A prayer for everyone back-east

A prayer for everyone back-east

Posted on August 27th, 2011 by Jeff McDonald

Even as we experience one of the worst droughts in Texas’ recorded history, our television sets and desktop news feeds are filled with words and images of the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Irene. I realize that many WFTC contributors are based somewhere in the storm’s path … our thoughts and our prayers are with you, and with all those in harm’s way.

I know what you’re going through. Out here, even as i walk along dried-out lake and river beds, I find myself watching the news closely, and remembering the time – just short of forty years ago – when I was back there, among hundreds of volunteers desperately sandbagging the dikes along a stretch of the Susquehanna River. Tropical Storm Agnes was passing through Pennsylvania and New York, and the deluge pushed lakes and rivers, dams and dikes to the bursting point … and beyond.

That’s what happend to us – air raid sirens sounded throughout the Wyoming Valley, and we fled to our cars and – quite literally! – headed for the hills. Shortly after that, the dikes in Kingston, and in Wilkes-Barre, on the other side of the Susquehanna, burst and the waters filled a susbstantial part of the valley. It was a time that left many of us exhausted, and frightened, and frustrated. There’s nothing like the power of a flooding river to demonstrate an individual’s powerlessness in the face of such forces.

I haven’t forgotten what it feels like … and I offer a prayer for everyone back-east … good luck and God bless!

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Jeff McDonald

There's a saying around here, something like, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!" That's me. I'm a 'dang Yankee from back-east' who settled in the Lone Star State after some extended stays in the eastern U.S., and New Mexico. I worked as an archaeologist for a few years before dusting off my second major in English, and embarking on a 25-year career in journalism. Since then, I've embraced the dark side of the force, and now work in PR for a community college in Midland, Texas.