Sir Phillip Forde

10/10/2015 Columbia Flood Relief: Area 51

Clowncars and Haggis’s Dodge dually headed south to Columbia to help with flood relief efforts.  We met other F3nation pax at AC Flora High School.  The men of Columbia provided instructions and we  broke of into smaller groups of 8-12.  Team leaders were chosen to Q the comz necessary to coordinate locations where we were needed.  T-claps to Alf for accepting that role.  Haggis pulled his rig up to the front and we unloaded a bunch of water.  Some went to the steps of the building, some went directly into the hands of people in need.

BOM to start near the front doors of AC Flora.  Meaningful prayer by Chaser, I believe.

Our group of 13 headed to respective modes of transport and we were off to the first location.  As we were driving over, YHC noted that we were losing elevation.  That is when the reality of the devastation to many Columbia homes smacked me in the face.  The first location was already gutted and all flood items were at the curb for pickup.  Alf got in touch with comz and we got another address 20 minutes away in Irmo.

Pulled into this neighborhood and it was busy.  Cars, trucks, and people everywhere.  The streets were lined with what used to be the insides of these people’s homes.  Everything had to go that was touched by water.  Some of these houses got 5 feet of it.  Our first job was to move a debris pile from a driveway to the curb where the city’s contractors would be picking up from.  We joined roughly 20 other people and got to work.  Wheelbarrows were located and debris was shoveled into them and into anything that would help move it.  It was raining hard.  A few of our group talked with the homeowner who was inside and had a family trying to live there.  He appeared to be in shock, but was thankful for the help.  We offered words of encouragement and told him we would pray for his family.

We quickly realized that this general area needed a lot of help and we spent the rest of the day in this neighborhood and another on the other side of the swelled creek that was the source of this particular flooding.  We walked down this street and helped at two more houses with debris movement.  When finished we continued walking and ran into an older gentleman who needed the insulation removed from his crawl space.  Escargot and Dory entered the small space and got after it.  Several volunteers from what was likely a church youth group created a line and sent the insulation to the curb one person at a time.  Pop Tart ended up in there helping.  The rest of our crew moved on to help others in the neighborhood.  Alf had another address sent from comz.  Horsehead when to scout it before our men all loaded up.  Signal for a strong need for help was sent and received.  10 of us made our way to a 2-story in the adjacent neighborhood and proceeded to assist with complete demo of the downstairs.  Everything went, even the nails in the studs.  Our efforts here were focused on the kitchen, mud room, and garage area.  When we finished we went next door to begin demo on the neighbor’s house.  Dory, Escargot, and Poptart arrived after a few hours.  They were covered in mud and completely soaked from head to toe.  They completed the job and jumped right into the demo work.

Moleskin 

YHC had never been to a flood zone as bad as this one.  Many families lost everything.

T-claps to our Cola brothers who coordinated and had been in the trenches from day 1.  They are an awesome group of men and have given tirelessly to their community.  Male leadership in the community was extremely evident.  Proud to be a man of F3.  I think there were an estimated 200 pax from many different areas on Saturday.

It appeared to YHC that most able-bodied people in the community were helping.  There were volunteers everywhere.  That is the kind of response that is needed when the devastation is that severe.

Columbia and the surrounding areas were hit very hard.  There is so much work to be done.  Please consider helping out if you get the opportunity.  The need is great and will be sustained for some time.  Blessed to serve with my A51 brothers on Saturday.  Fine work men.