美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Bucket Brigade' Volunteers Still Digging California Homes Out After Mudslides

 

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

In Southern California, many homeowners are still digging out of the mud more than two months after a deadly 30-square-mile debris¹ flow slammed into their homes. But as Stephanie O'Neill reports from Montecito, each weekend, hundreds of volunteers armed with shovels³ are coming to help.

STEPHANIE O'NEILL, BYLINE⁴: When Peri Thompson watched the televised helicopter rescue of a Montecito family, she was shocked to see the drama unfolding at her own house.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NEWS ANCHOR: Tonight, for the first time, we are hearing the dramatic story of one family trapped by mud and plucked from the roof of their home.

O'NEILL: Thompson was renting to the young family that narrowly escaped death.

PERI THOMPSON: You probably saw them taken from the roof in the basket. And they took their two dogs - their two large dogs.

O'NEILL: After learning her tenants⁵ survived, a relieved Thompson was left with assessing the damage to her home, one of more than 300 houses filled with mud, rocks and debris several feet high. But she, like many here, is underinsured for this type of disaster.

THOMPSON: You just come here, and it seems absolutely futile⁶ to do anything. You just - it's mind-boggling.

O'NEILL: And expensive, says Abe Powell. He's founder⁷ of the newly formed Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade - an all-volunteer group that's helped more than five dozen stuck homeowners, like Thompson, dig out of the mud for free.

ABE POWELL: Most of the homes we're digging out are the smaller homes where the working families live. And so usually, with a crew of 40 to 50, we can get that mostly completed in a day.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIGGING)

O'NEILL: So far, more than 2,000 volunteers have shown up to shovel². While teams work to clear the mud from inside each house, Powell oversees⁸ another crew that operates a mini-excavator and other heavy equipment to clean the yards. Step one, he says, is to dig a path to the front door, much in the same way you'd clear a walkway of snow.

POWELL: The second thing is we dig the cars out. And then the next thing is to dig out inside and dig a perimeter⁹ around the house so the walls can start to dry out. And that's really important because a house will literally¹⁰ rot from within.

O'NEILL: Finally, the crews pile the dirt in each yard for the homeowners to dispose of. And while dumping it is costly¹¹, Powell estimates the group has saved residents here more than a million dollars in cleanup costs. John Trimble is a Santa Barbara contractor¹² and volunteer who says it's not just the hard-hit homeowners who benefit from this work.

JOHN TRIMBLE: Most of the volunteers, it's as much for them as it is for the people they're helping¹³. I mean, it really is a cleansing¹⁴ experience for the community.

O'NEILL: For many volunteers, digging is a way to connect with others and begin processing the disaster - one that took 23 lives, including a teenage boy and a toddler girl who remain missing. Josiah Hamilton of Montecito is a realtor and Bucket Brigade volunteer who says the whole community feels that loss.

JOSIAH HAMILTON: You know, there's families out there that are never going to recover from this. That's something that we just always want to keep in our hearts.

O'NEILL: It'll take more time before many homeowners in Montecito learn whether their houses can be saved. Still, Peri Thompson says she considers herself among the lucky ones. Not only did her tenants escape tragedy, but now she and her neighbors are getting the help they need from total strangers.

THOMPSON: I don't know these people at all, and, I mean, they've come out here and dug. It's really - and I don't know why I'm crying 'cause it's a really wonderful thing.

(SOUNDBITE OF DIGGING)

O'NEILL: The donation-funded Santa Barbara Bucket Brigade is scheduled for its next dig this weekend. For NPR News, I'm Stephanie O'Neill in Montecito, Calif.

(SOUNDBITE OF METHENY-MEHLDAU QUARTET'S "TOWARDS THE LIGHT")

1 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

2 shovel   

n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出

参考例句：

• He was working with a pick and shovel.他在用镐和铲干活。
• He seized a shovel and set to.他拿起一把铲就干上了。

3 shovels   

n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份

参考例句：

• workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
• In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天，我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

6 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

9 perimeter   

n.周边，周长，周界

参考例句：

• The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
• Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。

10 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

11 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

12 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。