September 29, 2008 By Matt Hackworth Church World Service

GALVESTON, Tex. - The cigarette Jim Aubel smoked barely covered the smell of all Hurricane Ike left behind.

"When I walked in I felt like somebody ransacked our house," Aubel said, standing in his driveway under the hot Texas sun, a growing pile of debris rising waist-high beside him. "I walked in and I was devastated."

The working-class neighborhood where Aubel, an elevator mechanic and his wife, Lisa, have lived for five years barely withstood the surge of seawater Ike pushed from the shoreline, just a few blocks away.

Hurricane Ike struck this island city, 60 miles from Houston, September 13 with 110-mph winds and a wall of sea water. As the ocean surge rose, it carried toxic chemicals, effluent and debris into thousands of living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens.

A common scene in Galveston, with growing debris piles spilling into roadways. Photo: Matthew Hackworth/CWS

Aubel's home is like most along Fairway Drive, where piles spill onto the roadway covered in dust and sand from the storm. Most residents here have returned and begun mucking out the spoil.

Nearly every yard is a catalog of life's items, caked in toxic sludge. A broken coffee table. Still-wet clothes hanging out of a chest of drawers. More than a few survivors searched for mementos like photographs among refrigerators filled with rotting food. The stench is thick, carried around the city on top of the briny smell of the Gulf.

"It's important people realize that walking into a flooded home without a protective mask and coveralls can make them sick," said Church World Service Emergency Response Specialist Joann Hale, who is assessing damage and meeting with local partners to determine what support CWS can provide.

"We've seen a lot of people without the right equipment."

Galveston officials still limit most residents to working on their homes only during daylight hours. Many residents are staying off the island in hotels or with friends. Shelters remain open here, and electricity is slowly returning. Police check identification to limit neighborhood traffic to residents only.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to set up mobile shelters to accommodate around 600 people in the interim. Other shelters remain open around the region, and hotel rooms from the coast to Houston and beyond are full of people displaced by the storm.

Houston also sustained damage from Hurricane Ike and is eligible for federal disaster assistance, along with nearly 30 other counties in coastal Texas.

The Houston area is still home to many families displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Following Katrina, FEMA extended housing benefits to displaced families from 18 to 36 months. Jennifer Postem, emergency preparedness director at Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston, said she's worried survivors of Ike in the Houston area may react poorly if a similar exception isn't made this time.

"We are proud of how we helped out in Katrina," Postem said. "People here are going to see the lack of assistance and say 'What are we, chopped liver?'"

In Houston and in Galveston, survivors are uncertain of what help will be available. A faith-based response is underway, including materials to help survivors in shelters and those cleaning out their homes.

A steady stream of cars lined up in front of Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church, where members handed out clean-up buckets and cases of drinking water.

"The need is here," student ministries director Lowell Bagott said. "It's been nonstop all day."

While colorful, oceanfront homes line Galveston's beaches, nearly one-quarter of the population here lives in poverty. More than 60 percent of Galveston's children receive free or reduced lunches in Galveston's schools, which remain closed.

As he loaded boxes of water into a waiting SUV, David Dunaway, director of evangelism and education at Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church, said he worries if help will be available to those in his community.

"Right now everyone's still in shock," Dunaway said. "FEMA has said they'll give you housing, but there are no hotel rooms or housing to be had."

Aubel and his wife are sleeping in a tent in their back yard. He is planning to stay no matter what is offered in the way of assistance.

"I like it here," he said. "I keep thinking I'm gonna wake up and it'd just been a bad dream."

Contributions to CWS hurricane recovery assistance in the U.S. may be made online (www.churchworldservice.org), by phone (800-297-1516), or by mail, to CWS, POB 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Hurricane response has depleted the CWS inventory of CWS Emergency Clean-up Buckets, Hygiene Kits, and Baby Kits, needed for people displaced by recent storms. For information on how to make the Kits and where to send them, visit www.churchworldservice.org/kits.

Media Contact: Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net