Forgotten Injuries

As Hurricane Helene slowly formed, the entire Gulf Coast held its breath. Forecasts were dire. The better organized it got, the more it looked as though it would make landfall as a major storm (category 4 or 5), come straight into Apalachacola Bay, through Saint Marks and run over Tallahassee. Emergency managers, first responder organizations and NGOs began frantic preparations for what scientists were certain was going to be a once in a lifetime storm incident. Literally at the last moment and by an estimated mere ten miles the beast came ashore as a category 4 just south and east enough of Tallahassee so as not to destroy the capital (and my home).

But where it came ashore, it did so like a a depot of runaway trains full of bombs. It swept in with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour, torrential rains and proceeded go off the rails on a six state rampage over the next 36 hours. Screeching winds, pouring rain and floodwaters ravaged Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina Tennessee, and parts of Alabama. As of this writing there are well over 200 confirmed dead, and I expect that toll to rise as teams sift through mud, debris and vast expanses of wrecked rural areas.

Now…another “once in a lifetime” storm looms large in the Gulf certain to strike Florida at least.

So what’s the point of this blog? Rehashing well told history? No. Helene wrecked some 600 miles of the United States. Let that sink in for a minute. Damage ranging from minor to not recoverable for months to maybe ever. In each of those areas, first responders deploy immediately. I mean during the storm immediately. Rescuing people too ignorant to evacuate or unable for health or financial reasons to do so. Guard units are with them. Closely followed by swarms of utilities crews, specialized rescue teams, FEMA, NGOs, first responders from outside jurisdictions there on mutual aid, civilians wanting to help, and so on. Many of them will work with no days off and 12 hour shifts and see/experience things that will damage them for the rest of their life. They will be separated from their families for long periods, work under crushingly difficult conditions, deal with mind bending trauma, pull bodies from the muck and debris and do it again the next day. These stories don’t end up on CNN. They aren’t told on Netflix miniseries. Why? Because it is ugly, painful, extremely difficult and frankly because many people just don’t know about it.

With a storm the size of Helene that wreaked havoc in the way that it did, there will be hundreds…who knows maybe thousands of unseen injuries to the dedicated people who came to help. I know that here locally teams of specialists (peer support etc.) have been sent to disaster areas to support the teams who are working. It is my fervent hope that is happening all across the southeast so that these unseen injuries do not also become forgotten injuries. Please keep the scores of people trying to right our ship from Helene in your thoughts and prayers. They are going to need it since Helene apparently has a very angry juvenile delinquent younger brother named Milton.

Last month was Suicide Prevention and Awareness month. if you or someone else you know needs help, don’t hesitate to ask for it.

Suicide Help Line-988

2nd Alarm Project- https://2ndalarmproject.org

Note-I used stock images for this blog. I am not a member of the press and therefore possess no credentials to go traipsing into disaster areas and jamming a camera into people’s faces who have lost everything or photographing what’s left of their dreams, life and world. Even if I had credentials I would likely not do that as I find it distasteful. Those images are plentiful on the mainstream news.