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A couple of days after the storm, Gary Dominique, along with a skeleton maintenance crew arrived at the City Park Campus by boat, only to find what they described as a “war zone.” Huge trees had toppled into the lagoon, along with other storm debris. Of the 20 buildings on campus, only Building One was still usable, even though it had received roof and water damage on the third floor and would not have electricity until the beginning of November. Windows and skylights had been blown out, and there were shards of glass sticking out of the walls everywhere. Some of the buildings were still underwater, and fish were swimming in the library. Three men set about doing what they could to make some of the buildings safe to enter, although as they opened each building on campus, they found a stench that knocked them to their knees, according to Gary. Stagnant water combined with the contents of dead refrigerators and mildew to produce a powerful odor, especially in the Culinary Arts areas of Buildings 11 and 2. Without electricity, fans could not be turned on, or pumps to drain the buildings.
The crew set about sealing off broken windows, repairing vents, pulling glass out of sheetrock, putting temporary tarps on roofs to prevent further water damage, and cleaning up what they could. Only two of the Delgado trucks had been stored at Charity, out of harm’s way. The others had been left for emergency use by the campus police; one of them was used to evacuate over 200 people to the campus, including fire and police personnel from other locations. The loss of vehicles, however, greatly slowed the process of removing debris from the buildings. And then came Rita, ripping off the temporary repairs, blowing out more windows and skylights, and dumping even more water into the buildings and affecting even more ceilings and insulation. Undaunted, the small crew began again, and they have continued to this moment readying the campus for the spring semester. |
