Posted on 09/22/2005 12:46:02 PM PDT by hispanarepublicana
City officials learned early Thursday morning that the state plans to fly as many 2,000 Hurricane Rita evacuees to Lubbock some time today.
The first plane, believed to be a Boeing 737 carrying about 130 people from Beaumont, is expected to land between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. today at the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport.
City officials do not yet have an exact arrival time.
Aviation Director James Loomis said the airport's control tower will give city officials at least 30 minutes notice of the plane's arrival.
Mayor Pro Tem Tom Martin said the city expects most of the evacuees to be people with "special needs," which includes the elderly, disabled, mentally disabled and people who have trouble getting around on their own.
"The priority for the government is to help those who can't help themselves," he said.
Those arriving in need of immediate medical attention will be taken by ambulance to either Covenant Medical Center or University Medical Center.
The rest will be taken to a temporary shelter at the Reese Technology Center, which housed about 400 Hurricane Katrina victims two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, city officials had stood down their shelter operations and said they didn't expect any evacuees to be sent here. But during the night, the federal government sent in military planes to fly out evacuees.
The city is gearing up for the arrival of two military planes that are expected to bring between 300 and 500 people each.
"We don't expect this to be the end of it," Martin said.
The city is in the process of setting up three other shelters around the city, including the Lubbock Coliseum, the Civic Center and Lubbock Christians University's field house.
All four centers combined can house about 1,700 people.
The city has also contacted area nursing homes and hotels about housing the rest.
Whisperwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center is opening a wing to house about 20 people.
"I don't know if we're getting any or not," said the center's administrator Linda Parks.
The American Red Cross also reports that about 100 people who left the coast on their own are staying in the area.
To comment on this story:
james.gallagher@lubbockonline.com t 766-8753
brian.williams@lubbockonline.com t 766-8717
Llano Estacado PING
Maybe they should just become Bedouins and wander around the South.
Put The General in charge of the situation! ;-)
You joke, but when I had to traverse the Texas Tech campus in the middle of blinding sandstorms, I was very tempted to wear Bedouin-type attire.
I have done that a few times.
Walking at a 45 degree angle just to stay upright in the wind. In undergrad, I had to walk from Holden Hall to the Law School where I worked in the Law Library.
LOL...if you'd tried that in the mid- to late-70s at Tech you'd have been beseiged with marriage proposals from all the Iranian students camped outside the Student Union, protesting the Shah. ;)
Thanks for the ping!
Well, at least we got a free teeth-cleaning from the sand-blasting.
I heard about the ruckus that some of the Katrin evacuees caused at a football game. What a shame.
I heard about the ruckus that some of the Katrina evacuees caused at a football game. What a shame.
Isn't that around the time the Shah's son was living in Lubbock?
I didn't hear.....what happened?
Well, a group of evacuees were invited to attend a home game and some season ticket holders donated their seats for that game to the group of evacuees. During the game, the evacuees started taunting the folks around them and were trying to start fights as well as trying to hassle the people around them. When event staff tried to ask them to behave properly, some of the evacuees become belligerent; at this point, some LPD officers were called in to remind the folks that they were guests and that their behaviour would determine whether they would stay or be escorted out of the stadium.
I figure that walking across campus in a sandstorm is a great way to have a free scrubbing of one's skin; it rids you of all those dead skin cells. Skin care, west Texas style.
That's too bad. Are they still here, I wonder?
From what I understand from local news broadcasts is that small number of the Katrina evacuees have stayed to become members of the community.
Yes, he was in pilot training at Reese. Very nice guy, too. Wanted to interview him about his extremely generous donation to the Goodfellows Christmas campaign, but he very politely (and understandably) declined.
Yeah.....there was that great article in the Statesman (gee, that's not something you hear everyday) about the Bemiss family.
Press Release from campus:
TECH ANNOUNCE
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