Storm Chronicles: People taking care of people

By CATE GABLE
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Reprinted from The Chinook Observer

(Editor's Note: We are publishing this series of storm stories to encourage Peninsula residents to attend a Community Forum Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School. This working forum will be attended by the sheriff, emergency management, county commissioners, our fire departments, Ocean Beach Hospital, the Chinook Observer and others. There will also be a Town Hall meeting. We encourage everyone to attend these important gatherings in order to pool our resources and knowledge to create better emergency action planning. This is an opportunity for all of us to communicate about how to better support one another during a catastrophic event.)

David George, Peninsula Rotary Club President and Pastor of New Life Church in Ilwaco, was doing what came naturally during the Big Blow - helping people. He did not even wait until the storm ended. George went out into the worst of the blow on Monday to check on the teenage child of friends he knew were out of town.

He and his wife, Gina, drove from Long Beach north to see if they could make it through to their young friend all by herself in Oysterville. Twice, they were turned back by downed trees and live wires on the road north, but at every turn they found an alternative route.

"It was a real jungle excursion," said George. "Trees were down everywhere. It was a good time to have an SUV."

As George was diverted, just one mile south of his goal at Joe Johns Road, he and his wife saw the total destruction of the main PUD pole. The Joe John's pole carries thousands of dollars of equipment and is a hub pole that routes the power to much of the Peninsula's north end.

George remembers, "This power pole wasn't just down - it looked like splintered toothpicks."

Finally, with teenager in tow, they back tracked on the same circuitous route they had used to make their way north. The whole trip took most of the afternoon. But this is all in a day's work for George who, with a congregation of about 40, was determined to make sure his "flock" was safe.

Knowing of a particular elderly woman staying alone in a house on the bluff on Cape Disappointment, George trekked out again on Tuesday to make sure she was OK.

"We brought in wood for her fireplace and found an old Kerosene stove which we decided was too dangerous to use for heat indoors. We did use it to heat water and we'd leave that for her in a thermos for tea or soup. We checked on her everyday until the power came back on.

"George also opened his church on Wednesday when he discovered that many people were not able to get clean water. The New Life Church did not yet have power but being on the Ilwaco water system meant that folks could stop by and fill up water containers. It also meant that that church became an information hub for passing the news, which, with phone service cut off, was hard to come by.

George discovered that Greg Spicer, a resident and small business owner living in Safari Camp Ground, had a mobile generator. Spicer, a welder by trade, used the generator to make sure Safari water pumps were working.

George and his family visited Spicer to take hot showers and use his Internet connection, which had a satellite signal before phone service came back on. This way George was able to get a message to family out of the area that they were OK.

The George family also teamed up with neighbors. They had a camp stove for cooking and their neighbors had a woodstove for heat. So the Georges would go over to the neighbors' house for heat and cook dinner for them. Both families felt like they were getting the best end of the deal.

What is apparent is that families that had a plan or were able to cooperate with others to support themselves in life's basic requirements - shelter, heat, access to clean water, and food - rode out the storm well.

George's stories point out all the small ways that peninsula residents worked together to take care of each other. He sums it all up this way, "You've got to keep a level head, do what you need to do, and help other people."