Seeking shelter from the storm
Submitted by jcht2010 on
The American Red Cross shelter hosted about 17 people while they were open in the Jackson County Services Building auditorium on June 17 and 18, though not all spent the night. Displaced families stopped by for meals, some for help getting to other shelters, and some for a cot to sleep on and a couple of blankets.
Ann Watson and her family of four, including her brother, mother, and her mother’s boyfriend, along with their little dog, were some of those displaced by flood waters in Ganado.
There were 40 houses in Ganado had water inside them, forcing families to leave. Watson said she was at work at the Ganado School when her boss called her and told her she needed to go home.
“Anytime someone tells me that, I always think it’s my mom,” she said, “I thought something was wrong with her.”
Quickly Ann headed home, to find her mother in good health, but her yard – and the floor of her home – under water.
“Mr. Dave [Merritt, the chief of police] and Bernard Scott were there and they told us there was a shelter in Edna,” Watson said. “I asked if we could go there. He [Scott] told us ‘that’s what it’s there for.’”
Ann grabbed her little poodle, Herschel, and the family made their way to the shelter at the auditorium.
Happy Tails Animal Shelter took Herschel for the night, and Ann and her family slept at the Services Building, where Ann says volunteers treated them with the “utmost respect.”
“They’ve been so good to us. Miss Debbie and Mr. John are good people. They fed us three meals a day, and gave us a place to sleep. They were really nice.”
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