Tropical Storm Alberto ~ July, 1994

This is the very first Disaster that I ever went out on.
 

I had put in my application through our local Chapter to
become a Volunteer with the American Red Cross DSHR System
in May of 1994. On June 24, 1994, I was accepted as a Volunteer,
this made me feel very honored and proud. Now, I had to get
busy and start taking the Disaster Training Classes that all
Disaster Volunteers are required to take. I had already taken
the initial course, Introduction to Disasters, so now I was
ready to "buckle down" and take the others that I needed
and/or wanted to take to get me ready to go out on a Disaster.
 

Boy, was I in for a surprise! I was enrolled in a couple of the
classes that were being offered the middle of July. Well, our
Chapter (along with Mobil Oil) hosts a Super CPR Saturday
where we teach 3 Adult CPR classes during the day. On this day
many Volunteer Instructors teach and certify about 400 people
in Adult CPR. It is held the Saturday after the 4th. of July and this
particular year, it fell on July 9th.
 

Normally, you take the classes and then go out on a Disaster.
Unfortunately, that's not the way it has worked in some cases for
me. Our Disaster Chairman came to me on Tuesday, July 5th. and
asked me if I was ready to go out on my first Disaster Assignment.
I told him, "No, I haven't taken any of my Disaster Classes yet".
He replied, "Well, they are recruiting you for Damage Assessment".
The lady who has been my "mentor" in Red Cross told me that she
could teach me what I needed to know to get me through it but that
she wasn't going to let me leave until after Super CPR Saturday cause
she needed all of the Volunteers she could get for this project.
 

(In Damage Assessment, you go around the affected area and
do what is called "windshield assessment" to see about how many
homes have been damaged. Then you go back and do "street sheets"
where you put the physical addresses of the homes so that if & when
the homeownere goes into the Service Center, there will be a record
in the Damage Assessment Book that they were in the affected area).
 

For the next 3 nights, I wound up spending them with her at her home.
While we were worked getting things ready for Super CPR, she worked
on me, getting me ready to go out on my "First Disaster Assignment".
It was also this way on the next Disaster that I worked on, did the job
then took the class. But, I did end up getting the rest of my classes
before I was sent out on an assignment in those functions. :)
 

On Sunday, July 10, 1994, I flew out going to Columbus, Georgia.
I have misplaced all but these 3 pictures that I took while I was there.
So, for now, these will have to do. When I "locate" the rest of them,
I will get them scanned and then posted to the page. :)
 

Both of the above pictures are of the same river, just different
aspects of it. As you can see, the force of the rushing waters
does lots of damage to the river's bank and surrounding area
 

This was a place that was up on a hill about 20 feet above the river
 

Please remember that all information and pictures on these pages
are protected under the copyright laws of the United States.
They cannot and may not be used or altered for use on any
other site without permission from the owner.
© Bertha Rudisill Desormeaux
January 4, 2000
 

If at any time, while you are visiting my Red Cross Disaster pages
and you see a picture of your "home or property", I will remove it.
But I will only do so after you have confirmed it to my satisfaction.

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Many, Many Thanks :)
 

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