Now you the how the rest of the story goes, my wife and I helped them out as much as we could. And yes the lady's parents were happily found. But I am not writing this to toot my own horn. I am writng this to remind you that all you have may be taken away in an instint. When you think the world has you at your wits end, think of this story. Think of the lady who stood in the lobby in mis-matched clothes and tattered flip flops with 20 homeless family members in an apt. with her parents missing and presumed dead saying "Put me to work, I'm ready".
Evacuees' sense of calm grows after thousands turn out to help
By JASON SPENCER
"They are less restless today than yesterday," said Harris County Tax Assessor Paul Bettencourt, who is acting as a spokesman for the operation. "It's a different mood in the hall."
Offiicals said they have room for about 8,000 more flood victims if necessary.
Nearly 10,000 volunteers — including more than 2,600 today — have reported for work at the Reliant complex since the first buses pulled into the Astrodome parking lot Thursday night.
"We have had an awful lot of volunteers come here," said Lt. Joe Leonard of the U.S. Coast Guard, who is overseeing the Reliant complex shelter operation. "It's almost overwhelming."
Dozens of volunteers lined up shoulder to shoulder guiding 2,000 evacuees who spent Friday night in the Astrodome's bleachers toward awaiting cots in Reliant Center.
So many doctors showed up that there wasn't enough work to go around, said Dr. Kenneth Mattox of the Harris County Hospital District.
"Despite rumors to the contrary, we are not short of doctors and nurses," he said. "At one point, we had four doctors for every patient."
Doctors evaluated 749 patients in one three-hour period, sending six of them to the hospital for further treatment. Five of them were children suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms, raising fears that illness might spread quickly among the tightly packed evacuees.
"We have been concerned about that since the beginning of the operation," Mattox said.
"Almost every institution in the Texas Medical Center responded," said Mike McKinney, head of the clinic at the shelter at the George R. Brown Convention Center, at a news conference today.
McKinney, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said the onsite outpatient clinic has access to ambulances, specialists, nurses and mental health workers.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross set up a bank of computers at the Reliant complex so evacuees could register on the agency's family links site — www.redcross.org — said Dr. Chris Johnson, who is helping oversee the relief agency's Astrodome operation. About 1,000 registered on the site in the first three hours.
Local law enforcement agencies have assigned roughly 500 officers to the Reliant complex and surrounding neighborhoods, but they have made few arrests, said Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin of the Houston Police Department. Police made six arrests in the area last night, including one for a felony assault. The rest were misdemeanors, he said.
Officers are also investigating a possible sexual assault of a child, Lumpkin said. No arrests had been made as of mid-afternoon.
Police also reported that crime is down city-wide this weekend, Bettencourt said.
The George R. Brown
It was dangerous to stand still in the volunteer area of the George R. Brown Convention Center this afternoon. Thousands of fast-moving volunteers were likely to run you down moving carts, boxes or trucks.
Volunteers of every age, size, skin color and attire worked briskly and surprisingly smoothly together, sorting, piling, arranging, while hundreds of others waited their turn and enthusiastically applauded.
The vast room set aside for donations and volunteers was already near capacity with shoes, toys, books, toiletries, shirts, children's clothing and all the things needed by people who suddenly have nothing. The arrivals at the Polk Street door of the center were non-stop: it took four people working full-time just to sort and fold towels.
Officials late today were unable to say how many volunteers had arrived to help at the convention center but there easily were thousands prepared to offer assistance.
``This effort has just exploded,'' said Keith Amos, a surgical fellow at M.D. Anderson Cancer who was volunteering a third night after working Thursday and Friday night at Reliant Center. ``The scene in here is just amazing. It makes you feel good.''
Elsewhere, volunteers who showed up to start the 1 p.m. shift at the Houston Food Bank on the Eastex Freeway at Cavalcade today were told about 1:30 to leave. The food bank had so much food they were having to take time to organize and stack it out of safety concerns. About 200 volunteers outside the food bank had traffic stacked up in that area.
Star of Hope shelter
At the Star of Hope shelter, 1811 Ruiz, the pantry is well-stocked with donated supplies but word has been slow to circulate to those in need, City Councilman Gordon Quan said today.
``It's wonderful that so many people have given clothing and other things but it's important that people know how to access the system to receive needed supplies,'' said Quan, who had been assisting the shelter earlier.
Volunteers who turned out today to help distribute supplies had little to do, he said.
"People have volunteered time and sorted through everything, but they're just sitting around,'' Quan said. ``It's frustrating that people have been so generous but no one's picking it up.''
Evacuees can pick up clothes from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
Meanwhile inside and outside the Astrodome today, there have been many people walking around with signs listing the loved ones they're trying to find. Loudspeaker announcements directed evacuees to designated areas to find relatives - half of the alphabet on even hours and the other on odd hours. There was also an announcement of free flights to Denver. And there was a man walking around with a sign offering a ride out of town.
Outside, a phalanx of hundreds of volunteers created a 200-yard-long pathway for a number of evacuees to transfer from the Astrodome to Reliant Center this afternoon. Volunteers were carrying evacuees' belongings for them and pushing them in wheelchairs across the pavement.
One of these evacuees, Arthur Combre, 79, said amid dozens of attentive volunteers, he was rescued off a rooftop in East New Orleans after three days, made it to a church shelter and finally was evacuated.
"Nobody in New Orleans was helping," he said. But "we haven't wanted for anything since we've been here."
Over at the George R. Brown, volunteers welcomed evacuees with applause as they got off the buses.
The Houston Fire Department has mandated a limit of approximately 7,000 people for the convention center. Currently, there are beds for about 2,000, mostly large inflated mattresses. More beds, including cots or sleeping pads, are needed.
"We have calls out to try to get those resources," said Rep. Rick Noriega, who is in charge of the effort at the center.
Admitting they grossly over-estimated the number of evacuees who can be sheltered safely at the Astrodome, local leaders agreed Friday to open the convention center and other Reliant facilities to Katrina victims and canceled upcoming events at some of the venues.
About 200 evacuees arrived at the convention center about 11:30 p.m. Friday, most of them in private automobiles from Baytown, where they had been temporarily sheltered after driving from New Orleans. A busload of evacuees arrived about 8 a.m. today, but it was not known where they came from.
Local officials were also stationing people on the road between Houston and Lafayette, La., to count the buses en route here and to evaluate passengers so more will be known about their needs once that arrive here.
"Our system has been tested and we are ready for the rest of the week," City Councilman Adrian Garcia said. "We are expecting from a couple of hundred to 5,000 more people (at the convention center)."
Aaron Bayles, a registered nurse who works at St. Luke's Hospital, brought his stethescope and blood pressure cuff to the Astrodome this morning after he heard there was a need for medical personnel, but officials there asked him to go to the convention center instead, where they said there was a need for registered nurses.
Officials postponed today's scheduled Labor Day Classic at Reliant Stadium between football rivals Texas Southern University and Prairie View A&M. And they canceled Fiestas Patrias, a Mexican independence day celebration that had been expected to draw up to 50,000 to Reliant Center on Sunday.
Mayor Bill White said the situation was so dire in Louisiana and elsewhere on the Gulf Coast that the Houston area needs to do what is necessary to aid that region's homeless."We're going to kick people out who were planning to do things. This is an emergency," he said. "If it entails somebody suing us, then OK."
Six Flags Astroworld, across the South Loop from Reliant Park, announced it will be closed today, Sunday and Monday to ensure traffic does not interfere with relief efforts.
During a visit to Reliant Park Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he would be sending 1,000 National Guard troops to Houston to help with security around shelters. Some may be arriving by Sunday, he said.
The Astrodome housed 15,000 evacuees Friday night, with 3,000 at Reliant Arena and 8,000 at Reliant Center, Red Cross spokeswoman Denise Bishop said.
Local officials had planned since early Wednesday to use the Dome as shelter for 25,000 evacuees from the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, which lacked electricity, air conditioning and working toilets.
The plan was based on the premise that a stadium that held 62,000 for football could comfortably house 25,000.
But late Thursday, officials at the Astrodome stopped taking evacuees when its population reached 12,000, and Mike Ivy, interim fire marshal for the Houston Fire Department, deemed it overcrowded.
Some evacuees were moved into Reliant Arena, while others remained on the buses.
Harris County Judge Robert Eckels said emergency planning coordinators in the county Homeland Security & Emergency Management division are learning on the fly what works and what doesn't.
"The plan is evolving, continuously changing," he said.
About 35,000 cots had been delivered to the Astrodome, but only a few thousand were set up on the Dome floor, and the fire marshal's office concluded more would be dangerous.
Evacuees slept Thursday night in Dome seats, on the floor and in the grass outside.
"Easily, 800 people were sleeping outside the Dome on the grass on cardboard boxes," said Tracy McGaugh, a South Texas College of Law assistant professor who worked an overnight shift as a Dome volunteer.
On Friday night, only 4,500 of the 15,000 evacuees in the Dome had cots, Bishop said.McGaugh and Kathy Bergin, a colleague from the law school who also volunteered, said security at the Dome seemed inadequate. Few officers were in sight, and groups of young men congregated in various places, making passers-by uneasy, McGaugh said.
Eckels said security has been added, along with an increased presence of volunteers among the evacuees.
White said Houstonians have nothing to fear of the recent arrivals. "I've met with some of the survivors," he said. "They are just people who are scared. They've been through hell and are thankful there's a city with a big heart to welcome them."
Eckels said he hoped to reduce the number of evacuees in the Dome from 15,000 to 12,000. Reliant Arena eventually will house 3,000, with another 8,000 in the large exhibition halls at Reliant Center. George R. Brown will take about 7,500, White said.
White's staff called an emergency City Council meeting for Monday to decide whether to set aside $10 million in a special fund to help with the evacuees.
 Mayra Beltran / Chronicle Officials hope to reduce the number of evacuees at the Astrodome, currently 15,000, by opening other shelters. |
The money would pay for shelter, transportation, food vouchers and clothing. The city would seek reimbursement from the federal government.
Louisiana officials initially intended to send only Superdome evacuees to the Astrodome. That plan has changed. Evacuees from around Louisiana are now being bused to Houston, Eckels said.
Earlier Friday, a long line of cars formed on Kirby, waiting to turn into the Reliant Park complex or a makeshift donation site that has popped up nearby.
Gracie Conner of Sugar Land inched along in her SUV on a return trip to the site. Earlier, she had met evacuee Danielle Harper, who began crying, saying she couldn't find any clothes that fit her. Conner bought a load of clothes, gave some to Harper and dropped the rest off.
She invited Harper to stay with her and her husband, and Harper accepted.
"It hurts me. Can you imagine one day you wake up and you have no house, no car, no food? I am going to put people in my house," Conner said.
Volunteers from a number of churches may begin helping prepare meals for Reliant Park evacuees Tuesday or Wednesday, Eckels said. They would likely supplement the services of Aramark, which is providing food now.Aramark is not taking food donated by area restaurants and residents on the orders of city officials, said company spokeswoman Kathleen Keenan.
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