Not to be a downer gang, but does anyone have any Hurricane related stories, maybe in particular, pertaining to clowning or assisting the unfortunate?

We're a long way from the hurricane area, but we opened
our Emergency Operations Center because early on we were
expecting a lot of rain and some wind. Well, the hurricane
moved on quite a ways east of us, so we ended up spending
the whole day sitting in the EOC watching TV and the news.

With Hurricane Katrina, there was a huge outpouring of donations
that were brought to the fire station - clothes, bottled water, some
dolls and stuffed animals, you name it. It is good to see how
folks come together to help others during bad times.

I did get to listen in on a state-wide Emergency Operations conference
call where cities got to formally ask for items - most needed food,
water, electrical generators and fuel. Some asked for help with
evacuees that they ended up needing to shelter when they had
not expected to do so.

As bad as they were, it could always have been worse -- the death
toll and destruction from the 2004 Tsunami is staggering. At least
with the hurricanes we had some warning and could evacuate some or
most of the people.

Ashes