Eagle's Trace	UPDATED: Thursday, September 25, 2008
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Calm in the 'eye of the storm'

Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2008

By Mark Abromaitis
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Earlier this month, thousands of Texans lost their homes when Hurricane Ike blew through the Lone Star State.

Following the devastation, the streets of Houston were littered with glass from storm-ravaged skyscrapers. The town was placed under a weeklong curfew, and millions of people in the hurricane’s path remained in the dark without power or clean drinking water for weeks.

But the residents of Eagle’s Trace, an Erickson community in Houston, made it through the storm relatively unscathed.

Director of Sales and Marketing Pamela Burgeson says, “The winds were fierce and the rain was pounding, and we lost power and water for a short time. But after everything was said and done, we were back up and running relatively quickly.”

Always prepared
Eagle’s Trace Executive Director Kevin S. Knopf says, “Our hurricane preparedness plan worked well. Being in Houston, near the gulf, this was something we knew we may have to eventually face. So we had a plan and were ready.

“We were even ready to evacuate if we needed to, even though Eagle’s Trace is beyond the outermost evacuation area,” he adds, “but the local agencies and government officials told us that wasn’t necessary. We just hunkered down and rode out the storm.”

Ike made landfall early Saturday as a category two hurricane that was reportedly over 500 miles wide, rivaling the size of Texas itself. But by early Sunday morning, the storm had weakened in strength to a tropical storm. “The wind was howling,” Knopf says. “You could feel the force of the winds and the rain outside. But our storm window covers did their jobs. We were all confident that our planning, preparations, and communications prior to the storm enabled us to successfully weather it.”

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A good move
Joan Pyle, who recently moved to Eagle’s Trace from a part of Houston that was badly hit by Ike, says she came to the community just in time. “I’m glad I live at Eagle’s Trace. We were very, very fortunate here. We lost power and water, but we survived.”

Pyle rode out the storm in her new home with some lanterns and five of her close friends. “It was loud outside, but we did our best to keep our minds off the storm,” she says (they drank wine and played dominoes).

“Compared to people elsewhere we were really lucky,” Pyle adds. “We had emergency [electrical] plugs we could use if there was something we desperately needed. And the staff was fabulous. They made sure we were all well fed and taken care of. With devastation everywhere, it didn’t affect our life here.”

Open doors for others
During the storm, Eagle’s Trace served as an unofficial shelter for employees and the residents’ extended families.

Burgeson explains, “A number of our employees who live in low-lying areas brought their families here and stayed in a few of our open homes. And some of our residents brought their own extended family members here to ride out the storm. Eagle’s Trace was one of the safest places around.”

According to Knopf, “We were ready medically and supply-wise,” he says. “We had emergency power for those with medical needs, and we had plenty of bottled water on hand to augment the city water sources. We even kept extra food on hand just in case.”

Burgeson adds, “We had one of our own medical center doctors stay on site throughout the storm, and our pharmacy stayed open late so residents had access to any prescription needs. Overall, we were pretty well stocked up on supplies.”

Joining together
“This was a team effort,” Knopf says. In addition to the many Eagle’s Trace staff members who worked tirelessly throughout the hurricane, staff from Highland Springs, Erickson’s Dallas community, drove over eight hours with 900 pounds of dry ice to help out (the trip normally takes half that time).

“We are really thankful for their help,” Knopf says. “And our staff here at Eagle’s Trace needs to be commended for their hard work too. On the days leading up to the hurricane and especially in the days that followed, they did everything necessary to ensure we were ready for this storm. We understand they have families that were touched by the storm too, but many went above and beyond the call of duty and stayed on campus to help the community and residents in any way possible.”

Burgeson adds, “We lost some big trees around campus and had some water damage and broken windows, but we were fortunate because everything we lost can be replaced or fixed. Compared to the victims in Galveston and other low-lying areas of Houston, we are certainly counting our blessings.”