February 19, 2008 - Prattville, AL Tornado

This morning Edward set up a meeting between the mayor, his staff and myself. I was interested in putting a plan together that will speed up the process of opening up the roads and cleaning up the homes for the citizens of Prattville…which at this point would hopefully boost their wavering moral.

I recommended that the city provide me with as many dump trucks that were available to them from within their organization as well as surrounding counties. Within hours the Prentice loader operated by Tim Wolkowicz was loading dump truck after dump truck for the city free of charge. The grapple truck dwarfed every piece of equipment we were working with and the citizens were coming from everywhere wondering what all the commotion was. So many expressed their thanks as we went from house to house cleaning up what was left of their homes.

February 18, 2008 - Prattville, AL Tornado

Online reports indicated that 200 homes and 40 businesses were affected by another tornado. There was no indication whether the storm caused total destruction or whether the houses sustained minimal damage. The reports were inconclusive but from what we could gather the storm was bad so we decided it would be best for us to respond.

We arrived in Prattville, Alabama, eight hours later. The city was somewhat in a daze. Traffic was everywhere, and there was no heavy equipment brought in to help. The federal government provided no aid and the National Guard came with no equipment – just volunteers. We were the only ones who came with equipment to clean up the streets and neighborhoods. Within 30 minutes of my arrival I met the local leaders who were in charge. Edward Clinton, the Director of Solid Waste for Prattville, welcomed us into the city and within no time Disaster Recovery Solutions’ First Response Team was working side-by-side with the city workers and their limited equipment.

We began to open up roads within hours of our arrival but I was interested in finding out what resources this small community had to see if there was a way we could work together.

February 5, 2008 - Lafayette, TN Tornado

Tim and I were in PA working on the equipment. A local paint shop let us use their facility to take apart one of the CAT skid steers for some mechanical work and to give it a new paint job from damage it sustained from the CA wildfires of 2007. It would have taken about one week to go through the whole machine and get it ready for the 2008 storm season.

Even though we were taking some time to work on the equipment, we would still watch weather patterns in case something developed. We were not expecting anything big to happen so early in the year but then out of the blue there was a deadly outbreak of tornados. From what we could tell at that point it was one of the deadliest outbreak of tornados in TN history during the month of February. Many cities were hit with the same system but Lafayette seemed to be particularly devastated.

The problem was I had equipment in NY, PA, and TN, as well as some of the Cat equipment in pieces. Usually we could respond and depart within hours but this time was different: We needed about 24 hours. We knew we had to respond and that we had to move quickly. Tim worked through the day and night to get the CAT ready to roll, and I headed out to get the grapple truck fueled and ready. Twenty-four hours later we were on the road to TN. The trip was not easy. Tim was tired, and I was feeling run down. By the time we arrived in TN, I was feeling so sick Tim dropped me off at the local emergency room and headed on to scout out where we would be needed most.

There were so many areas hit by the tornados we first had to decide which city and state we should respond to first. Tim quickly found out that Lafayette was hit the worst, with 180 homes destroyed and 14 deaths. Tim later picked me up at the hospital – I had an advanced case of the flu – and we got a hotel room for a few hours of sleep. We arrived in Lafayette that next morning and spoke to some of the men and women in the emergency operations office. They asked if I would help in those who had lost homes and churches. We were given all access passes to anywhere in the city and was told of a neighborhood that had total loss. Upon arrival, we realized there was a church positioned right in the middle of the neighborhood that was destroyed.

Grace Baptist Church was built 25 years ago by the community. After speaking to a few neighbors, they informed me that Jerry Wix, the pastor who founded and built the church, lived just five houses up. I knocked on his door and his wife answered. I explained how I was from Long Island, New York, and was there to offer my help. We could take down the church, clean up the property, and of course, we would provide this help free of charge. She could not believe it and explained that her husband has been so upset. He had been crying and so anxious about what to do next. A few minutes later I met Mr. Wix, an older man in winter work clothes whose eyes were water logged from the past few days. Soft spoken, he was still in a state of shock. I explained that I was there to help him, his congregation, and his community. He did not know what to do but give me a hug, so I embraced him back. The pastor wondered how we could somehow save the steeple. Assuring him this would not be a problem, we agreed to demo the church along with any other houses in this community of people who we knew were in need.

We were so drained from our travel and from pressing forward in our desire to help those devastated by these tornados that I didn’t realize how sick I was becoming. I was weak beyond belief and finally had to admit it was more than exhaustion…I was coughing up blood. I later called the hospital to find out the results of my test. They said I had some kind of debilitating case of Influenza A–one I obviously ignored for a bit too long. The people in the community were so nice and were thankful for our help. But, before we knew it, another tornado struck south of us in Prattville, AL. This tornado destroyed more homes and businesses than had been destroyed in the TN town we were currently helping. Guess where we headed next!

December 10, 2007 - Washington State Floods and Windstorms

We have arrived in Washington State. There was not much more we can do in Vernonia except help with getting food in. The released the prisoners from the jail to help with the debris cleanup so we decided to come up to Washington to see if we could evaluate the situation here.

We headed toward Chehalis and then to the coast to a city called Aberdeen. There were bridges and train tracks out due to the intense flooding. In fact, one flood took a whole bridge down and washed it away.

There was one river basin full of more trees than I have ever seen in one place in my life. As far as I could see were massive trees that the raging floodwaters of the river brought down from the mountains. It’s hard to put into words. It must have been an amazingly powerful force that would take 120-foot trees—some 8 feet in diameter—and pile them up in a little town. It will take months just to remove them, and this probably happened in hours. The sun is going down but we will return in the morning to see if we can find someone who is in charge here. If they would like we can remove all the mud the rain brought in. As of now it looks like most of these people do not even have a clear path into their homes.

December 8, 2007 - Vernonia, OR Floods

We have arrived in Vernonia, OR. We wasted no time getting here, and the trip was long. Seth and I kept on switching out driving since he has a CDL. Toward the end of the 30-hour trip we were doing a few hours each just because we were so tired. A trip like that—after working 8 weeks straight—was tiring to say the least. Thank God Tim was there to keep us up. His positive attitude and love for the next adventure ahead of us in the Pacific Northwest was contagious.

We arrived in Vernonia, once a beautiful little town along a river. Now, there was mud everywhere and a chill was in the air. The houses were still standing but everything in them was destroyed. 750 out of 1000 homes were completely flooded. Everything the people owned was lost, including their food. Many people were pulling everything out of their homes and laying them on the street for the eventual pickup of debris. We can help out here with cleaning up the streets full of debris.

As Seth, Tim, and I were walking along the streets by the river looking for those in need, a lady pulled up and said, “Can you boys help me bring these heavy bags of dog food into that schoolhouse?” We agreed and moments later we walked right into what would be Vernonia’s temporary food bank. There were two ladies there who received the dog food and thanked us for the donation. I immediately asked what this one small room of canned food was and a young girl explained that this was the new makeshift food bank. The original food bank was destroyed in the disaster and everything was lost—food, checkbooks, ledgers, etc. Before the flood this food bank fed 20% of this city, and now there will be much more in need—in dire need.

She went on to explain that the OR food banks were already struggling this year. She shared how the people in her town don’t have meat, milk, cheese, or even pots and pans. The floods brought in farm animal waste that contaminated the homes and even the pots and pans were covered in toxic debris. I stepped outside the old building along the now calm river and made a few phone calls. Within one hour David Kieser, president of the Midwest Food Bank, agreed to send out a tractor trailer to aid the city of Vernonia. David has special relief packages of full startup kits for families who have lost everything. They have pots, pans, towels, cleaning supplies and food. He is also going to send frozen food, meats etc.

I’ve got to tell you, this was the first time I have ever been put in this position. I have never had to help in a situation like this one before – to simply provide food for people in dire need, and it felt good. It was amazing. I’m thankful for my connections, and I’m thankful people trust me enough to send out trucks.

I will never forget standing in the cold night in that small town of Vernonia, with the mountains surrounding us, and knowing that help was on the way to feed these people. So many of the reports that I got were that Vernonia was stable but it looks like that information was incorrect. I’m glad we decided to come here. Times like this make all we do worth it.

December 5, 2007 - San Diego, CA Wildfires

I guess you can say it’s bad timing…I guess I would like to say a lot of things. For now all I know is that on November 26 someone, somehow, from one of the places where we purchased food, fuel, or lodging, got a hold of my AMEX number and has been having a grand ole time for the last 10 days. We’ve been so busy helping people that I did not know someone was helping themselves to my bank account.

I’m kind of angry at the person who did this right now. We’re out here doing good things, and why did this have to happen? I’m just trying to be honest. Although I feel this way, in my heart I know it’s wrong. I know God has nothing to do with this. It’s just the world we live in, and I refuse to let things that are dark change me.

I suppose life will always be challenging and bad things will continue to happen to others and to me. People will disappoint us, people will hurt us, and sometimes when we are looking the other way people will take advantage of us. I am human and fully aware of my shortcomings but I hope I will always find just enough strength to stand – and not let the things of this world change who I am and who I want to be.

In the words of the musician Andy Zipf, “Keep On.”

December 1, 2007 - San Diego, CA Wildfires

Morning came quick today. I woke at 3 am as if I was not even sleeping. The wind was howling, and I decided to go for my daily run. There are no lights up here so running through these mountains in the dark can be adventurous. But the morning hours seem to be the only time to clear my head. Well, maybe I should say in theory they should be the only time to clear my head but lately I have had so much on my mind that anxiety of what is next seems to take precedence. The cold, strong wind froze my cheeks after 20 minutes so I decided to head back to the hotel.

I knew the rain and wind was going to pose some challenges for us in the mountains today but I can honestly say I was not expecting what developed over the next few hours.

We got in the car and headed up to the reservation, and everywhere we went the roads were blocked by state troopers due to all the landslides that happened through the night. After explaining to the authorities that we positioned equipment on different parts of the mountain the day before and were heading up to help open the roads, they wished us luck and let us through.

The first obstacle we encountered was a truck sunk deep into the mud. We left the rental car on the side of the road and headed in by foot. What we saw next was a first for all of us. Roads were washed out so bad that the rock and dirt that once was the base for the roads were gone. Asphalt hung suspended in the air without anything underneath except a vertical cliff down the mountain.

Along came an Indian with a very old four-wheel-drive pickup. It was one of those trucks designed to climb rocks so we decided to hitch a ride in the back for about one mile. Along the way, we discovered a dog that was killed by the avalanche. As the Indian picked up the dog and laid it in the back of the truck by our feet, he sadly explained that the dog was his – and told us how proud he was of his once beautiful, strong mastiff. Tim and I locked eyes and knew what each was thinking without saying any words…and continued to look at each other as blood poured out of this man’s best friend. We eventually looked up the road to survey the task at hand: opening these roads so that the people stranded and blocked in by the mud, rocks, and trees could get out.

We finally made it to our first Cat 252B Skid Loader. We went to work without even letting the cold machine warm up. I took the first shift but then handed the machine over to Seth so I could talk with the Indians coming from their houses. Many of them had been waiting for someone to come open the roads so they could escape. They explained how everything happened so quickly. We worked at a rapid speed for hours and then finally brought in the grapple truck.

We reached another area near the Indian reservation that had flooded so badly that the mud was five feet deep and mixed with boulders and trees – and when I say trees, I mean all of the trees…including the root systems. Seth began to extract the large logs from the road and load them one by one into the holding bodies.

As we ventured farther into the reservation we saw mudslides and washouts like we have never seen before. One part of the mountain had a 60-foot crevice carved out. Everything in the mudslides’ path was either destroyed or moved, including large boulders. But by the end of the day all the roads were opened. It was quiet though and not many people returned.


The weather is changing rapidly here. It’s cold, windy and rainy. From what I can tell we don’t have much more time to get things done. Another storm system is coming in a few days, and there is still more to do.

We have positioned our equipment once again. This time we placed a Cat loader at the firehouse and another one at the tribal council’s main offices where people will gather in case of another emergency. The wind is starting to blow stronger as I write this. I can hear things clanging and banging outside our hotel. Tomorrow morning will be here in a few hours.

I’ll say a prayer before I go to bed. Give us strength, speed and safety…help the Indians to make it through the continual challenges they face and that lie ahead, and if it’s not too much to ask for, we would love to be home with our families and friends by Christmas.