Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike came ashore and did much damage in Cameron and south Calcasieu Parish. I have friend who lost her house and one who doesn't yet know. We lost many windows and storm shutters. Our outdoor kitchen was (again) trashed. Stinky marsh mud covers everything....but aside from that the new house is unfinished and intact.

I have cut all ties with my former contractor. A year to get the house to the sheetrock stage is too long. I have already paid him enough to build the entire house. I thought that he was an honorable person; I was mistaken. I'll have to deal with that aspect later. For now I have someone else finishing up. It is an expensive lesson that I will have to live with.

Flooded House? Here's what you can do to save your home.

Below is the post that I sent to the hurricane section of http://www.craigslist.com/ It is what I learned from having my house flooded. If your house is flooded use this as a guide to saving your house. Don't wait for someone else to clean up your place, get busy! You will save yourself a lot of further damage if you can follow these steps right away.

House Flooded? Here's how to help yourself! < DanielLee > 09/13 14:31:58

I found that after returning to my flooded home in 2005 I didn't quite know what to do. Here is a list that I made up and followed. Feel free add to it. If you have a friend who was flooded please, please print this out and give it to them.

Turn off the power at the breaker box.

If you can locate a camera take lots of pictures. Be sure to take pictures of the outside of the house as well.

Wear rubber boots, playtex type gloves, and eye protection, if needed.

Clean out the fridge right away!

Get all of the ruined furniture to the road or in the front yard. Store good stuff elsewhere. Remove valuables!

Find a Squeegy or wide shovel.

Cut the drywall above the high water mark. Remove any drywall or paneling at least a foot above the high water mark.

Remove any wet insulation.

Get all of the wet stuff (insulation, drywall, and carpet) out of the house.

If you can find a butane heater open the windows and fire it up.

You should be able to drive a lot of moisture out of the windows before mold takes over.

Go to Sam's Club and buy something called Odo-Ban (a little goes a long way). It will kill the smell. Use only as directed! The sooner you do it the better!

These are all immediate repairs. Most can do it themselves.

Here's a few more tips: If your photos are all wet, keep them wet (for now) store them in water until you can dry them properly. Drying photos (behind glass or plastic photo album covers) will stick to anything that they dry to, which will ruin them.

Watch all contractors! Only deal with those who are reputible and established. There will be a lot of fly by night contractors fleeing to your area. If they can't afford to start without your money, chances are high that they will rip you off. Do not pay up front, like I did. My contractor came recommended by a friend. Now, I am tens of thousands of dollars over budget and don't even have the sheetrock up. It has been a year since my rebuild started. Don't get screwed....like I did!

And here is what I added to the post:

Generator Safety Tips < DanielLee > 09/14 07:06:05

Please remember that if you are running a generator or using a butane or propane heater to dry your house out follow these precautions: Operate any generator outside, in a well ventilated area. Well ventilated does not mean in the garage. If you are drying your house out with a butane or propane heater get it working that then get out of the house. Both devices give off poisonous carbon monoxide gas, that will kill you, if breathed in over a period of time. You cannot smell carbon monoxide gas. It will put you to sleep and then you will die.

Please be careful!

Good Luck to all!

Hurricane Ike hits Cameron and Lake Charles

Hurricane Ike has now come and gone. I hope that the flood will have subided enough so that someone can go and have a look at the Reon "camp" house. I know that I lost everything that was at ground level, including my shop. Everyone who I know is safe, though rattled. There was a lot of water that came in, more than hurricane Rita. I hope that everyone survives, but know better.

What is happening with this world? There was a hurricane in the area around 1900, Aurdry hit in 1957. Rita arrived after almost 50 years, in September 2005. Now, we have Gustav and Ike hit the area (a wide area) in September of 2008.

Hurricane Ike report. Here's what I know as of early Sunday morning.

Graywood rental houses:

Primrose: Report from renter that there are broken windows and that the storm shutters broke. The ocean came right to the front door (and we're 20 miles from the ocean), but didn't get inside. We likely lost all of out landscaping due to salt water.

Camellia: No report but I suspect no water as it is slightly higher than Primrose house. We likely lost all of out landscaping due to salt water

Black Bayou/Reon Road: Surrounded by many feet of water. I saw a picture of a neighbor's house that had three feet of water in the yard. The picture was taken over 12 hours before the actual storm arrived! I hope that we did not have over ten feet of flood waters or our new house would be flooded. The Black Bayou bridge is closed (to vehicles). I will call my friend Bobby's cousin (who is the bridge supervisor) for an update later this morning. But during Rita the motor burned out and it took a tug to open and close the bridge.

Friend Ron's house: Unknown. Ron is one mile south and right on the lake. His home is the first house at the south end of Deatonville and took the full force of the storm.

Friend Karen Thibodoux's brand new house: Completely ruined and flooded, along with her brand new car.

Friend Dorothy Carter's new home in Creole: It is in the same situation as our Black Bayou/Reon Road house. The entire area is submerged.

The problem with this storm for our region was the high storm surge. The winds toped out about 90 miles per hour.

The Long Road Home

Where do I start. It's indeed a long road home. The rebuild of our place is well under way: In November 2007 we "pulled" our building permit. In December the old house was demolished and the columns were poured for the new home. There's thirty of them. They are ten feet in the ground and twelve feet above ground. The frame for the entire house is glued and bolted to these columns and up goes the house. Only it goes slowly. It is now mid-august and the house is still not finished. But we successfully endured our first tropical storm (Eduoaurd).

I need the place finished very soon because we have plans to bring a group down from the Reno area to help others rebuild their homes.

For now you can head over to my photo site www.flickr.com/nevadadans and see the progress.

Two Years Minus One

There have been a number of developments to keep up with.

We put up a gate that will keep all but the most determined out; at least it will keep their vehicles out. If they want to steal anything they will have to carry it over a thousand feet.

The LA Citizens suit is moving forward at a snails pace. I hope that there is some interest that will be included with their stalling tactics.

I took a real hard look at rebuilding verses starting over. Starting over looks like the wise move. I have purchased the plans for the Lowe's KC-1807 "Katrina Cottage" house. They are being looked at by a contractor who is putting some figures together. I will have more to report in the future.

Another year goes by......

It has been over a year since I have written. The house on the bayou has been cleaned out, but it still sits in a condition of decay. I have a law suit filed against LA Citizens, like tens of thousands of others.

The house clean-out came as a result of numerous unwelcome visitors. There is no reason to leave anything there for them to steal. It's just better that way. The house is an empty shell. The grass still grows and must be cut. It is hard to do when you must live so far away.

I got one bid for the lifting of the house to the desired sixteen feet. It came in at well over $100,000. For that I will get a wrecked house on a new foundation. Somehow, it just doesn't seem worth it. The economics don't add up.

I was promoted at work shortly after the storm. The hours are greater and the money is better. The hours make our time here in Reno more difficult.

But there's hope. In just a few short years we will be moving down. We will have a place to live and the time to fix up the old place.

Dan's 4th Trip

Note to readers: this log is publisher in reverse chronoligical order. The first entries are near the end of this page and the most recent entry is at the beginning. Please start your reading at the beginning of my story. Thank you, "Nevada Dan"



In early February I found myself on yet another airplane heading for Lake Charles. This time it was not for a for the usual reason. This trip was to take care of an impending problem. My camp was burglerized.

I found myself wondering why thieves would be going into an area devistated by a hurricane. Was it because stealing from those who had already lost from the storm was easier? Was it to help local folks raise money to help rebuild their own homes? Whatever the reason, the people who were stealing from hurricane victims must be of very low character. Essentially, they are dirty no good "looters".

I had an alarm system in the house, before the storm removed it from service. I thought that it was honorable of the alarm company, Interface Security, to call me and offer to discontinue my service. They called days after the storm. However, that all changed after they refused to quit charging me a monthly fee. Before they would stop charging me they racked up another $200 in fees. Interface Security is on my list on companies that chose to profit from the misery of others.

The plane landed in Houston, I rented a pick-up and drove the two and a half hours to Lake Charles. I stopped by my mother-in-law's and grabbed a sleeping bag. I drove through my gate (that had its lock cut) and parked my rent-a-truck out of sight. I entered the now unlocked door and assessed the damage. The two chain saws that I had shipped down to cut all of the trees that had fallen down ruring Rita were gone; they also stole my ATV. It was a Honda "Rancher" It was very useful around the property. The thieves didn't have the decency to close the garage door. This left my tractor in the open, free for the taking.

I returned to my home back in Reno. It is now early March, six months after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Bay St. Louis, Waveland and surrounding communities. I watched the CNN coverage of the aftermath. It showed how little had been done to aid the recovery and rebuilding of the area. It is the same that I have seen. I had been a regular watcher of Fox news. But it seems that Fox has also forgotten about hurricane victims.

I also recieved payment for my house that was blown by 135 mph winds, before the storm surge filled my house with water and mud. The check was for a whopping thirty-three hundred dollars!

In this sea of negativity there was some good. The residents of Cameron Parish were finally cleared to move back into their parish. For me this means that I had another thirty jacket orders to fill. This is a sign that things are starting to inch in the direction towards normal.

I just wish the thieves timing had been a little better. Mardi Gras was only two weeks away.

Dan's Hurricane Log - Dan's 3rd trip

For those of you visiting for the first time please scroll down and read the earlier stories of my trips to hurricane ravages southwest Louisiana first. Thank you!

Just before Christmas 2005, we once again returned to southwest Louisiana. It was a bittersweet trip. Had collected more fire department t-shirts and had purchased over two dozen reflective safety jackets for the firefighters of south Cameron Parish. I carried the t-shirts as my luggage allotment on my Southwest airline flight. The jackets were shipped with UPS. I purchased the jackets in Reno, at cost, through a friend.

Upon our arrival at "mamma's" house (everybody has a mama in the south) I found several boxes of jackets on the porch. The next day I took a drive down to Cameron to meet up with my contact, Dorothy.

To get into lower Cameron Parish is no easy task. Cameron is still (three months later) under mandatory evacuation. Other than the road system, there is very little infrastructure in the parish. Electricity is mostly re-connected, water works some places, but there are very little sewer treatment systems.

The road into the area is guarded by members of "BlackWater" security. BlackWater is not you average security service. Most of their members have police or military experience. You must have a legitimate reason to pass these hombres.

The speed limit past this point is 45. If you go 46 you will be ticketed. The sheriff of Cameron Parish has this strictly enforced. This is the south.

I drove down past what is left of Creole. Creole is a settlement of about 1,500. From what I saw there is not one undamaged structure in this town. I turn right and head for the coast. I immediately pass an empty lot that was once my Farm Bureau insurance office; my agent has moved herself and her business to a trailer back at Boon's Corner.

Things haven't changed much in the three months since Rita came to visit. The bodies that floated away from their "final resting places" have been mostly accounted for.


The debris has been picked up from the road. The folks are still living out of the Parish. The only folks "living" in the south part of the parish are rescue workers. The homes are all either gone or badly damaged. As you drive the roads you see many houses that are not where they belong. During the storm they just up and floated somewhere else.

No rebuilding has commenced, three months after the storm.

I met up with Dorothy at Camp Cameron. I visited the yurt like tent that she, her husband and a dozen or so of her close friends were living in. It was real cozy. A dozen cots lined up on both sides of the outer walls. Each person had enough room to squeeze between his/her neighbor. There was enough room for a small suitcase at the end of each "bed". It was tight.

I handed over my two boxes and headed out. I took the long way home. I traveled through the county seat, also called Cameron. The County office building still stood. It was built to take a storm. It was made of solid concrete.

I crossed the ferry and headed west, towards Holly Beach.



I arrived at what I thought was Holly Beach. It was Holly Beach, only I missed the first turn. There were no landmarks, no homes. There were only pilings sticking out of the sand and a road grid.

I am surprised at the lack of progress. I am equally surprised at the inequity of the aid. Areas that really don't need much are well cared for; areas that need help aren't getting any.





FEMA is a giant bureaucracy. Disaster services are manned by 1) people who want to help, 2) bureaucrats who don't care 3) fill in here

Many FEMA disaster workers are retired folks. Some do a great job, some don't. The ones who don't do their jobs grind everything to a halt. The FEMA workers who do their jobs are very frustrated. There are folks who are still living in cars, lean-toos and tents. They have gotten almost zero help. This is America, the leader of the free nations. Why can't these people get the aid that they need FEMA?

In my own experience (I lost my home here also). I called the FEMA phone line. I called at 5 AM as the phones are clogged all day. I answered 30 minutes worth of questions. I needed to "register my loss". After that short interview I was told that, "the program says that you are not eligible for aid". I wasn't registering for any aid, I was registering the loss of my house.

FEMA did do a good job of hiring "contractors" to clean up the debris on the roads. The do not clean up the entire county. The do clean up the majority of the trash within about ten feet of the road. The problem that goes along with this is that some (a few) of the employees of these contractors have a problem differentiating between what is obviously trash and what are the remaining possessions of hurricane victims. My friend Ron caught two guys with a pickup load of his newly purchased lumber. He needed it moved anyway. I had two guys drive into my place, looking around. I went out to greet them. They had their windows up and almost ran me over. We grabbed their license number. As my place is a half mile off of the road there is no reason for them to have driven up my drive, unless they were casing my house. It would have been a good time to "shoot at a snake", just to let them know that, " we don't cotton to this" in my neighborhood.

Why did my friend Phill and I do what we did? The frustration level that we experienced by trying to go through official channels was just too much. All we heard was, "don't go". We were told that FEMA was organizing aid and that they were going to do a good job. What we saw was quite the contrary. Like I stated above, there are a lot of folks doing a lot of good. There are a lot of folks taking advantage of their jobs and the situation also. We wanted to do good (within out means) without outside meddling. Looking back, it was a good decision.