Hurricane Matthew

[Okrafarmer]

Dan, if this hurricane cleanup goes as they usually do, the timeframe is something like this:

First few days-- everybody is in chaos. Police, fire dept, EMS, Coast Guard, etc. are just trying to save lives and verify who is safe and who is not.

Three days in(+/-) FEMA people roll in and start unpacking their trailers and starting to run things. Red Cross arrives and sets up tent. Rumors run wild. Nothing works right. Power Company trucks and tree trimmers arrive and start triaging the area. Power will be restored sector by sector over the next few weeks. FEMA assigns primary contractors for debris handling, to different sectors of the area, usually by municipal boundaries. Debris monitors are hired by separate contractors, accountable ultimately to FEMA, with the specified intention of keeping the clean-up crews accountable.

Four-Five days in (+/-) The cleanup crews arrive in force, register with FEMA and the primary contractors over cleanup areas. FEMA and the primaries put the new arrivals to work on street clearing until that is done.

Six-Seven days in (ish) Street clearing is done, and more cleanup crews have arrived. Some are hardened long-time professionals, and some are here for their first rodeo. Some are fairly ethical. Some are maniacal cut-throats. At first, almost anything goes. In their haste to get things moving, the primary contractors let a lot of details slip as they are just trying to get the ball rolling. Many details are overlooked. A lot of officials look the other way about many things, especially legalities and safety issues.

2nd week: Cleanup crews work like mad to haul debris to the newly formed debris dumps, which could be anywhere from a vacant lot to the city mall parking lot. They get paid by the volume of their truck, and the percentage full it is. it is possible for some crews to make $2,000 a day or more per truck gross money. Some optimized trucks may do far better. Some guys with small trucks, and inefficient loaders might only do $500 / truck / day gross. For some guys who've never done it before, $500 /day per truck crew is "big money." To those who have done it before, $500 / truck / day is "losing our shirts." In the first couple weeks, there is always a lot of confusion, a lot of misunderstanding, misinformation, changes of plans, changes of policies, and sudden changes of enforcement standards. A lot of foolishness goes on unchecked, and corruption at low levels and high levels begins to worm its way through the region. Some experienced storm-crooks try hard to game things for their own benefit. New ones make even worse blunders, either through misunderstanding, or foolishness, coupled with the intent to jip the government out of big money. Some honest people are just trying to make a little money, too, and they get confused by all the info and misinfo that is spread around.

3-4th weeks: A lot of the riff-raff guys get tired and go home, because the easy-pickens stuff is gone, and/or their equipment is broken, or logistics aren't of their liking, or family trouble in their home state is driving them batty as wives and girlfriends threaten them. But by this time, there's been a lot of swindling, a lot of shenanigans, a lot of graft, a lot of misunderstanding, and a lot of mistakes made by those who have already been there. A lot of those responsible for these things have already gone packing, either on their own initiative, or because they got caught and sent packing. But the fix is in-- some disgruntled local citizens, as well as disaffected contractors, have complained to govt. officials and local police about problems. Now that lives are no longer being threatened and the city and county infrastructure is returning more or less to a workable daily routine, local police, local gov, and federal gov. agents now have more time to investigate charges of fraud and contract breaking. Things that weren't even on their radar in the first chaotic week of operations, are now under high scrutiny. They start checking to make sure all trucks on the road are properly registered, insured, plackarded, and equipped. They start checking on drivers' licenses. They start checking on safety equipment and practices.

5-6 weeks in-- As things calm down in the area, the cleanup crews are now highly regulated by govt. officials. Scrutiny begins to be tight. OSHA, EPA, DOT, and other govt officials are now out in force and working on enhancing their resumes.

7-8 weeks and on to the end-- Usually only the most efficient, tenacious, and conscientious people are still left at work, typically, and these are also usually the most experienced crews, who have done previous storms and lived to tell about it. These are guys who have the faded names of previous hurricanes written on their safety gear. They soberly finish out the work until either the govt. ends the project, or until, one by one, each contractor decides the rewards are no longer worth the investment of time and input money.

The exact time-frame will vary with the specifics of the disaster, especially the type, intensity, and scope of the hurricane or other storm, and the damage it caused. Bigger storms will last longer in each stage, smaller storms are quicker in each stage. These observations are primarily from my work during Hurricane Ike in 2008, as well as brief work and volunteering after Katrina, 2005, ice storm work in South Carolina 2014, and word of mouth from multiple people involved with multiple other storms.

[Ox]

Wow, thanks Okra!  That's a heckuva insight to the hidden world of storm cleanup.  Fascinating stuff.  I can almost see an expose type film made about this, especially the crookedness.  I still get a churny gut from hearing about scoundrels taking advantage of folks who just went through a storm/crisis.  How the heck do they sleep at night?  I lay awake at night sometimes worried about if I'm going to feel good enough tomorrow to cut down a tree, buck it and get it over on the log pile.  I'd never get any sleep if I was a dirty crook...

[pineywoods]

Okra got it right. But there is another side to the story that will help restore your faith in the basic goodness of human nature. I made 3 trips to the coast after katrina/rita. Volunteered with a church disaster relief org. supported by my church. What Okra describes is pretty much the norm in and around municipal areas. Out in the boondocks is a different story. Rural folks were mostly left to fend for themselves. We teamed up with local churches and co-ordinated with them. The relief org provided 3 meals a day out of a portable kitchen, hot showers in a portable shower trailer with a laundrymat, and the local church provide a place to sleep. Been many years since I had slept in a church nursery  ;D. When I started to leave for home, I asked around for a source of diesel fuel for my truck. I was directed to a large tanker truck in a church parking lot. It belonged to fuel supplier from Denver, Colorado, manned by 2 of his employees. They topped of my truck AND tractor, no charge. Each trip was limited to 5 days per advice from the relief org. Seeing elderly folks living a fixed income and in many case not physically able to do a lot, suddenly loosing everything will wake you up to what life is all about. Went home and rested a week, then went back for another tour. We still ten years later, hear from some of the people we befriended. In one case, the local church opened up their kitchen and fed the cleanup crews. MAN, could them gals COOK. We threatend to kidnap the cooks and take them home with us  ;D

[Ox]

That's great, piney.  Thanks for sharing that.  It's getting hard for me to realize there's always good to go with the bad.  It's harder for me to see it, I guess.

[Okrafarmer]

Yes, Piney is right, too, and I did go down on one church relief team after Katrina. It was great to be able to help.

I certainly didn't intend to give the impression that everyone who goes for storm cleanup is a crook-- no, there are many who are not, but there are enough who are, that you really have to watch out for what's going on.  :(

[Okrafarmer]

One other aspect I didn't explain reall fully is the tiered contractor system. I mentioned the primary contractors. These are big professional disaster relief companies or other large contracting firms with plenty of experience and resources at their disposal. FEMA or other govt agencies will assign contracts to these big contractors for an entire small city, for a county, or for a portion of a larger county or larger city. Or for other entities in some cases.

The primary contractors (I believe Beck Disaster Relief was the primary my units I was assigned to were working under for the Ike cleanup)-- anyway, these primary contractors have many subcontractors. These subcontractors are usually well-established businesses, some of which are professional storm chasers, or professional loggers, professional builders, trucking companies, etc. The qualifications that put them into the category of a subcontractor under the primary seem to be: A legitimate, established business structure, some degree of working capitol, and properly licensed and insured vehicles and operators.

In turn, these subcontractors will often hire second-tier subs. In many cases these are individuals who come equipped with their own trucks and loaders, but have shadier, less-established businesses, or no official business structure at all. Some of these are guys who own a ton-truck and dump trailer, and rent a skidsteer to load with, or some such thing. Often two brothers, cousins, friends, etc, with ton trucks or small dump trucks, will go in together and rent a loader, and then as a team will become second-tier subs under the established subcontractors. In this case they become covered under the umbrella of liability insurance, various licensing, etc. that is carried for them by the subcontractor they contract under. The first-level subcontractor generally claims a certain percentage of the second-tier sub's gross earnings in exchange for taking them under their wing and getting them all legal.

And I have seen where there are sometimes third-tier subcontractors as well. Sometimes the ones I described as second-tier in the paragraph above, are actually third-tier subs, and there is an intermediate level in between. It gets very complicated trying to follow the money, responsibilities, opportunities, chain of command, and sometimes bribery around all the corners.

At the ice storm in South Carolina in 2014, the corruption was so bad that FEMA, as I understand it, fired one of the primary contractors that was over several counties. Either that, or they nearly did.

Along with all the confusion and corruption that goes on, there is a huge amount of disruption. Contractors at all levels get fired, or nearly fired, for various infractions. There are massive changes of plans, changes of structure, changes of policy, changes of command, etc.

My job in the Hurricane Ike aftermath was a load monitor. As I mentioned previously, load monitors are required by the government to document and verify the activities of the clean-up contractors. Each load monitor is generally assigned to a specific loading crew to fill out the paperwork for them and document where they got each load from, and verify they did not break the rules and regulations. I got paid to drive around in my car and fill out paperwork all day. Sometimes I wonder whether the load monitors save the government more money than they cost, at around $200+/- per day.

Hurricane Ike came at a crisis time in my own life where I was unable to provide enough for my family. I headed 1,000 miles to Texas with $500 and with my wife with maybe $300 at home with the kids. We were behind on our mortgage and barely paying our other bills. Somebody gave me the $500 I had, or I have no idea how I would have made it. After ten weeks of work, I returned home right before Thanksgiving with all the bills paid up to date, and $3,000 in the bank. And many stories to tell. 

[timberlinetree]

Yikes! I heard the death toll is at 21! We are praying for all those affected by the storm.
You guys hit the nail on the head on storm duty. Nice job! This storm I went to help family and that was a disaster! Ugh!
I am most thankful for the f700 bucket truck I had in Maine in the ice storm in 98. Near dark,low on fuel,no cell phone,in middle of no where and with Charlie. I slid of the road and started down the bank. Kept it floored and til this day I don't know how we got out or how it didn't flip. Cold nite in woods alone with Charlie, I would rather freeze to death! To this day that was my favorite truck!