Let’s Not Forget About Each Other
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FROM THE STORM!
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I saw something outside Galveston, Texas yesterday that reminded me of those post-apocalyptic thriller movies where a handful of people are the only ones on earth to survive a worldwide disaster. It wasn’t anything on the scale of the drama that Hollywood creates, but it reminded me of how quickly we can lose touch with simple human kindness and the ability to think of others when a catastrophe strikes.
My photographer Dean Minney was shooting video of boats and yachts that had been picked up by the storm surge and placed neatly in the middle of Interstate 45 near Galveston. We were getting great shots of the bulldozers and backhoes pulling them off the freeway when I noticed something in the distance. I was confused to see three people and a dog walking in the northbound lanes out of Galveston. As the group moved closer, I approached them to find out who they were and where they were headed.
Freddie and Yvonne Collomore was pushing a baby carriage filled with whatever belongings they could salvage from their flooded Galveston home. They made sure their children and grandchildren made it out safely, but time ran out for them so they had to face the floodwaters and fury of Ike on the island. They survived, but almost everything they worked hard for was gone. Sunday was Yvonne’s birthday and she spent it walking 20 miles through heat, humidity and rain with only a few things of her 55 years of life stuffed into a baby carriage.
Right behind Yvonne and Freddie was Darren Emch pushing a wheeled garbage can with his stuff. He and his girlfriend shared a third story loft in downtown Galveston. They were planning to evacuate, but the early rush of floodwaters nearly 18 hours before landfall caught them off guard and destroyed their car before they could get off the island. Darren says his girlfriend was seven months pregnant and started to go into labor, so she was flown out by medical helicopter. The flight crew told Darren he could go too, but he would have to leave his dog Rayne behind. He says leaving Rayne alone to fend for himself was not an option.
During our interview all three told me they were making their way to meet family and friends who were waiting on the other side of a blockade on I-45. Police wouldn’t let anyone drive into Galveston to get them, so their only option was to walk about 20 miles out. The hardest part of this walk for them was not the heat, not the rain and not the blisters on their feet. The hardest part was watching police, government officials, utility companies, media, construction crews, all in roomy air conditioned trucks and SUV’s pass them by all day long. They said not one truck or car stopped to ask if they needed help, needed a ride or simply a bottle of water or food. Freddie said he was shocked at how some would just wave as they sped past the trio toward Houston.
After our interview, Dean and I decided that we would be the ones to help this group. We loaded their stuff onto our truck, let them use our phones to call their families and was prepared to take them to their family and friends waiting 10 miles up the road. But as bad luck would have it, we found ourselves in the same boat as Freddie, Yvonne, Darren and Rayne the dog. It was then that our truck chose not to start. We tried feverishly to get it going and give the group a lift, but no luck…we were stranded too. So we unloaded their stuff, gave them some water to take and sent them walking once again as other cars and trucks passed them by. They thanked us for at least trying to help them out and hoped we would pass along this simple message: the most important part of surviving a major disaster is helping each other. I want to thank Darren, the Collomores and Rayne the dog for reminding me of that.