Tornado Entry: 6

I’ve shared my journal entries on this disaster on many sites, forwards and e-mails. I think it is so important the outside world know how things are from low level perspective. This side of history always seems to be so under recorded. To me, the large world events are made understandable through the actions of everyday people. The journals of Victor Klemperer, “I Will Bear Witness” taught me how the third Reich functioned and controlled German life as no history book ever could.

I would never journal this disaster for personal profit or gain. I am so humbled and honoured from the feed back from my friends. I like to consider anybody who has taken the time to read my writing as my friend. I’ll be keep this up … I can’t wait till I can shift the focus of my life back to what had been a “crazy rut” of collecting and working on my various projects and collections. Sadly, I’m afraid that day will be far off…

Wednesday morning 8:00 a.m.

My team was intact with a few additions. We are able to get our work assignments right away and head out. Our job assignment is to help sort through rubble and drain a swimming pool in Wood Manor, a very hard hit area. The destruction here is pretty grim.

We were just getting ready to leave when a team leader on a roofing assignment came into the office frantic as there were no ladders left. “I’ve got one, Come on.” I told him. I keep my extension ladder in the truck bed 24/7 now. Who could have ever imagined this ladder my dad bought 30+ years ago would be assisting in disaster relief. Spattered on it are house colours from so many different houses. Another example of how my possessions have stories and histories.

It turned out the family we are helping are people I know from the “Y”. This puts a human face to what we are dealing with. After assessing the situation I realized we could use my wheelbarrow and other tools. This is not far from my house, so I left to collect the extra tools.

The smell from this water is really putrid:

Not a tree left in the "core area". Note the new power lines already. The utility crews are unreal.

When I returned two guys had joined our group. One had an orange Samaritan’s Purse tee shirt the other did not. It is not uncommon for people to shift and join and change groups so I did not think much of it, but something just seemed to be wrong.

Homeowner: Are your guys supposed to be taking stuff?

Brian: No never.

Jamie: We are just here to secure and clear.

Homeowner: Well, those guys are taking metal.

There have been reports of looting. This is the lowest of the low. Just Wednesday morning the mayor addressed the issue is working to have photo ID for all relief workers.

Brian and I ran to the National Guard stationed at the corner. Within half a minute these two guys were surrounded by National Guardsmen with guns ready to be drawn.

The head guy was pretty “street wise”. I could tell by the interactions I witnessed between he and Judy, the homeowner. It turned out he asked Judy if she had any need of a copper pipe fitting. When she said “No, she had no use for it.” That opened a gray area as he claimed he thought he had the right to the hot water tank and other metal he had loaded into his van.

His partner in the volunteer Tee shirt was sorting like mad when he was fingered.

“I’m with this team” he protested when pulled aside by the police.

Jamie: What is the name of your team leader?

Looter: I don’t know, there are so many people; I was assigned to your team.

Jamie: You were not assigned to my team. We left in a convoy. Who did you ride out with?

Looter: They told me to meet up with you all out here. Lights up cigarette:

Jamie: (I lost it) YOU ARE NOT TO SMOKE WHILE WEARING THAT SHIRT!

Looter: Ruefully throws it away.

In hindsight: right then and there we should have contacted Samaritan’s Purse to check the volunteer sheets. You can’t be in the field unless you sign up that day. The police had a lot more important things to worry about. The loot was unloaded and the two guys were banished: all their ID is on a watch list. (This guy in one of our shirts had signed up Monday and had not been on any list since.) This is all such a learning experience all the way around.

There was a food distribution center just across the street.. we had a wonder bar-b-que for lunch.

We cleaned and sorted as much as we could and then roamed the neighborhood. A neighbor was assisted with clearing out his mess, then we went next door to help two others clean out.

This wood is murder on chainsaw blades. One of the team who knows engines worked full time just sharpening blades on the chainsaws till they were worn out.

My truck as a work station:

The crew is working well. I can tell they are happy to be making seeable progress in the chaos.

Some folks on their own were passing out sandwiches, water and soda. A little boy about four is happily distributing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. His mom wants him to be a part of all this. These acts of kindness and compassion overrule the ugliness of incidents such as the near looting.

The young guys scarf these sandwiches down one after another. They are so much fun to be around. I swear I’ve been aging backwards!

Let me close this out with a picture of my team…

Trip Back to Delphi Thermal Systems Tuscaloosa

I started out this morning as I have countless mornings with my first coffee, and my news blogs. Blessed mundane routine. For a brief period in time the emptiness I’m feeling was overridden.

It was my early trips to the skill center at work that introduced me to journalling back in 2001. Over the years I chronicled my life as a factory worker and the dramas that played out at the plant. My last visit to Delphi was in 2005 just as the facility was finally closing down. There was a floppy disc saved for me I inadvertently left in my old computer in shipping. As luck would have it, this disc had the journal entries from 2004 I had recorded at work. These entries were ones that were lost when the site was hacked. I was so grateful to Paul the trucker who put it aside for me.

My little shipping office that saved my sanity when college was cancelled: This picture was taken in July 2004. My transfer file to the Corvette Assembly Plant located at Bowling Green, KY is opened up with the relocation telegram on top…

When we would be working and the tornado sirens would sound, there was a protocol to get into the basement, with each department assigned a certain area. Team leaders would account for the workers in their departments. Management hated when this would happen. The braze ovens had to keep operating with nobody to do the unload job. There would be a huge pile of cores piled on the floor when we returned to our jobs to sort through.

Delphi closed the plant and gave it to the city. Tuscaloosa reworked the building to house environmental services and the emergency response units. The basement skill center and classrooms were put to good use.

That facility took a direct hit from the tornado. The ramifications have not fully sunk in yet. As I understand, pretty much the entire fleet of garbage trucks is gone.

It really upsets me to see the destruction. I had to make one last trip to my old factory. This morning I headed out on my bicycle. The curfew was lifted at 6:00 a.m. and I was able to sneak in the back way off Greensboro Ave. At this early hour there was no traffic. I have driven this route so many times; I knew every business and house. It is forever changed. There was debris everywhere. The flattened landscape turned my stomach the closer I got to the old GM facility.

Guard Shack: How many times did I pass through the turnstile to the left of the guard shack, saying Hello to Martha the guard? The front doors to the lobby are gone.

The driveway going straight on went to a large overhead door that opened to the braze oven of Department 257. My little shipping office was way back in the far south west corner of the department.

There used to be trees and picnic tables outside the building. I luxuriated there in the open on my breaks to warm up. The chillers could not be regulated and the factory was so cold in the dog days of summer. I bundled up so in hooded sweatshirts: Gwen said it looked like I was from the “hood”!!!

It pains me so to think back to the happy memories and then see the utter destruction. We will survive this….