“We can handle this for six weeks if we have to. It may not be comfortable, and they may not want to, but we can if we have to,” said Gause Volunteer Fire Department treasurer Sue Taylor, who is coordinating efforts to help keep 280 people in the east Milam County community of Gause comfortable during the prolonged power outage caused by Hurricane Ike.
Susan Reinders, Milam County’s emergency management coordinator, said Wednesday FEMA officials are unable to predict when power will be restored. Mrs. Reinders received a call at 4:18 p.m. Saturday that Gause was without electricity.
Immediately, the city of Cameron dispatched electrical generators to allow the Gause water system to operate. Emergency management officials ordered truckloads of ice and bottled water, which is being distributed at the Gause Volunteer Fire Department. Ready-to-eat meals are being brought to Gause to assist low-income residents who cannot afford to drive daily to area towns to buy groceries.
Generators are providing electricity to the U.S. Post Office, fire department and Coats’ Grocery, and school is expected to resume today after a generator is installed that will power the elementary campus’ septic system. Elementary students were bused to a church that had electricity Monday through Wednesday.
Milam County is providing diesel and gasoline to power generators. Some families with generators are given rations of gasoline during the crisis, Mrs. Taylor said.
Relatives were contacted to relocate elderly people to more comfortable settings in the duration, but those who are remaining in their homes have been “adopted” by volunteers who visit them and make sure they have food, water and telephone service.
Meanwhile, the Milam County Sheriff’s Department has stationed deputies to patrol this community in the dark on a 24/7 basis, Mrs. Taylor said.
Ironically, Joe W. Alexander and five members of his family from Port Arthur escaped Hurricane Ike and came to Gause where a relative lives. On Saturday morning, the power went out in Gause, and they cannot return home until the electricity is restored in Port Author.
“It’s bearable,” said Alexander, 83, a retiree. “We have a generator and we are running fans.”
The family stayed in the Community Improvement Building once before during Hurricane Rita, he said. This time, they will have to repair wind damage to their home, he said.
Life goes on in Gause, where the folks come to the fire station to plug in their electric coffee makers and recharge their portable shavers, Mrs. Taylor said.
Volunteer fire departments from Milano, Cameron, Rockdale and Hearne are taking calls for the Gause Volunteer Fire Department for the duration. Mrs. Taylor and Carolyn Farr, fire department secretary are in charge of emergency management operations in Gause. Fire department headquarters is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and volunteers serve in shifts.
Meanwhile, the community is waiting patiently for the electric power to be restored.
“When the lights went off, they said pray for Wednesday, if not Wednesday, we are looking at six weeks,” Mrs. Taylor said. “Then they said, if we don’t get them back on by this weekend, we are looking at six weeks. This morning, they said, we are looking at Monday, if we don’t get them on by Monday; we are looking at six weeks. We are telling everyone, when the lights come on, that’s when they come on.”
