Posted on 08/31/2005 9:08:27 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW ORLEANS – A slow exodus from the smelly and sweltering Superdome began Wednesday as refugees boarded giant trucks and then buses for a trip to more comfortable surroundings in the Houston Astrodome.
The evacuation was kept almost secret to avoid a stampede. People were taken a few at a time through a garage, then to trucks that plowed through 4 feet of water and delivered them to the buses.
People with physical problems were evacuated Wednesday morning, loaded into a variety of vehicles and taken to a triage center in Baton Rouge. The evacuation of the more able-bodied began later.
Almost everyone carried a plastic bag or bundled bedspread holding the few possessions they had left after Hurricane Katrina decimated their city. Some hobbled on walkers, canes and crutches; others inched forward on wheelchairs. Women led children and carried babies.
"I don't care where they're taking us. Anywhere is better than here," said James Caire, 49, who had been at the Superdome only about six hours.
With no air conditioning and little electricity, the heat and stench inside the Superdome were unbearable. As the water pressure dropped lower and lower, toilets backed up. The stink was so bad that many medical workers wore masks as they walked around.
Most refugees jammed onto concourses because the heat and stench inside the Superdome were unbearable. But the heat on the brown-brick concourse was horrendous. One man took a paper bag, rolled up the rim and wore it as a hat.
Dr. Kevin Stephens Sr., in charge of the special needs shelter at the dome, described the Superdome and a nearby arena as a health department's nightmare.
"These conditions are atrocious," he said. "We'll take trucks, planes, boats, anything else, I have to get these people out of here."
By midafternoon, medics were hauling people off one after another because of heat-related problems. Even as the evacuation was going on, people walked through waist-deep water to get to the Superdome.
Tempers flared in the crowd. One woman yelled: "You're just lying to us! You had us standing all day in this heat, and you're lying to us. You're not taking us anywhere!"
The oficer yelled back, "Look, ma'am, do you think I'm in charge? Do you think I'm making decisions? I told you what they told me."
But overall, there was little trouble. People got angry and frustrated and occasionally screamed, but people generally seemed to get along.
The noise around the dome was constant. Helicopters took off and landed on the helipad outside. Generators ran. Trucks backed up and moved past. Every time one baby stopped screaming two more seemed to start. And there was the constant roar of thousands of conversations going on at once.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided about 500 buses to transport the refugees. It was not immediately clear how long the refugees will be in Houston, 350 miles from New Orleans. "We're buying time until we can figure something out," said William Lokey, chief coordinator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The Astrodome's schedule has been cleared through December for housing evacuees, said Kathy Walt, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The building no longer is the home of a professional sports team – the Houston Astros left in 2000.
Phillip Triggs, 40, wasn't keen on the idea of being forced to Texas.
"As far as the idea of going to another state, no, man, this is my home," he said while catching a breath of fresh air. "My family is here. My home is gone. For us to be going through what we're going through, we're just not ready for this."
Cots and blankets for up to 25,000 people were being set up on the Astrodome's floor. Knowing that the people would arrive tired, frustrated and disheartened, shelter organizers began planning activities that might help take the evacuees' minds off their troubles, such as free trips to museums and amusement parks.
Organizers plan to use Astrodome kitchens and locker rooms to keep refugees fed and clean, but they realize it won't be easy because the arena was not built to handle so many people.
"I'm ready to get away from here. Anybody in their right mind would be," said David Ellis, a construction worker who was on the ramp outside the Superdome, escaping the oppressive conditions.
Because HairOfTheDog was not prepared to act on the request that WA take refugees? Sorry, I carry no weight at state.
I guess I assumed busing them 2,000 miles was a worse idea than busing them a couple hundred.
And that's fine by me, especially for the children. Astroworld is right across the freeway from the Astrodome and they ought to be given a day to roam the park for free - but to just the refugees. Hermann Park has a free zoo that is not a long distance away.
I'm thinking about the refugees safety and welfare as well. That part of town is not idyllic. I don't want drug dealers, crooks and such gaining access to the refugees any more than I want any refugees turning into crooks. These will be vulnerable people unless there is a strong military/police presence around to keep them safe.
A couple who took refuge with a local family said they won't go back if they can find a job in the DFW area. Many of the able will not go back, at least not soon.
Good night D.
"They have no human value apparently, and after three whole days, no one has any compassion left for them? Is that not what I'm hearing on this thread?"
The tone of this thread is disturbing to me. I'm an intelligent, decent person and not too many years ago if I had lived in NO and this had happened, I know I would be one of those people in the Superdome right now because I had no car and was living way below the poverty line then. Nice to see how much compassion people would have had for me and my daughters. :(
The govt may not call them refugee camps, but I do.
You noticed that, too! Well, there is that old term: damnyankees.
I've heard almost nothing Dome related for the past couple of days. I was surprised at how few National Guard were patrolling the arena. I suppose those in the Dome are a microcosm of society.
I was all for helping these people until I saw their neighboorhood rioting while their fellow citizens were drowning and learned they are coming to MY state.
NIMBY.
I think there's more compassion than you think in this country.... it's just this forum that's a little cranky right now.
And that's what many of them really ought to do. Assume there is nothing to go home to and just start over where they are. The same job skills many have in New Orleans, can be put to use in Houston or Dallas.
It won't be easy but neither will sitting around for months then going back and starting over.
It might seem harsh (to some) to raise this right after the hurricane; but after the initial shock those with skills and with ambition will find their own means to survive. They will find jobs and they might very well decide to stay wherever they find 'temporary' refuge. They will move on.
At the end of the day we will find a large group of never functional, addicted, marginally socialized, welfare junkies who are 'unable' to find any alternative to government provided and total maintenance.
We will have a taxpayer supported refugee camp in perpetuity. Our own little palestinian problem. (Maybe it IS time for the UN to take over - they are so very, very, good at managing never ending refugee camps/terrorist breeding grounds.)
That said, I pray that someone in louisiana is planning to aid those folks who made their way onto the overpass and seem to my eye to have earned very little in the way of official concern by their efforts.
Yes, I noticed. What comes to my mind is that Jessie Jackson et al should take a good hard look at what decades of Black leaders telling people "you need help,you need assistance, free breakfast, etc. This is what it comes down to. Thousands of people looking for someone to save them.
Before I get called a racist,I feel for all the refugees, but it is maddening to me that they were told to get out and didn't. They say they couldn't. Get on a bus and go.
Why didn't the mayor tell the busses to take people at no
charge out of the city. I don't see alot of Mexicans waiting on the overpass.
"The tone of this thread is disturbing to me."
Well, be disturbed. These issues cannot be solved with sappy sentimentality. No one has yet said "You cannot come here!" (that I know of) but it's only rational to wonder "What's gonna happen when they get here?"
I agree.
God bless Texas. I am very proud of Texas today even though I've never been there.
I've lived in Lousiana for quite a few years and I'm certainly on edge right now. I've been on some stupid board trying to point out to people that the people of Louisiana are responsible, myself included, not Bush. I'm disgusted with the way the mayor and great governor of our state have handled this, too.
I think this is GOOD NEWS and then I see people slamming it, so it's just like the last straw. I know that the majority of Americans are compassionate and I really believe that Freepers are a solid number in that majority, so well it saddens me to see what has been said on this thread. I'll take a breather. :)
Understood :~D
FEMA Director on CNN saying that he doesn't want to leave refugees in the Astrodome for weeks/months.
They're considering housing them on cruise ships, and may have an announcement to that effect soon.
How many people does a cruise ship hold?
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