I don't know where to start. The people who took cardboard boxes because we were out of firestarters? The couple trying to estimate how big a tarp they needed to cover what's left of their roof? The guy who put his generator 3' above the floor, only for it to flood 4'? The couple who hadn't yet paid off the new flooring in their basement, and now needed new flooring all over again? The many, many people who were desperate enough for firewood to buy 2x4s because they knew they weren't going to find bundled wood? The people who bought battery-powered Christmas lights just to have some light in their home?  The woman who stumbled from exhaustion when she showed up at 6 AM when the store opened to get supplies, and almost cried when I pointed her at the free coffee?  (Her grateful "this is the first coffee I've had in four days" nearly made ME cry.) The middle school kid who managed to snag the last gas can for his uncle, and spent the entire time he was in the store looking like he was paranoid someone would take it from him?

And this isn't even the area that was hit hardest. Most of the damage is south, where the eye hit, or north, where the rivers flooded. It's hard to think of how much worse things have to be there when it's aready bad here. As one of my coworkers said this morning, "People don't understand.  This isn't destruction.  It's just GONE."   And it's kind of weird to realize that the best way to help is just to go to work, to have the ideas and knowledge to help them get back in control and back on their feet.