Residents return to oil-saturated homes
- From: "Bob Brock" <bbrock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:09:14 -0400
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8QAKJE80&apc=9001
Nearly two weeks after a flood forced residents from their homes, they
returned Wednesday to find oil dripping from window screens and saturating
carpets and furniture.
The oily gunk clung to nearly everything - coating walls up to 8 feet high -
in buildings on the east side of this southeast Kansas town of 16,000.
Between 2,500 to 3,000 of the town's residents were displaced, and for many
it was the first time they were allowed home since evacuations began June
30. The rain-swollen Verdigris River topped its banks and oil spilled from
the Coffeyville Resources refinery, mixing with raw sewage and other waste
to create a toxic soup.
"I cried. I cried like a baby," homeowner Cindy White said. "The whole
inside of my house is covered in oil - anywhere you look."
The smell of rotting food combined with oil and chemical fumes, creating a
nauseating odor.
"It has that death smell everywhere," Mike Manley told his brother over his
cell phone as he took a break from hauling out the few salvageable items
from his two-story home.
The stench in his house was so bad that Manley tossed his air mask and went
to the refinery, where he had worked, to get a respirator.
He was among the luckier ones, because he had brought family pictures and
papers to the second story before the levees were breached. Many of his
neighbors did not stay long Wednesday; their belongings and furniture were
reduced to trash.
Block after block, red placards on doors marked the fate of each house:
"Unsafe. Enter at Your Own Risk! Do Not Occupy!"
The water ripped out entire landscapes and farm fields. In places, only the
highest treetops were unscathed, the decaying brown leaves below still
coated with mud.
Flies and mosquitoes swarmed in houses where emergency responders had left
doors and windows open because of toxic mold, which depleted indoor oxygen
levels. The mold was growing in thick layers on walls, furniture and other
possessions strewn around floors by swirling floodwaters.
Most had no flood insurance, because the area was designated a flood zone
and the levees had protected them for decades. The refinery, which has been
sued by some property owners, has said it will help repair the damage but
residents do not know how much assistance it will provide.
"My heart has been broken. ... We worked hard on our home. Nothing will ever
stop the pain," White said.
She bought her house just a little over a year ago and had done extensive
renovations. The last of the siding went up the day of the flood. The new
carpet was a little over a month old. All her beloved rose bushes, and even
the angel statues she had put up for each of her grandchildren, are gone.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of Carol Phelps as she stood outside her
restaurant, the Cactus Grill, clutching a pair of yellow rubber boots. She
has owned this restaurant since 1994 and about 20 people worked for her.
"What do you do with your life now? I am 62 years old. Who would want me to
work for them?" Phelps said. "It's my life. And now my life is gone."
.
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