Saturday morning I was the first up. At daybreak I started trying to get my head wrapped around the damage and figure out a plan for the day.
I was pretty unfamiliar with the area, and I had only seen the single street we worked on the night before while it was dark. That morning as soon as daylight hit, I put my mini 2 drone up to get a better idea of what the area looked like.
The drone footage was pretty shocking to me. Just the next street over from the street we were working on had major damage. The damage to the areas we worked the night prior also looked much more damaged in the light.
The amount of information I was able to gather in just a few minutes while staying stationary at my friends home really drove home the value of a drone. Doing a quick area study to get a better idea of what roads traffic were being allowed on or not allowed on was impressive.
If you have never experience the perspective a drone can add I would highly suggest trying to find a drone to borrow short term just to get a better idea how valuable a tool they are.
For planning, we decided the best course of action would be to just go door to door one house at a time.
Friends of Trey's came and went throughout the day, but we probably had 10-20 people just show up to work throughout the day. We often worked in smaller 2-4 person teams at individual homes based on needs and just up downed trees and placed them on the curb for collection.
Trey gained some major credibility in his neighborhood for this. Many people's houses were shocked to find out we were not part of an organized disaster relief team, but just friends of the neighbor they knew and we all came out to help him. Since his street had less damage than the surrounding areas we were one of the few groups that actually helped this area.
Some key takeaways here:
Know your neighbors. Trey already knowing his neighbors and having contact information for them was super helpful.
Many hands make light work. This neighborhood would have taken forever for trey and one friend to clear, with as many people as we had we covered a lot of ground quickly
Be fit. This was very physical work, being fit is key.