As the local hospital closes during the night, a remainder of a local disaster still stands strong after 20 years outside the hospital’s front door.
On January 12, 1997, a rare ice storm hit Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. The weight of the ice on trees snapped limbs and giant branches, sending them crashing to the ground.
A wide, sprawling live oak tree stands near the curving driveway to the front door of the hospital. A closer exam of the tree showed that two acorns with two sprouts grew together decades ago to form what made the giant tree. The ice on the leaves and limbs caused the tree to split in the middle. Such a bad break usually would kill a tree.
However, Mark Frey, who owns a local nursery and landscape business, came to the rescue. Using giant bolts and wire cables, he and his crews pulled the split trunks together. Their work was successful. The tree is still green and growing. The cables are still attached.
The ice storm was a memorable disaster, but the wind damage from Hurricane Rita in 2005 and the flood damage from Hurricane Ike in 2008 proved to be worst.
By the night of Sunday, January 12, most people had lost electricity as the lines were brought down by the debris. Sounds reverberated throughout the night of the cracking trees and the destruction caused when the limbs landed. Many people could not sleep with the fear of a limb tumbling down on them.
The blue lightning flashed from live electrical lines as they snapped. The lights made the sounds and landscape more surreal.
Daylight brought illuminated the destruction. Tree limbs and pieces of trees fell across roadways, making it hard to travel anywhere. A quick trip down the road could take an hour as motorists tried to weave around the limbs or get out and move them.
Schools canceled classes and businesses couldn’t open.
The ice storm involved freezing rain. The precipitation fell as a liquid but froze as soon as it hit something solid. Oak leaves and pine needles all built up layers of the ice. The weight of the ice upon the leaves, needles, branches and limbs cause the breaks.
Entergy brought in outside workers to repair the broken electrical lines. The job was like pick-up sticks. The crews had to remove the limbs and branches. Then the lines were repaired starting at the main lines and working outward to the individual customers.
A local joke became who was showering with whom. After a few days, people with power invited friends, co-workers and relatives to shower or wash clothes at their houses.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality gave special permission to burn the tree debris. Cities and the county brought the debris to land along Simmons Drive where the old Riverside houses once stood. The fire was about the size of a football field and reached more than 10 feet tall. It burned for weeks as more trees were added for fuel.
People living in Orange County talked about the tree damage for almost a decade. They couldn’t imagine anything worst. Rita proved them wrong.
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