Returning home

We returned the 15th of October to Galveston. Bo and I both agree that Galveston looks even worse now then it did during the look and leave right after the hurricane. Why? Because there is garbage EVERYWHERE. Everyone that had flooding had to have their entire place gutted. We're talking furniture, books etc, carpet, dry walls, and insulation. Everything that was wet was dumped because the seawater had destroyed it and there was mold. So because of all this garbage, the island smells and the streets are lined with trash.
Not even half of the stores are open. Most of the business are gutted too, or are boarded up. It's interesting to drive around and see banners over some of the places saying NOW OPEN. That's how you can tell what's open. Crazy, eh? It seems like all the places that ARE open are hiring. A couple of weeks ago the news reported that the unemployment rate went up 286%. Yep. I don't know if it's still accurate, but I wouldn't be surprised. We drove by Home Depot the other day and the place was PACKED with people and trucks loading up with supplies to go fix their properties, homes, etc. The thing that surprised me was that at the back of the parking lot there were lots of Mexican men standing around in small groups in work clothes. At first I didn't know what they were doing, and then it dawned on me. . . they are illegal and looking for work from the costumers at Home Depot. Sad. It reminded me a lot of the farm hands in Wa.
The last thing I'll mention about the hurricane is that about half of the island's plants are dead. It is so depressing to me. The island already looks like death, a little green would help soooo much. Instead you can see trees, bushes, grass, and other plants that are brown instead of green. Not all the plants are dead, but there are quite a few. The sea water killed them. Bo says it looks a little more like fall now. I beg to differ. In fall you have leaves on the ground, here you have the BROWN dead leaves still on the trees. Not to mention it's a different color then fall. It looks too brown.
Here are some pictures. The first 5 were taken by a guy in our ward.

You can see the water line in this apartment. Look at all the mold.

Red Cross Shelter

Local bait shop

This is downtown. It looks like a ghost town now. Notice the dead trees. Down town had a ton of flooding.

My friends' neighborhood. Notice all the garbage lining the street?

This is only about a third of a building that used to stand out on the beach/water.

Wendy's

No ramp to this hotel on the water. Not to mention a huge chunk of wall missing . . .

Yeah there used to be a building at the end of that stretch of rocks/jetty.