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Topic: Texas Govenor Seeks Help From Other States (Read 244 times)

luci
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Texas Govenor Seeks Help From Other States
« on: Sep 5^th, 2005, 10:55am »

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Texas plans to airlift evacuees

Perry seeks airlines' help in moving some storm victims elsewhere

09:47 AM CDT on Monday, September 5, 2005
By ERNESTO LONDOŃO / The Dallas Morning News

As Hurricane Katrina evacuees continued to arrive in Texas on Sunday, Gov. Rick Perry began to plan airlifting some to other states in coming days.

"The logistics are being worked on now," said Robert Black, a spokesman for the governor. "The main focus here is making sure that we are able to provide the care, comfort and medical attention these evacuees need. Shelters in overflow might not be conducive to give that kind of care."

Mr. Perry asked officials from Utah, Pennsylvania and New York to host some of the victims currently in Texas.

MELANIE BURFORD / DMN
Evacuee Davis Norman III of New Orleans (center) is reunited with his parents, Carolyn Norman and Davis Norman Jr., at the Dallas Convention Center Sunday. Mr. Perry approached at least two commercial airlines during the weekend seeking help. Spokesmen for American Airlines and Southwest Airlines said they have been in contact with the governor's office but had no firm plans as of Sunday evening to transport evacuees from Texas to other states.

Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm said Sunday that there are no immediate plans to move any of the estimated 14,000 storm victims who registered at Dallas shelters, which are being administered by the Red Cross. North Texas officials said they're not expecting to receive many more evacuees and are barely coping to provide basic services to those already here.

However, predictions of overcrowded shelters and bedlam in North Texas turned out to be unfounded after the region absorbed more than 20,000 evacuees late last week.

"Looking back, there were moments where I felt we were fixin' to drown," Ms. Suhm said Sunday. "But we handled things pretty well."

The last bus packed with storm victims got to North Texas shortly after midnight Saturday, and the two main Dallas shelters ended up housing roughly 1,800 people far fewer than city officials braced for on Saturday, Assistant City Manager Ramon Miguez said.

City officials said most of the evacuees who are registered with officials at Reunion Arena and the Dallas Convention Center, the city's two main shelters, did not sleep in those places.

Physicians from local hospitals saw hundreds of patients at a makeshift clinic set up at the convention center. Several evacuees were treated for cuts and scrapes on their feet that became infected. Doctors at the mental health area evaluated others overcome by stress and grief. And many with chronic ailments got medicine for the first time in a week.

Dallas County Health and Human Services medical director David Buhner said physicians are taking extraordinary precautions to prevent an outbreak of communicable diseases at the shelters.

"There's always that concern," he said. "These people are coming out of a disaster area, many of them sick."

Hundreds of evacuees made for a busier-than-usual downtown Dallas on Sunday, hauling large plastic bags with clothes and food distributed at a parking lot near Reunion Arena.

Inside the convention center, evacuees were divided into separate sections demarcated with crime scene tape. Some evacuees slept on inflatable mattresses and others had cots with thin foam mattresses.

The Dallas Police Department is securing both facilities. The city intends to spend $500,000 per week to keep enough officers at the shelters. City officials said they have been assured the federal government will reimburse its evacuation-related expenditures, Ms. Suhm said.

Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said most of the evacuees in Dallas shelters were still looking for loved ones on Sunday. The Red Cross is compiling lists of displaced Gulf Coast residents who have registered at shelters across the country and will cross-reference them soon, she said.

"We hope to have many happy endings soon," Ms. Foster said. "That will be the best thing that happens over the next few days."

Several evacuees walked around the city holding photographs of loved ones. Others posted hand-written signs outside the city's two main shelters.

Theresa Comeaux, 44, a hurricane victim, arrived in Dallas on Sunday morning after spending five nights at a bus station in Atlanta, where she had gone when the storm hit. She sat on the ground in front of the Dallas Convention Center, hoping for a miracle. Her 23-year-old son, Ricky Zanca, stayed in New Orleans. She doesn't know whether he survived.

"He's my firstborn," she said, crying softly. "I almost lost him to cancer. He's got to be somewhere."

Collin County is housing about 650 evacuees in shelters in Plano (130), McKinney (300), Lavon (95),
and Murphy (17), with another 150 in a
Church Camp on Lake Lavon.
said Jamie Nicolay, a county spokeswoman.

She said that before the buses stopped coming Saturday, the effort to get evacuees from the Big Town Mall staging area ran fairly smoothly.

Tarrant County has received about 3,050 evacuees in 20 shelters in Fort Worth and surrounding communities. Hurricane victims coming into the county are being processed at the Wilkerson Geines Athletic Center at Interstate 20 and Wichita Street.

So far, in addition to Fort Worth, the following Tarrant County cities have offered shelter assistance to evacuees: Arlington, Azle, Benbrook, Burleson, Euless, Grand Prairie, Grapevine, Keller and Lake Worth.

In Lewisville, officials put plans in place to acclimate about 550 evacuees. City officials surveyed hotels and found that 500 to 600 evacuees were staying in the city's hotels.

In Ennis, city officials have provided emergency shelter for 55 evacuees from New Orleans at Tabernacle Baptist Church. The church has the capacity to handle up to 90 displaced people in the family life center and gym.

Staff writers Marissa Alanis, Brandon Formby and Jason Trahan contributed to this story.

« Last Edit: Sep 5^th, 2005, 10:57am by luci »

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