At one point during the Mobile Loaves & Fishes trip to Bayou Vista, the sight of piled-up debris leading out along the highways toward the gulf was too compelling to not explore. I felt the strange need to see it up close. I crossed the cops’ vehicle traffic barrier and began walking south.
The drifts of debris laced along the sides of the overpass hills marked high water lines (click on photo gallery). Water surged through the area, carrying away so much in its path. The wreckage was defined by timber and planks turned into sticks and twigs and peppered with personal affects: furniture, refrigerators (some still loaded with rotting meat), boats, baby gates, intact bottles of booze, an oar and a teddy bear, to name a few.
While Monday’s weather was kind, sending cooler temps and a stiff breeze to keep the stench of rotting food and dead beasts at bay, the odor still crept through.
This profane graveyard of remnants, of people’s personal lives laid bare, marked the passing of one of the area’s most devastating storms. Texans, however, are hardy, even beyond our own mythology and the area will put itself back together again.
Later that afternoon, as Alan and I sat in the truck assessing the day’s accomplishments, the MLF founder reflected on the mission, feeding the people. or as he likes to say, “Feedin’ Jesus.”
“You know where Jesus went to get his disciples, don’t you?” he asked. “The coast. They were fishermen. And when we’re out, doing the Lord’s work, I imagine these are the people who he would gather were he on Earth today.”
This article appears in September 12 • 2008.