once… Maybe I should take the stroller, and put as many cases of water on it as I could take.
I had all these questions, and then I asked the person who told me about these posts and how they worked. She said, “Oh, you just pull up to the line in your car, and a trooper puts the cases of water in the car for you.” … “Uhm… what?” I asked, with my hand cupping my ear in her direction, left eyebrow raised, wondering if I had misheard what she just said. No, I hadn’t.
I was about to experience a water drive-thru that had been set up by the local Sheriff’s Department and the National Guard.
With no time to waste, I immediately drove to the post that supposedly still had water to give. I got to the area, and there was the most efficient system of car lines funneling through a parking lot to get to the area where water was being given out.
There were five stations at which cars stopped. Each station had a trooper or volunteer who asked you how many people were in your family. Then they brought the appropriate amount of cases into your car, bade you farewell, and off you went. As those five cars left through a controlled exit, the next five cars would roll up to the stations.
As I sat in my car waiting for my turn, it dawned on me to look around and look at all the people sitting in our cars, waiting to get water. I have waited in line to pump water out of the ground and into a bucket before in my past experiences in Tanzania. Did so on my feet. In a line with other people also standing on their two feet. It seemed ridiculous and so incredibly fortunate…and somehow harmful (to be increasing our carbon footprint while waiting for a clean resource).
Still, this was the system and it wasn’t the time to disrupt it, and I was extremely thankful to have access to such a seamless process that also provided my family and I with clean water.
It just really made an impression on me of the stark difference between going through a natural disaster in the United States, and going through one in a less developed country.
This natural catastrophe was met with a most expedient response by President Obama, whereas, some disasters in the not-so-distant past, especially Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana, left people waiting and devastated before significant help was sent.
Even in America help is not always expedient, and it is not always the case that you can drive up to a water station to get water cases put in your car, like the experience I was grateful for last week when my family needed water. My concern is not just about my family getting the help we needed in a disaster, but also that our country’s more disadvantaged areas are also reached just as efficiently in times of crisis.
Have you ever been in an area that has been affected by a natural disaster? Have you noticed differences between how help was available in different areas? Did you find the same resources were available to people in different parts of the city/town/region?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by Sophia. You can find her blogging at Think Say Be and on twitter @ThinkSayBeSNJ.
Photo credits to the author.
ThinkSayBe
I am a mom amongst some other titles life has fortunately given me. I love photography & the reward of someone being really happy about a photo I took of her/him. I work, I study, I try to pay attention to life. I like writing. I don't understand many things...especially why humans treat each other & other living & inanimate things so vilely sometimes. I like to be an idealist, but when most fails, I do my best to not be a pessimist: Life itself is entirely too beautiful, amazing & inspiring to forget that it is!
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Sophia,
How is everything now? Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I’m glad you were able to get water for your family, and I hope you didn’t have any damage from the storm. I’m thinking of you!
A few years ago, we experienced hurricane Sandy and we were out of power for 9 days. We were able to stay at friends and family who had generators during the day, and we found that our insulated basement was the warmest spot in the house for sleeping at night. The local government had charging stations set up at the firehouse. We were still able to go out and wait on long lines to buy gas, and purchase food and water. We did not have the detrimental affects of the storm that many homes and neighborhoods faced closer to the water — flooding, home damage, etc. These areas were beings serviced by larger agencies NGO and government agencies.
Jen 🙂
How are things now? I was actually travelling to NC last week right into the worst that NC saw, and it was a lot less than you in SC.
Like Jen, I was without power for quite a few days when Hurricane Sandy hit us in NYC a few years ago. I was living in an apt building which meant that when the power went out – so did any running water. And the worst of it was that my son had a horrible stomach virus that same night (not something you want to clean up, with no light or running water). Half of the city didn’t loose electricity so we were able to get warm food and drinks, until they opened the bridges and tunnels, so that we could leave Manhattan and head over to my mom’s (who never lost her electricity). We had to wait on long lines for gas (usually about and hour or more)…there was nothing civilized about that. People were getting into accidents and yelling at each other from their cars. A lot of the gas stations didn’t get gas delivered, so you sometimes needed to drive around to see who had gas (usually easy to spot from miles away because of the long queue). It was quite a mess for a while until all of the infrastructure got fixed and back to ‘normal’.
I hope you and your family are doing OK a week later 🙂
I appreciate your perspective on this. It gives us lots to think about, especially as we, at a distance, learn of events on the news. I am glad you got the water you needed, but I hear your point on the inconsistency of providing relief. I hope things continue to go smoothly for you!