“We are going to wait until we see Hurricane Irma’s direct path before spending money on leaving.”
This is a comment in a pregnancy discussion group titled “Florida Moms”. It is buried among others like: “My husband doesn’t think it is going to be that bad so we are staying.” Or, “Please stop creating panic, you are helping to inflate fuel cost!”
The chill of lessons unlearned rolls up my back and neck a week after I jumped head first into civilian and animal rescue for Hurricane Harvey. Stuck in my house during a heat wave in Joshua Tree, I was armed with only two things: my computer and cell phone.
A day after Harvey hit, I logged on to three Hurricane Harvey Facebook Rescue groups: “Hurricane Harvey Animal Rescue Needs & Offers”, “Hurricane Harvey 2017- Rescues and rescue groups”, and “Hurricane Harvey Rescues :(“ … which now appears to be gone. The feeds were flooded with pleas for rescue and rescuers who were on foot in Houston or nearby areas. Bridges were collapsing. Animals were left behind, even by owners who loved them. One elderly couple was airlifted out and told they had to leave their cat behind. The owner vomited.
I found a Houston Rescue Map sponsored by Houston Pets Alive (http://www.houstonpetsalive.org/). It used a Google Map to pinpoint where an animal needed rescue. They ask you title the pinpoint with what animal and how urgent, mark the address and include as many details and contact information as possible. You could also upload photos of the pet or residence. Every tip posted on Facebook, I pinpointed on the map with all the information I could find. The problem with the Google Map is no one was alerted to rescue attempts and outcomes so tips would float for days without an update.
A post came up about two pit bulls chained in someone’s yard. The chains were taut and the dogs were on submerged picnic tables. “I took this picture driving by 45 minutes ago,” someone wrote.
People begged for her to go back. “Owner is home and not friendly”.
People went on to say they called the police yesterday, the dogs were moved and now the “POS” moved them back into the water.
Photos from Facebook
I messaged the Alvin Police with the details. “Dogs are chained in rising waters. These pictures were posted 14 min ago in a rescue group for Hurricane Harvey. Address…..” I immediately got a response “That’s in the county jurisdiction. [Phone number].” I called the county. They were very receptive to my call and took down all my information.
Ten minutes later I received a call back from an officer who said they stopped by yesterday. I explained I read as much on the thread but these photos were taken (now) 45 minutes ago. “What is the rescue group you saw these photos in?” she asked. I told her and listened as she typed in the name and reviewed the posts. I told her I realized she had a lot on my plate and but I thought the owner had put the dogs back in the water. “No, no, no,” she said. “It’s ok. I got it. Thank you for the call.”
For the next three days, I buried myself in animal rescue for Hurricane Harvey.
It became an obsession. I frantically logged tips into the Google map. There was a list of rescuers with their general location, what they had (dispatch, truck, boat, training) and their cell phone numbers. I began texting folks with tips. It took a few hours before civilian rescuers were overwhelmed and asking I call 911.
I downloaded the Zello app and listened in on two animal rescue channels “Harvey Animal Rescue” and “Harvey Small Animal Rescue”. From here, I could hear what was happening on the ground. People asked for help on where to rescue. Only a few people worked those lines pushing 20 hour shifts dispatching civilians to rescue situations.
I listened as an 80 year-old woman refused to leave with government rescuers in Vidor because they wouldn’t let her take the family pig. Another woman was swimming between two houses in Sour Lake to keep 40 dogs in kennels alive. I listened as six inches of air became two and finally called the Coast Guard. Civilians risked their lives to rescue those dogs. There was radio silence on Sour Lake for 45 minutes. I texted a contact in Sour Lake for an update. He texted back a couple people in boats drowned and the area was in chaos.
Pneumonia and chemical plants were at risk of explosion. Dams were crumbling near Beaumont and Orange. A family was standing on cabinets while under attack by poisonous snakes. Looters dressed as police officers threw dogs off the roofs of houses. Some pointed guns in the face of rescuers.
I listened idly by as people learned of a rescued toddler clinging onto her mother’s floating corpse. Rescuers followed up on a pregnant cow who stood on a storage container for 24 hours. She gave up, fell into the water and drowned. They found her body and moved on to the next rescue. I called the owners and cried on the phone. He didn’t cry, he just exhaled sadness like it was a lungful of vaporized hope.
As a mother, those two sting the worst. My 15 month-old was safe and dry, trying to hide my cell phone and unplug my computer. Another baby was growing furiously in my belly. The tragedy is impossible to swallow for fear that it will find the baby a size of a raspberry in my stomach.
While government authorities discourage civilian rescue, there simply was not enough help those first few days, despite the weather warnings. Also, government authorities did not place a value on animal life and referred to a group of rescuers trying to get into a closed area as “children”.
Authorities closed off one of the central staging areas for animals at Ford Center in Beaumont at 8pm to 8am. They threatened to arrest rescuers who tried to enter at 8:01pm. This was followed by reports that the SPCA was euthanizing pit bulls. People on the ground at Ford were crying on dispatch and begging for people to unleash a social media shit storm. When we did, there was a huge backlash from the SPCA and those of us who alerted the issue were labeled “trolls”. Of course, the positive was the Ford Center became more transparent: more pictures were posted and rescuers were folded back into the system instead of blocked out by police-state threats.
The SPCA has since released a public statement assuring the public no pit bulls were put down. Rescuers on dispatch still rerouted bully breeds to Best Friends Society, just in case. And as a pit bull lover, I am going to drop this informative blog about why there are doubts with the SPCA and bully breeds right here, so the door doesn’t close completely: Houston SPCA Kicks Out Rescuers
The Cajun Navy, on the other hand, worked with everyone, including animal rescue. I heard negatives about everyone, rescuers turned on rescuers. I never heard one negative about the Cajun Navy.
I will admit, I am personally not the best person to write this piece. There is so much more information someone on dispatch or on the ground could include or further explain. I reached out to several people on Facebook and over Zello to ask for tips and pictures. No one was interested. I was blocked from the Zello channel.
This could have been for a few logical reasons. One, the channel is meant for animal rescue only. Two, I was perceived as a paid journalist from a liberal organization. I am actually an unpaid nonfiction writer with access to a far-reaching website. Or three, no one cared about credit and felt an aversion to media attention.
All those tips and rescue efforts, and there were barely any selfies. People were not spending time self-congratulating themselves on social media. In California, I’ve grown accustomed to people videotaping themselves standing up for the marginalized or attempting to expose “the dark side” with their smiling mug in the foreground. Texas rescue wanted nothing to do with self exposure.
And while friends on social media left callous comments about how the hurricane was payback for electing Donald Trump, I wondered how many of those people would risk their own lives for other people, dogs or livestock. The same people who triumphantly announce and photograph their one good deed for the week on social media so everyone can flood them with validation would probably put themselves ahead of their neighbor in a crisis of this stature. I found it morally repugnant.
I think of a woman rescuer with a thick Southern accent parked outside The Ford Center holding rescued pit bulls and a sick wife burning with fever in her truck, waiting for assurance that those pitties would be safe. Texas will always have a place in my heart.
As I watch Irma head towards Florida and the Carolinas, I feel rushed to publish this information and share it with those who will wait too long to save themselves and their animals. This morning was spent planning an exit strategy for my parents who are too close for comfort to the Northwest fires in the Columbia Gorge.
What we learned from Katrina to Harvey is the government will not save us all. According to the Bloomberg Report, FEMA is due to run out of funds on Friday, September 8th. We have to rely on each other. What I hope we learn from Harvey to Irma is how.
Here are some bullet-pointed tips and guidelines that we learned throughout the process with Hurricane Harvey:
ZELLO
-Download Zello and keep reports to less than 30 seconds as to not clog the line.
-There should be a team of civilians on dispatch including someone handling a spreadsheet to track what rescues are waiting, what are in progress and which ones are completed.
-All tips should be verified with a contact number so rescue teams aren’t sent out to sites rescued or pronounced dead days before.
-People should have designated jobs and arrange shifts so folks are not overworked and desperate to find someone to take their shift when they are on the verge of collapse.
WAZE
-Rescuers used Waze to navigate roads as it was more up-to-date than Google Maps on closures. Other rescue groups recommended https://wego.here.com.
-Facebook was problematic because people were frantically reposting any tip they could find to a number of groups on Facebook. Outdated tips would circulate to rescuers who were sent on wild goose chases. Rescue groups formed a website called: http://houstonharveyrescue.com/
This created a ticket system for tips with a contact person, address, phone number and detailed situation. This way there would be ownership over that ticket and rescuers wouldn’t risk lives unnecessarily.
-Groups like East Texas Equine Evacuation/Disaster Relief didn’t like members posting tips and asked all members to register with an online application form and wait to be assigned a duty. I did so but was never assigned a task. Things often got heated and at one point an admin stated I was “full of shit” when citing a source about the SPCA euthanasia disputation. Many members were flustered and turned on each other in comment threads which, I felt, was an expression of general frustration from hearing about tragedy and feeling helpless. This is the nature of social media.
-Blocking: I was blocked from Hurricane Harvey Animal Rescue Needs & Offers for overposting and blocked from another rescue group for not sharing a post quickly enough. Everyone was emotional and exhausted. Impulsively blocking people felt counterproductive to me (I was not alone, a dispatcher said it was quite common whenever personalities clashed.) However, never fear. On Facebook there are so many groups, posts and tips would cross over in a matter of seconds as everyone tried to share information. This worked for and against a common goal. It was not an efficient system.
COAST GUARD
-The Coast Guard was amazing and took tips for (human) life threatening emergencies. They asked a standard list of questions. I learned to gather specific information before tipping them off:
They want to know how many people, ages of people, any health issues, how deep is the water, how many stories is the house (If you don’t know check Zillow or street view on Google Maps) and how many animals. Then they would instruct you to inform the victims to hang a white sheet outside the nearest window.
CIVILIANS
-Anticipate crisis. Just because you do not have waterfront property does not mean you are safe. The dams in Florida are almost 100 years old. They will break.
-A dispatcher on Zello asked civilians using our channel for animal rescue to first take your animal with you to the shelter or safe destination, then contact animal rescue to meet you there and take the animal. Leaving the animal in flooding waters and calling in rescuers to a life-threatening situation is less than ideal.
-First establish a safety plan and exit route
-Have a checklist of essentials -Always have important documents (many people were advised to write their social security number on their arm so their bodies could be identified)
-Carry portable chargers (Cell phone chargers you don’t have to plug in)
-Plug emergency contacts in your cell phone ahead of time
-I know Florida is having a fuel crisis now, so this may be a little late but double up on fuel!
-Store valuables in your locked dishwasher
RESCUERS:
-Generally, I suggest all rescuers carry bolt cutters to rescue chained animals and locked doors.
-Always, ALWAYS, wear your lifejacket.
Good luck and Godspeed!
