Sabine Pass, TX: Pearl Harbor Day

We arrived in Sabine Pass in chilly , overcast weather on December 7. Our first impression as we entered the town was, “This destruction looks like the effects of a violent enemy attack.” Ironically, it WAS Pearl Harbor Day. Hurricane Rita had attacked Sabine with a vengeance. The entire world knew about Hurricane Katrina, but the victims of Rita had been largely forgotten by the media and by our government.

We had come to SP to help. We were also delivering a full load of donations from our home church in Virginia. We met our contact person, Richard, via cell phone; (No land lines were available.) He directed us toward the Coast Guard Station where he would be waiting in a “blue pickup.” We drove down a rutty, gravel road, barely wide enough for our rig. We passed wrecked ships and barges that had been heaved onto the land, fishing boats that were in the middle of fields, and offshore drilling rigs wrapped in plastic. There were no standing homes on that lonely, unused, rocky road and worse yet, No Richard! He suddenly appeared behind us, but there was no room to turn around. Richard somehow worked his pickup truck around us and led us several hundred yards down the barren road to the end of the island. We were relieved to finally find a circle with a large abandoned tower in the center. Finally, we could turn around and head back the opposite direction toward town.