It's Here, It's Gone, It Wasn't Bad at All

Isaac has come and gone and Americorps is still here!

Yeah, there wasn't ever much doubt--the storm wasn't very strong and we only caught the edges, but it was still my first real hurricane*. After sustained rain that lasted throughout Thursday night and knocked out power to the campus, Isaac passed over pretty quietly. 

There isn't much bad news to speak of. The storm took down plenty of foliage and a few bigger tree branches, but nobody got hurt in the process. Water lines remained up throughout the hurricane and immediately after, so the 252+ cases of water purchased before the storm remain mostly unused. Food supplies held up and we were able to make a Wal-Mart run earlier tonight, so there's plenty of food to last us through the weekend. 

Really, the only major effect for us was the power outage, which continues up to this moment--I'm writing this post from the waiting room of a local laundromat. Apparently Vicksburg has old-fashioned aboveground power lines that are rather vulnerable to storms. Repair crews are working now, but we're a rather low priority and there are no firm predictions for when power will return to the campus. For now, that means cold showers, food out of cans and hellishly humid rooms, but hey, we signed up for worse conditions. If nothing else, we're going on a four-day road trip to Ole Miss from Tuesday through Friday, so one would expect that the power would get itself fixed in our absence. 

Other business: I've got my permanent team and my FEMA Specialist position! I'm on Summit V, a Community Relations Specialist team, headed by the fabulous Chelsea Steck. That was my first choice as a specialist position and I couldn't be more excited--the night we found out, I literally could not stop jumping around, dancing and singing for joy. I'll do a post in a few days that outlines a little more about the position. I've actually got a pretty sizeable backlog of material (the storm may have knocked out power, but I made sure to charge my laptop beforehand and I've kept busy!), but instead of splurging and posting it all now, I'll try to find Internet service at local restaurants and whatnot and post it day-by-day. 

*Wooster folk will remember Hurricane Ike, by then no longer a hurricane, sweeping through small-town Ohio and knocking out power to our college campus. It took down so many trees that students had an impromptu filling of the Arch with them the next night, much to the displeasure of campus staff.