Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/2008/1108.pdf Дата изменения: Fri Nov 14 20:15:08 2008 Дата индексирования: Mon Oct 1 23:40:29 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: rainbow

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

November 2008

Hurricane Ike Edition
See how Johnson Space Center took care of its people and mission


JSC Director
issue of Roundup is dedicated to the Johnson Space Center family, whose commitment to our mission and to each other ensured that Hurricane Ike would not defeat us. Yes, this storm put the JSC team to the test. We had damage to over 160 buildings, which resulted in a significant financial loss to the center. On a personal note, more than 250 of our N ASA employees and contractors had homes that were unlivable, while most others suffered some type of damage. There is no question that we took a blast from Ike, but our teamwork and the "never say quit" spirit allowed us to clean up the center and reopen in a timely manner. The entire JSC team pulled together and worked extremely hard and, more impor tantly, worked to ensure that our people were taken care of. On the cover: The cover shot is a blended image of Hurricane Ike heading over Cuba on Sept. 9, taken from the International Space Station, and a view from space of Galveston Island, the Bolivar Peninsula and much of Galveston county, shot on Nov. 4, 2006, also from the station. You'll see a good representation of the dedication and hard work that took place in this issue. You'll read about how teams pulled together to get the job done, all of this taking place while people were struggling to get their personal lives and proper ty back in order. Ike affected ever yone in some way or another, and each of fice has done yeoman's work to get its individual organization back up and running. To thank ever yone for their individual effor ts, I would need to list over 15,000 names of our civil ser vant and contractor team members. Each and ever y one of you contributed in some special way. Although we can always improve our processes, I think that, overall, they worked well. One area that we do need to improve is getting people to sign up for SyREN and also to call the "repor t in" number once they are in a safe location. Considering ongoing station operations, future missions and impor tant planning work we have to do for all of our programs, it is quite amazing that we suffered a hurricane but never missed a beat in the execution of our impor tant work. It is a testament to the many dedicated individuals from each organization and our contract par tners. Our folks pulled together following the storm to clean up, and to access systems and facilities, which allowed us to quickly reopen and resume mission operations and training. The days ahead are ver y impor tant to N ASA and, as you know, JSC plays a critical par t in mission success. Some of our team members will be in the recover y and rebuilding mode for some time to come, and we'll continue to help them get back on their feet. It will take some time for our communities to recover fully; however, through your effor ts, the center is back on track carr ying out our mission. As you look through this issue and remember Hurricane Ike, I would ask you to think about what you will do differently the next time. Take some time to share your lessons learned so that we all may benefit from them. Don't dwell on what happened, but do remember and tr y to learn something positive from your experiences. Please continue to look out for your coworkers, listen empathetically and help where you can. The strength of JSC is its people, and it was easy to see that your extraordinar y work during the good times was amplified during the not-so-good times. The Roundup staff has worked hard to capture many of the Hurricane Ike recover y effor ts in your stories and photos. Please share this issue with your families and use it as a tool to not only remember, but to improve how you will prepare for our next hurricane. Thanks again for your hard work in taking care of each other and enabling us to execute our mission during what was an extremely challenging time.

This

Photo of the month:
Teamwork is alive and well after the storm as Johnson Space Center volunteers assist Hurricane Ike victims in Clear Lake Shores, Texas, on Sept. 18. Photographer: Regan Geeseman

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Hurricane Ike
Ike was born off the west coast of Africa at the end of August. On the morning of Sept. 1, it was classified as a tropical depression, forming about 1,750 miles east of Puer to Rico. It quickly strengthened to a tropical storm later that afternoon, but no one in the Houston and Galveston areas thought much of it at the time. Moving west-nor thwest, Ike reached hurricane status on Sept. 3. Ike rapidly intensified into a major hurricane late that afternoon and into the evening hours, reaching a maximum intensity of 145 mph during the early morning hours on Sept. 4. Continuing to move west and then west-southwest, Ike began to impact the Turks and Caicos Islands on Sept. 6. On Sept. 7, as a categor y 4 hurricane, Ike slammed into the island of Great Inagua. By nightfall, Ike moved to the Cuban coast and made another landfall as a major hurricane near the province of Holguin near Punto de Sama, with maximum winds around 125 mph. Historically, hurricanes that form where Ike did are not supposed to make it to Galveston, but rather cur ve to the nor theast and take to the open Atlantic waters. But Ike, apparently not one for histor y, continued marching west. Ike eventually exited the southwest Cuban coastline near Camaguey on Sept. 8. Just prior to crossing the nor thwest tip of Cuba as a categor y 1 hurricane with winds close to 80 mph, Ike began producing tropical storm force winds across por tions of the Florida Keys. For tunately for the Keys, Ike would only deliver a glancing blow as the hurricane continued to move west-nor thwest toward the Gulf Coast as it crossed

Hurricane

the southeast Gulf of Mexico early on Sept. 10. Over the warm waters of the Gulf, Ike grew in size and intensified to a categor y 2 storm with maximum winds of 100 mph. Ike continued to track nor thwest toward the Texas coast as the hurricane crossed the central and nor thwest Gulf of Mexico. Although Ike's intensity remained a categor y 2, the cyclone continued to grow and became a ver y large hurricane. The diameter of tropical storm force winds covered a total of 425 miles from the nor thwest to southeast as Ike approached the upper Texas coast on Friday, Sept. 12. Ike made landfall at 2:10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, near Galveston, Texas. Ike was a categor y 2 hurricane at landfall with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. Hurricane Ike produced a damaging, destructive and deadly storm surge across the upper Texas and southwest Louisiana coasts, and it will likely end up being the third costliest natural disaster in the United States behind Hurricanes Katrina and Andrew.

Yolanda Marshall
Director, Safety and Mission Assurance

H

urricane Ike was just the latest event to challenge the strength of the N ASA family. We have been through good times and bad, but the fact is we always look out for each other. Contractors and civil ser vants alike banded together af ter Ike to get things done both personally and professionally. Because safet y has been so engrained in our culture, we came through the Ike recover y period without a serious injur y. You should be commended for that, given the unusual conditions taking place not only on site, but especially of f site and on the roadways. Many of you were out there helping your fellow employees, friends and neighbors clean up their yards, chop down tree limbs or temporarily power up their homes. You used chain saws, shovels, rakes and generators. Amazingly, there were no repor ts of any major injuries. An accident ? I don't think so. It was your personal safet y culture that kicked in while at home that kept you and your family safe. Your heightened situational awareness guided you through and around unsafe situations. You may not remember, but you stopped ever so briefly and thought about the risks involved in each task. The mental aspects of making a safe decision during times of stress are just as impor tant as the physical decisions that you make. We learn a lot about ourselves during dif ficult times. The one thing that we need to be consistent, however, is our approach to safet y. It needs to be automatic in our thinking and in our daily activities. The fact that we had no serious injuries in a population of more than 15,000 employees and their families was no accident. It wasn't luck, and all the "knocking on wood," including downed tree limbs, didn't get it done. It was you and the way you approached each and ever y task that kept us all safe.

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An unforgettable ride
was no dress rehearsal-- Hurricane Ike was the real deal. And nobody knows that better than the members of the Johnson Space Center Ride-out Team, who stayed

This

Teams begin the task of damage ride-out headquarters in Building

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NASA/ BLAIR jsc2008e116268

behind to ensure the center's protection and oversee the quick return of normal operations ... at a time when "normalcy" was the hottest commodity in town. "It's the storm we've been waiting for," said Bob Gaffney, JSC's emergency preparedness coordinator. "I heard a sound bite on the news a week after the storm : `I didn't know a hurricane could do that much damage.' You just don't know until you go through it." JSC definitely went through it. The Ride-out Team got extremely up close and personal with the stormy entity dubbed Ike, all for the good of the center. "If the center evacuated totally, we could lose all the cooling, water and electricity to the site. Though we have a contingency to remotely run the International Space Station, it would take longer to get the center back to 85 percent. As it was, we did not sustain any measurable damage to our utility infrastructure, so we were

able to stay online or come back online fairly quickly. But without the planning and dedication of the volunteers on the ride-out, it would not have been possible to be operational as quickly as we were," said Ric Hewitt, Physical Security specialist and Incident Command Operations chief during the hurricane. Hunkering down in Building 30 assessment from the while Ike raged 30. outside was "spooky," according to Gaffney. "It cer tainly rattled the buildings." But thankfully, no one at the center was ever in dire straits during the height of the storm. Aside from sleeping on cots or in sleeping bags, suffering through a few Meals Ready to Eat, enduring some episodes of total darkness and discovering who snores and who does not, the team navigated the challenge successfully. The Ride-out Team was comprised of an eclectic

Joel Walker
Director, Center Operations t's been over a month since Ike came ashore and dramatically changed our landscape. I want to take a second to thank the many folks who worked so hard to plan and prepare for Ike, who monitored the site during the storm and helped Johnson Space Center recover and get back to normal business so quickly. As director of Center Operations, I was ver y concerned about the predicted storm surge. It was a great relief to hear from the Ride-out Team that flood waters did not enter our buildings or the tunnel system. The real impact of Ike became apparent as we began conducting our building-by-building assessments and began to see the af termath of numerous roof leaks and failures, water intrusion through windows and walls and broken and scat tered debris from buildings, structures, trees and equipment. Threefour ths of our roofs sustained damage of some sor t. But just as quickly as the storm passed, we star ted working to get JSC up and running. Many employees who had significant damage at home, or no home at all, repor ted for dut y and did an incredible job get ting the site ready to re-open. The dedication and perseverance of the N ASA team really shined. As we get back to our more normal routines at work, we need to remember to keep helping the folks hit hardest in their personal lives so we can fully recover our most impor tant asset-- our people.

I

NASA/ PHOTO jsc2008e116271

assor tment of individuals from various directorates at JSC, some of which included the Center Operations Directorate, Employee Assistance Program, JSC Clinic, Security, Of fice of Communications and Public Affairs, Logistics, Finance, Environmental Of fice and more.

Even N ASA Headquar ters was dialed in to assist. "In the JSC Hurricane Plan, this is the first time we've actually operated it under the Incident Command structure, and it worked fine," Gaffney said. In fact, there was nothing but praise for the entire team who rode out the storm and those that worked tirelessly to get the center back during the recover y phase of the operation. "Teamwork, teamwork," Hewitt said. "Ever yone jelled. We knew what the center director expected of us, and we took the challenge seriously and worked together to accomplish the task. The team knew that if we didn't prepare the center properly, it could cause more damage and re-opening would take longer, thus impacting other coworkers and the


Ike puts the center and the Ride-out Team to the test
By Catherine E. Ragin
the Systematic Recall and Emergency Notification System, were done from Austin, JSC's alternate operating location during emergencies. Because the Ride-out Team was in place, almost immediately following the storm, when it was safe to emerge, damage assessments began. And because the initial assessments could be completed quickly, the more in-depth analyses were able to get under way sooner, which led to swift repairs. The center was closed for a week, which is an amazingly shor t amount of time considering the sheer amount of facilities that had to be cleaned, repaired or declared safe for workers to return. "Ever yone involved took care of each other to ensure the team members had their families' needs met. Knowing their families were taken care of, the team was able to focus on the monumental task of preparing the center. They did a fantastic job getting us to shutdown and preparing us to reopen," Hewitt said. The coordinated effor t to get the center operational again was unprecedented. For a first time in putting the hurricane plan to the absolute test, the teams proved that preparation can make all the difference. But, however exciting it may seem to ride out a hurricane, Gaffney warns that no one should do it unless there is no other option. "I hope we can do a better job communicating the potential intensity and damage from a storm," Gaffney said. "Bolivar Peninsula was an example --in front of a storm is just not the place to be."

NASA/ BLAIR jsc2008e116311

center's mission." Through the ride-out and recover y, there were twice-daily teleconferences with the Incident Command Center and general staff. Also, the Incident Command Center kept the senior staff and N ASA Headquar ters abreast of the latest developments. "We discussed in the morning what we planned to get done for the day, either getting ready, shifting resources, making sure things got done quickly," Gaffney

said. "At the end of the day, we would have another tag-up to discuss if we did ever y thing we needed to do and generate objectives for the next shift. In the morning, you'd do it all over again." During the storm and aftermath, contingencies were in place for when JSC lost capabilities to communicate with employees. There were a few times when updates to the Employee Information Lines and SyREN,

Dr. Jeffrey R. Davis
Director, Space Life Sciences he Center Operations Team led by Joel Walker did a fantastic job of preparation, ride-out and recover y during Ike. Space Life Sciences personnel from the Clinical Ser vices Branch provided key ser vices to the Johnson Space Center Hurricane Ride-out and Recover y Teams, including medical, industrial hygiene and Employee Assistance Program ( E A P) ser vices. Specifically, the medical team deployed a small emergency medicine clinic in the command post in Building 30, and the industrial hygienist provided consultation for public health issues. This team ensured the safe care of Space Life Sciences assets, including medications and immunizations from our clinics and the frozen archived flight samples that are stored in Building 30. Following the storm, the medical suppor t moved to the JSC Occupational Health Clinic. The clinic provided urgent care to all JSC team members, and the team was grateful for assistance from the Stennis Space Center Occupational Health Team. The Field Industrial Hygiene and Public Health Team assisted with inspections of ever y building on site and cleared the well water for potable use until the Clear Lake Water Authorit y provided potable water to the center. During recover y, the E A P provided Critical Incident Stress debriefings for employees, and these ser vices are ongoing today.

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NASA/ BLAIR jsc2008e116292

The Space Shuttle Program's Mission Evaluation Room conference room sustained major water damage from Hurricane Ike.

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JSC Employee Stories
I watched from the back of the group as my mom bowed her head and began to pray aloud. After a few words, the pain of loss began to quiver in her voice. My eyes opened as one of her coworkers reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. Her eyes closed again and I could hear relief and joy in the tone of her voice as she thanked God for the progress we were making as a team. I sat in amazement as the 20 of us ate our lunches under the shade of a young oak not far from the rubbled contents of my house. Words cannot express the gratitude my family and I have for the NASA and Diamond Group family that reached out to help us during our time of need.. L. Therese Ramirez JSC Security, Technical Support Services, Diamond Group

Debra L. Johnson
Director, Office of Procurement hat do you get when you combine a low-pressure system, the end of the fiscal year, use-or-lose funding, roof and structural repairs, power outages and the displacement of 80-plus Procurement personnel ( housed immediately in Building 12 due to the heroic ef for ts of the Information Resources Directorate and Center Operations Directorate ) ? With any normal Procurement organization, this would be a train wreck. In Johnson Space Center's Procurement Of fice, this scenario, even at year-end, was seamless and went on without the skip of a beat. Procurement personnel filled in for each other, heedless of job descriptions or titles, when coworkers were faced with personal dif ficulties. They cooperated with other organizations --the Financial Management Directorate, resource analysts, N ASA Headquar ters and the N ASA Shared Ser vices Center-- to develop real-time workarounds to not only complete the year-end buying but per form emergency purchasing so that the center was up and running af ter only six-and-a-half days. And, if this is not enough, JSC finished the year ranked as the number one center for Fiscal Year 2008 t wo-year funding, considering both dollar value and actions, accomplishing 99.9 percent of our obligations. So, nex t time you see one of the Procurement folks, thank them for a job well done.

W

NASA PHOTO jsc2008e116581

Folks in the Procurement Office worked tirelessly on year-end funding issues despite being temporarily relocated to Building 12 after Ike.

My wife and I returned to our Galveston Island home to find that floodwaters had destroyed everything under our house and in the garage, but had stopped six inches from our living spaces. Many of our neighbors were not as lucky. A crew from the Constellation Program Office offered not only their time to help us clean up, but (also) to assist our friends and neighbors in recovering from the storm. Special thanks go to Kevin Orr, Stephen Voels, Tom Moody, Stace Garrett, Tim Wood and Adam Burkey for their efforts to help Galveston Island recover. Bryan Smouther Systems Engineer, The Boeing Company
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I've heard it said that difficult situations bring out the best and the worst in people. I observed Ike bring out the best in people. There are many examples that I can share, from neighbors handing out free food and drinks to anyone in need--to friends opening up their homes, lending furniture and a helping hand. Of all the examples of selfless service I observed, I want to share with you the story of Mike Fossum and his family. Before I returned to Houston, Mike and his family were already in my home doing the hard and dirty work necessary to save my home from mold. Mike and his entire family spent every day for a solid week helping us dig through the mess left after Ike. When Mike met a neighbor of mine in need, even though he was a complete stranger, he brought his Boy Scout troop to the man's home and did all the work that was necessary to stabilize the home and save it from the onset of mold. Mike Fossum and his family are true heroes of Ike. Their example of selfless service to others is truly inspirational. Ron Garan NASA Astronaut


John Beall,
Johnson Space Center Chief Financial Officer s the employees of Johnson Space Center returned to work while continuing to recover from the impacts of Ike, I witnessed across the entire JSC communit y an ex traordinar y display of professionalism, teamwork and positive at titude that brought the center together. While some ver y dedicated people were engaged in the center recover y ef for t, others were ensuring we maintain our mission and program focus. There was an equally dedicated group of employees working to bring the center business operations back online as quickly and seamlessly as possible, including making up a week-and-a-half of lost fiscal year-end schedule. It was also a highly compressed ef for t that touched ever y organization at the center but especially the Procurement, Resources and Finance organizations. The teams worked together in ever y aspect of the center business recover y. They returned af ter the center reopened to a payroll that was due, hundreds of invoices waiting to be paid and contract funding actions in the queue, in addition to an ex tremely laborintense, year-end closing process that was significantly gapped. It wasn't easy. There were long hours required, but with professionalism, teamwork, a positive at titude and a real desire to be successful, it made for a ver y thriving year end. I truly believe this is the most dedicated and talented group of Procurement, Resources and Finance employees in the agency.

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NASA/BLAIR jsc2008e116984

In 2007, I became a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, where everyday citizens can become a part of the solution in the wake of disasters in their community. As a part of that effort, we were called to the Emergency Operations Center to verify 2-1-1 participants' information and to go to the Texas City High School to check in the buses and drivers that were there to evacuate the Galveston County residents in need. After the storm, we were deployed to help direct traffic and check residents back into the area. Jenna Contenta Change Package Manager, Barrios Technology

I volunteer with the League City Volunteer Fire Department and am a member of our Water Rescue Team. I worked 95 hours in the six days during and after the storm, searching flooded and damaged homes looking for trapped victims, fighting fires started by restored power to flooded or damaged homes and even transporting a pregnant woman in labor when the winds were too high for the ambulances to run. We also assisted Seabrook's Fire Department with search-and-recovery operations and running their fire calls so they could tend to their own homes and families. Tim Fisher Lead System Engineer, Crew Exploration Vehicle Parachute Assembly System

My family and I are amazed and appreciative for the love and support expressed by the Center Operations Directorate Project Cleanup volunteers that showed up at our residence to perform yard work, move furniture, remove/haul sheetrock, clean, sweep, etc. Everyone worked so hard, and a lot of work was accomplished within such a short time. We will never forget this memory and we'll always be grateful and treasure our NASA family and friends, for it is during these hard times when your family, friends and coworkers pull through for support. Thank you, Penny Roberts, for the loan of a generator. God bless you all! Sylvia Ramirez Land-Mobile Radio Communications Program Specialist

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Backup Control Center at Marshall

comes online just in time
By Sean Wilson
control on Friday, Sept. 19. BCC Flight Director Dana Weigel summed it up. "This is one for the histor y books. I hope we don't have to repeat it, but I know if we do, we'll be ready."

Hurricane

Ike forced the evacuation of thousands of people in the Houston area-- including International Space Station mission control operations. Luckily, they had somewhere to go. Since the beginning of the program, station Backup Control Center ( BCC ) capabilities have been located in Moscow. The capabilities for managing U.S. systems from Moscow was ver y limited and the overseas location required significant logistics coordination to suppor t BCC operations. E xperience with Hurricanes Lili, Katrina and Rita demonstrated the need to establish an alternate mission control capability here in the United States. In response, a new station BCC project was kicked off in the fall of 2006 at the Huntsville Operations Suppor t Center ( HOSC ) at Marshall Space Flight Center ( MSFC ) . With the new BCC, mission control has two options for suppor t in the event of a contingency. Johnson Space Center can conduct operations from Huntsville by sending the BCC team to MSFC, or activate the Backup Advisor y Team ( BAT ) . The BAT is a condensed flight control team that can connect to BCC-HOSC workstations via laptops from a remote location outside of the Houston area. The timing for bringing the facility online could not have been better. "We had no idea it would be used to this extent just weeks after it was approved for use," said Mar y Lawrence, BAT system lead, "but I'm tremendously thankful to those that made sure we got it right." On Sept. 10, with Ike threatening the upper Texas coast, the station in orbit and a Progress docking on the horizon, both teams were activated to set up remote operations. While the BCC team headed to MSFC, the BAT relocated outside of the Austin area and began controlling the station on Sept. 11--two days before Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast. "For a while, Ike was a distraction," said Br yan Snook, who has been working on this project for six years. "I didn't want to know what was going on back home because I was working and couldn't do much about it." On Sept. 14, in preparation for the Progress docking, the Austin team shut down and transferred operations--a first for MSFC, and only a month since the facility was cer tified. "The Progress docking really pushed us to a real-time operations mode," said Mitch Venable, station ground controller and one of the first on the scene at the BCC. But real-time operations are just what these teams are cut out for. "The team's gritty determination to work through the situation-- people working 13-hour shifts-- ever yone stayed in the ballgame," Snook said. E xtra flight controllers were flown in to get up to 12 people per shift for the Progress docking. By docking day, all team members knew at least the basics on the status of their homes and loved ones, and they also knew a plan was in the works to get them home. "What makes me more proud than any thing else is not the fact that the BCC per formed as planned, but that I was par t of an effor t that truly epitomizes N ASA's goal of `One N ASA,'" said Nick Bornas of MSFC. The BCC team handed operations back over to Houston mission
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Natalie Saiz
Director, Human Resources Office here are some amazing stories surrounding Hurricane Ike, but what touched me most was the way the Johnson Space Center communit y pulled together. The first Monday following the hurricane, we worked with your directors, program managers and contractor leaders to make sure we had accounted for all our employees. One director actually drove to the homes of employees she hadn't heard from ! By the end of the week, we had accounted for ever yone. We also worked with the organizations to assess damage to employee homes --categorizing individuals as either red, yellow or green. "Red" meant that the employee's primar y residence was unlivable. "Yellow" meant the employee may have had damage and / or was without power or water. "Green" meant employees generally sustained minimal damage but were other wise able to return to work once the center reopened. This categorization also helped the Employee Assistance Program conduct employee debriefings. Unfor tunately, 280 team members ( civil ser vant and contractor) were "red," but that number continues to improve. In addition, the JSC E xchange accepted monetar y donations, which were conver ted to store-valued cards and distributed to over 50 significantly impacted employees. Employee communications is ver y impor tant during a crisis, and while we've heard that communications improved quite a bit from previous storms, we still have room to improve. In par tnership with the E x ternal Relations, Center Operations and the Human Resources Of fices, we are working on a team char tered by Center Director Mike Coats to review lessons learned and make the necessar y improvements. While Hurricane Ike cer tainly caused hardship for many, it's hear t warming to see the generosit y and genuine concern for others from so many people. It's times like this where we are reminded, once again, working at JSC is truly awesome !

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NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center jsc2008e121162


Compassion and caring:
Mission Operations Directorate ( MOD ) crew, or "MOD Squad," star ted out as a way for post-Hurricane Ike volunteers to provide some peace of mind for the flight controllers who had evacuated to ser ve as a backup Mission Control for the International Space Station. But the morning gathering at a local grocer y parking lot quickly grew so large that the organizers couldn't keep track of all the volunteers' names. In retrospect, an estimated 303 MOD employees ended up pitching in to help their coworkers, retirees and neighbors clean up after the storm that left much of the Houston area in tatters. They brought chain saws, sledge hammers, trailers and other equipment with them, donating tools of demolition and cleanup in addition to their time.

the `MOD Squad' excels at one of its most unique missions yet
By Kelly Humphries

The

Because so many JSC team members live near the coast, quite a few had catastrophic damage to their homes. Carey Cobb, a 20-year N ASA veteran and chief of MOD's Environmental Systems Branch, helped organize the effor t, along with E xpedition Vehicle Division Chief Rob Banfield and Space Transpor tation Vehicle Division Chief Stan Schaefer. On the Saturday following Ike's rampage, Cobb was driving around to sur vey the damage and got to thinking about the backup Mission Control team members working in Round Rock, Texas, and Huntsville, Ala., who didn't know whether it would be days or weeks before they could return home. "I got a sense of what these folks were going to have to come back to," Cobb said. "The first day was devoted to giving them peace of mind, knowing something about their homes. The idea came