Thursday September 7, 2017-Center RV Park

Stella and I made a trip down to the Dickinson area to pick up my new glasses. I got these after my cataract surgery, when my prescription changed after the surgery. They were ready on the Monday after the storm came in, but I didn't want to get in the way of rescue workers and I wanted to see first-hand the damage done to the area. 

We began our tour at the Bay Colony RV Park that we had left a couple of weeks before the storm hit. I had talked to one of the employees by phone and learned that there had been a lot of water in the park but we saw little damage to the remaining trailers. We noticed several empty sites that had been occupied when we left but we don't know if they had left before the storm or had been damaged and removed. The above photo is the private storage area next door, which is the main business of this company. AS you can plainly see, folks got lots of water in their storage buildings, and the discarded items were piled up at the rear fence for removal.

The check-in lady at the entrance. I'm not sure whether she is checking people in to prevent looters from entering or registering people for FEMA help or for insurance.

The check-in booths. There is another table behind the man standing beside the pickup truck.

This is an insurance company table at a convenience store that is near the RV park. I am sure that there are more scattered through town.

This is the famous Heartbreakers "gentleman's" club. They had some damage as seen by the pile of discarded items out by the road.

Huge piles if trash are everywhere. This was taken at a strip center on FM 517.

More trash piles along 517. Notice the large trash truck going down the road to pick up another load. While driving around town I noticed many out if town work trucks, including clean-up services, and other disaster-related workers.

I remember after Ike, seeing these huge trucks with an extending claw to pick up these piles. The truck towed a large trailer where the debris was placed before running it to the dump. 

Both of the above photos were taken on a street near our neighborhood. We have friends that live on the street but fortunately there was no debris in front of our friend's house.

This was the far end of Winding Brook Dr., the street we lived on. As you can see, the Serve-Pro guys are getting a lot of business here.

The damage is heartbreaking and unbelievable. We lived on this street for over 25 years and never saw anything like this.

That is our old house on the left. I remember one rainstorm that dropped a lot of rain on Dickinson that caused water to get into the garage of our house. We had a tiny amount of Sheetrock damage done but nothing else. We were not in this house during Hurricane Alicia, and it hadn't even been built then. We lived here during Hurricane Ike but I don't know how high the water got because I was working and had taken Stella to safety at a friend's house in Port Arthur.

This is the site of a closed-down furniture store that is being used as a temporary dump site for debris. I know that FEMA will help the cities with the costs of the cleanup, as well as overtime pay for city employees, but the work must go on even though the costs are enormous. 

I wish we had time to spend more time in the area to record the damage. 

By the way, my glasses fit very well and are great! 

So long.