REPORTER BLOG - "My Time in Orange County"

Ashley Rodrigue has kept a blog about the devastation in Orange County. Click here for other blogs from other Channel 6 reporters as well coming up in the next few days.

Click Here for Lance Edwards' Blog

Click Here for Jessica Holloway's Blog

Click Here for Karen Chapman's Blog 

• Saturday - September 13, 2008

This is my first drive into Orange County since Ike's landfall overnight.  We'd heard that several people were stuff in attics and roofs not only in Bridge City, but now in downtown Orange, due to a breach in the levee along the Sabine River.

The storm is still very much pounding Southeast Texas but my anxiety to get into the county and see what we've only heard put my common sense to stay safe in the back of my mind. 

Me and photographer Kevin Fitch took 25 minutes to get to Orange because the sustained winds were still holding steady at 40 mph, while gusts of 60 mph pushed the car every now and again. 

We had to dodge several trees and debris, as well as large water puddles on I-10 on the way in.  Once we got to Orange, we quickly realized 16th Street into downtown was not an option.  The water was already inside of Shangri La at Park Street and it was inching its way toward the interstate, literally, an inch a minute. 

Me and Kevin got video, and shot a what we call a live look, which is literally a taped, live look at what's going on, with the reporter essentially do a show-and-tell on camera.  The wind was still very strong at the time and it began to rain again.  Right before we left there to try to find an emergency staging area, a man in a tractor emerged from a neighborhood with his son's.  He told us he came from Cove and he was going to get a boat to help rescue his neighbors who were on their roofs.  Me and Kevin thought about tagging along with him, but time was an issue, so we continued our search for a launch area.

We ended up finding a few emergency crews in a parking lot just north of I-10 in the Northway Shopping Center.  They led us to the City of Orange's operation's center which had been moved North of the Interstate.  There I was able to get an update on the status of the city's flooding situation, which included a clarification that the flooding in downtown Orange was not caused by a breach, but by the storm surge overtopping the levee, big time.  We decided to head to Bridge City while the folks over in Orange got in gear to possibly take us out on a boat. 

DPS troopers were blocking practically every main entrance into Bridge City, so me and my photographer took the back roads through Pinehurst to get to 87 where we were then stopped by the water coming out of Bridge City... at the AIRPORT!!  That was the first indicator to me that this was bad.  I knew there were at least two more bridges to cross before getting into Bridge City proper and those weren't even in sight.  However, a large water moccasins was, which sent me scurrying around the car... I wasn't even out in the water where it was! 

We saw two people in the time we were there.  The first was the Bridge City veterinarian who attempted to go into the city to check on the animal hospital, but was turned away by the water.  The second was a nurse who was attempting to head in through the water to tend to several patients she said had called for her help.  She didn't get far before turning around. 

We headed back to Orange where the Battalion Chief in charge told me I couldn't go on a boat with them, but I could see the action at one of the launches.  I was none to happy about this but made the best of it.  I knew people far away from home wanted, needed to see what was happening to their hometowns.  I decided then and there I was getting into Bridge City or Orange the next day, if it meant hurting someone!  I then went on a tear to find someone with a boat, AND get some sleep (running on 2 hours at this point).

• Sunday September 14, 2008

I'm up at 8:15 a.m. calling the county to get approval to launch a boat anywhere near Bridge City or Orange.  A friend of mine came through for me overnight in offering his boat and his services operating it, now I just needed the okay.  The county calls back giving me the thumbs up, but says DPS is not budging on approval. 

I told them to leave DPS to me, I know a way around them.  So me and photographer David Moore, who went out during the first half of the storm with me to Port Arthur, are now headed to Bridge City taking the back ways through Pinehurst again.  The forecast is calling for more rain today, but nothing is going to stop me from showing our viewers what has happened to this area.  We, along with my friend and his boat, get much further than we did the day before because the water is going down  everywhere... great sign! 

We hit a snag at an area that has water too low to boat in, but somewhat too high to drive in, with dry land on the other side, so we get out and assess the possiblities.  My friend says he's all for trying to go through it with his truck.  An Associated Press photographer comes up asking how we're getting into Bridge City, then asks to join along.  I'm competitive so I was trying to figure out how to get rid of the guy, then he said he was from New Orleans.  I'm from New Orleans, and he looked familiar, so I said he could come.  We pile into the truck and win against the half and half water.

The next obstacle is the DPS trooper at the bottom of the Cow Bayou bridge.  But the good news is there is a Bridge City police officer there who HAS to help.  While I'm talking to him, Interim Police Chief Joey Hargrave drives up... yes!  I'm in.  It took about ten minutes for him to smooth everything over and me and me crew were heading into Bridge City FINALLY.  We get in and see the damage immediately.  

Texas Avenue is dry, but littered with parts of businesses, whole and half roofs and at the very end toward the Veterans Memorial and Rainbow Bridges, the water is still sitting there like an alligator just watching and waiting.  Oh and there are alligators, and snakes, but I'll get to that later.  We start driving down Texas Avenue getting as much video as we can... we take a turn down 1442 toward Orangefield to see how that area looks, when we start seeing people.  So we pull into a neighborhood, which I now believe is the John/Ferry Drive neighborhood... there were no street signs the other day, at least that we saw anyway.  We talk to a volunteer with the fire department who is at her parents house rescuing their two dogs that were left in the home during the storm.  She didn't want to do an interview, but it was clear she was both upset about the flooding her parent's home endured and elated that the animals were ok.

We decided to move along back onto Texas Avenue headed toward the water where we found a man and his dad cleaning out the carpet in a business.  Rodney Townsend told us he stayed in his Colonial Estates home during the storm and watched 3 feet of water rush into his bottom floor before he fled to the top floor.  He says he doesn't regret staying, and he hopes the community comes back.  He then pointed us down to an area I had received several calls about checking out... the Lake Road neighborhood... specifically, Strapper Road.  It didn't hit me that this was the area I got at least five calls about until I saw the alligator swimming next to the knocked down Strapper Road sign.  When it clicked to me, my heart instantly dropped.

How do you call someone and tell them your home doesn't have an entire side.  All of your furniture is floating in the lake, oh but the storm left you something in its place... an unending pile of marsh grass and bamboo.  This was EVERY house.   

The water was still blocking Strapper from cars and alligators and snakes were swimming right along the edge almost as guardians to the rest of the neighborhood behind them, which was still very much under water.  After staning in front of the corner house, with no side, and staring down the street I couldn't get to looking at the same damage, I told my crew to launch the boat, I've got people who want to see their homes.  After a few issues with the ground and the engine, we took off toward Lochlamande Lane.  There, marsh remains covered the ground from the original street to the neighborhoods further back.  The homes I think were on the water initially had no bottom floors, and it wasn't that they were stilt homes to start.  There was another instance of a missing side of the home, of course the side facing the water.

There were pictures scattered, golf balls blown around, someone's license plate collection strewn about, there a car faced nose-down in the marsh straw piles, it's a mess.  While walking around the neighborhood on the marsh straw stuff, an alligator popped out and snapped at me and my friend with the boat.  I've never run so fast in my life.  Took me a good ten minutes to catch my breath back as well.  Soon after that we decided it was time to go. 

We took the boat back up to the Strapper Road area and saw several people on Holly, so we re-docked there. The first two women we come across pull us to one of their homes where all of her neighbors belongings are sitting.  On the way, a large red home looks to have survived the storm marvelously, except for the one window that's spewing the marsh straw out into the large piles of it surrounding the house.  

Barbara Jones cried through our conversation about how the home was full of memories of her late daughter, and her granddaughter she's now raising.  This is the hardest part of my job.  I want to help but don't know how to.  So I try to let her tell her story to others and hope someone CAN help.  Me and the AP photographer give her some tips on flooded homes and insurance etc. and left.  After that stop, all of us had had enough.  

At this point, the day was getting dark and there was no safe time to head to downtown Orange to find the county judge, so we called it a day. 

• Monday September 15, 2008

This morning's goal is to get to downtown Orange.  Me and photographer Troy Harper are treking east today.  I again am telling him about what I saw days ago as we pass different locations.  We get to Orange County's operations center where I soon find a CNN truck, and a crew from Austin.  Now I understand this is a big deal and I'm glad to see bigger markets covering it, but something about them all being at the EOC at the same time was off.  I soon learn Governor Rick Perry is in town for a briefing and press conference. 

Great!  The area is getting attention!  We cover the press conference, then talk with County Judge Carl Thibodeaux about the status of the county and downtown Orange.  Before we leave there to head for Cove, we hear about a home collapsing a block or tow over, so we head over there to see what's up.  

This is the second time I've been in Orange and emergency crews have had to respond to an actual, every day emergency.  A large oak tree apparently fell on this home during the storm, but the house finally buckled under the pressure.  Texas Task Force One, the group sent to help with rescues, in general, surrounded the home and searched for anyone possibly in the house. 

Dogs confirmed there was no one inside so we left, after getting video of course.  Oh, and having to squish around through muddly, mushy silt left by the river's water.  It smelled like fish too.  We get to Cove to find there is still a good bit of water in the community.  We found a woman who took us to the other side of the town, where we interviewed her about the neighborhood where her son and sister live, that still has water.  On the way there, we stopped to get video of the Orange Boat Club very much still underwater.  This hit home to me because that's where Judge Thibodeaux had his re-election party a year ago and I had a good idea of what it looked like dry.  On the other side of the bridge that crossed over that area were two boats pushed up against the bridge. 

One, oddly enough, was called God's Gift.  *shrugs*

Back to the fish smell, it was definitely in Cove.  One of the big reasons is because there were fish in Cove... lots of them.  They lined the road like glitter.  Some were still alive gasping for air, that was sad, but I had no where to put them :(  While we were getting video, we saw some National Guardsmen going door to door, knocking to find out if residents were still in the homes and leaving green stickers as their report.  While they were at one house, three guys showed up and said the home was their dad's, and he was being taken care of elsewhere.  We ended up talking to these guys who told us they stayed through the storm.  But when the water came up to two feet inside their dad's elevated home, they got out, and helped the rest of the neighborhood escape to the second story of the the Cove Baptist Church.  The water lines there gave a perfect indication of how high the water was and the levels it stopped at on its way down.  We stopped back into downtown Orange to get a little video of the courthouse before heading back to the station.  

Still on generator at the station, showering in salt water, no cable... we resort to YouTube for entertainment before bed on air mattresses at the station.

• Tuesday September 16, 2008

I have a new photographer with me today, who has not seen Orange County yet. I spent the majority of our drive giving Drue Barrilleaux an idea of what was.

"The water was over the hood of those 18 wheelers on Saturday and Sunday." "DPS troopers were blocking the next three exits yesterday so let's just drive by and see what's open today." "This is where the water was on Saturday when I got in in the morning, and back there was where it was when we were leaving that afternoon."  And while all of that was 'wowing,' nothing could have prepared us for the story we covered that day.  There were stories and pictures about a cemetery that was spitting up coffins, and well, that's just hard to believe, even when you do see it in still form.  We drove up to the cemetery and were just stunned.  There were coffins half emerged, vaults opened and filled with water, coffins upside down and piled on top of each other.  It's sad, it's sick, it's heartbreaking.  I could never imagine having to search for a loved one that's already been lost once.  We talked to a few families out there searching, then we talked to a man just there to see the stories.  Unbelievable. 

The second half of the day was spent in Rose City, the south side of Vidor which saw significant flooding, but not much has been said about it.  Fire Chief Scott Kerwood took us through the area where we found a family cleaning up their flooded home. 

They say they will rebuild... always good to hear.

Wednesday- This is the fifth day I'm traveling into the county. Every day I come in, I see improvement, which is very encouraging. Days ago, driving in, there was nothing but water. Now, there's nothing but workers. Debris I saw before has been picked up. Muddy slush that covered the ground is dried up, and there's LOTS of people. My trips into the county are becoming more exciting knowing I'll be hearing from people about their recovery instead hearing of people and their heartbreak. Today was definitely one of the former.

We've all been hearing Bridge City was 100% flooded, no if, ands or buts.  There was a BUT today!!  There was ONE woman off of John Street we were told has zero water in

her home.  Found her today, talked to her about it.  She thinks it's God helping the entire family, which all was flooded.  She's planning to have a full house for a long time.  It's really crazy how she didn't have any water at all and her next door neighbor's house is sinking.   

We also did a small story on some historic sites in downtown Orange that were spared bad damage as well.  The Stark Museum, the Stark House and Shangri La all have hope!

I'm getting to go to bed early tonight, yessss!

IN GENERAL: I have to mention that I have learned, if not in the past two years I've been here, certainly in the past 6 days, that this news station is truly a team.

Everyone's priority is the public, and each other, at the same time. People are running around, spreading themselves thin across Southeast Texas trying to get to every community possible, and those who can't be out and about are supporting those of us who are putting in 17 hour days by cooking and cleaning for us. Sometimes we get a few ungrateful people call and email from time to time and that can be a blow to all of our hard work, but we know so many more are appreciating our hard work to document this area's hard times and recovery times. Again, coming from New Orleans, it's very clear to me this area is another monster. When I got here after Rita, I said this area is far beyond my hometown simply because of the hard working people that occupy this area. And again, it's only been six days since this storm and I know if the county and city leaders would allow everyone to be in here doing their own thing, we'd be even more ahead of ourselves then we already are now. I'm proud to call Southeast Texas my second home because of this... even if someone did break into my house and take all my movies Saturday night. That's okay. The DVD player they took won't play them anyway. :) Karma. Keep up the good work Southeast Texas...I'm looking forward to showing it to the world!