American flag knotted by Rita reminds us of resilience
In the days after Hurricane Rita, Charlie Snoek found that his flag was still there.
“It was pretty much tied in total knots,” the some Other Place nutrition center director said.
Rita blew into Southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 2005, accompanied by gusts of 125 mph.
“It was a situation where we were getting out of town,” Snoek said. “No one thought about (the flag in front of some Other Place, 590 Center St.) until after the fact.”
The modest piece of fabric was no match for the storm.
Like Francis Scott Key’s Stars and Stripes still fluttering over Fort McHenry on the morning of Sept. 14, 1814, after a British bombardment in the War of 1812, some Other Place’s Stars and Stripes were wrapped around its pole.
“It took about four days to untangle it,” Snoek said. “I used pencils and knitting needles to untangle the knots.”
Then Snoek carefully pinned the remnants together again and placed the reconstituted flag in a display case – the largest one he could find at a local craft store on Dowlen Road.
“It says to me we’re going to be here, no matter what,” Snoek said of his reclaimed flag that has a place indoors.
Read the full story in Tuesday’s print edition of The Beaumont Enterprise.
gusts, southeast texas