Dallas makes desperate plea for help--"too many evacuees"

[rainbow4321]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/katrina/stories/090305dnnatkatrina.1f786368.html

Dallas city officials made a desperate plea for help Saturday morning, saying that, within hours, they will have far more Hurricane Katrina evacuees than they can possibly manage.

Meanwhile, officials in Mesquite announced Saturday that the evacuee staging area there, overwhelmed with hurricane survivors, said they could no longer handle the busloads and was shutting down. Dallas police scrambled to set up a new area, and as of 11 a.m., said it would likely be near the Convention Center.

The number of New Orleans evacuees at the Dallas Convention Center and Reunion Arena doubled overnight, and as of 10:30 a.m., at least 105 more buses – carrying thousands of needy people – were headed for the city.

On Friday morning, Dallas officials were told to expect 25 buses, Mr. Miguez said. By Friday afternoon, that number had grown to 50. At 6 a.m. today, Mr. Miguez said, the number had grown again – this time to 150.

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. My God! These poor people! Haven't they been through enough already?

Being shuffled around has to be so traumatizing. :cry:

[rainbow4321]

5. Crappy planning, once again.

I had mentioned in the beginning of the week somewhere here.

They should have used that eminent domain law, gotten a list of abandoned department stores, grocery stores, malls, other big places and set up refugee centers around the country.

The Dallas suburb that I live in has an empty Ultimate Electronic dept store, 2 empty grocery store buildings..and that is just within 2-3 miles of my house.
Think of the empty buildings on a national level that exist. Surely FEMA could have gotten a master list together from the real estate companies and said "we're taking over these empty buildings".


The refugees may be gettng out of NO, but this disaster is not going to end for them any time soon til FEMA people get their heads out of their asses.

[txindy]

8. Excellent idea! I hadn't thought of the empty stores available.

And there certainly are many, of all sizes. There are quite a few restaurants that have closed, too. I don't know how that works, though. Would the restaurants leave the ovens and such behind or do they sell those off? If they are there, they would make excellent cooking facilities for feeding large groups.

I like the way you think! :hi:

[txindy]

6. And so far, too! I'm thrilled that Texas is taking in the evacuees

But I can't help thinking that they are so far away from what they consider 'home' - even if their home has been lost to the floods. It's still home. San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Houston are awesome for helping the thousands that are coming here, but if one reaches capacity, the drive to the next available facility may be hundreds of miles and hours away. Some of these people may not make it through that.

[ret5hd]

2. fort worth is next door...send some to MY city.

[derby378]

3. Where are they being housed?

We know some are being kept at Reunion Arena. What else can you tell us?

[rainbow4321]

7. Convention center...and also

A Baptist campsite in Denton has been designated by FEMA as emergency shelter (per the Dallas Morning News yesteday). Denton is also going to house some women and children in their jail barracks since there are showers and other facilities there.

Also, the paper said that my city (Plano) was going to give them an answer at the end of the day yesterday if they would take 2,000 refugees. Plano schools sent out an email to us parents saying that we may be taking in some of the students. The school's PTA is going to give the kids those pre-packaged school supplies that they sell---instead of returning the unused packages to the company, they willbe giving them to any new students that enroll.


I believe the Baptist camp will hold 300 to 500 people. Per the owner, they have sent out massive emails/communication to it's 80+ local churchs for donations, clothes, etc..

[justabob]

10. re convention center

Do you have any idea if they opened the whole thing up, or just parts of it. That is a massive complex and I can't imagine it would be full already. I have been trying to find info but so far not much luck....

[rainbow4321]

12. I believe only part of it...Walmart is having their convention there

but last I read, they were willing to give up "some" space for those evacated. Hell, given this is a national emergency, you would think SOME agency could tell them to get OUT of the entire convention center so it could be used for the victims.

[justabob]

13. Walmart? How ironic

Thanks for the info. Since tomorrow is Sunday maybe the convention is almost over and they can move evacuees into the other areas. We still need cots etc, but at least they will have someplace to go.

[derby378]

11. Will these sites be open to the public?

We can't do much - but maybe we can bring these folks a little something.

[rainbow4321]

14. If Reunion Arena is any example, they are being kept away from public

Here is a blog-like website from a lady trying to offer housing to people..she wrote about her experience when she went down to Reunion Arena..there were cops and NG guarding the doors, not letting ANYone have access to the refugees except "certified" volunteers, etc...

http://hurricane.meetup.com/1/boards/view/viewthread?thread=1495849#2243125

The volunteers let us in and allowed us to stay in the area and hold up our sign while we walked around. We talked to several people from the Hurricane disaster (easy to detect because they are wearing bright red or yellow bracelets).
After limited success there, Becky and I walked around to the very front of the arena. They had national guardsmen guarding all of the doors and cops everywhere. At the front, they had a small area for media and a small area for medical attention.

There is a tunnel that connects the arena to the convention center to the right as you approach the arena. There was a lot of evacuees walking back and forth in the tunnel and several standing outside the convention center. But, forget about getting inside to see the victims and talk to them face-to-face. I think the police have security concerns that stop them from opening the doors to the public.

[girl gone mad]

4. There are a lot of churches in Texas.

I hope more of them step up to the plate. I know a couple of them have already.

[StellaBlue]

9. North Texas

I am currently visiting relatives in North Texas, a good 415 miles from NOLA, and found out on WEDNESDAY that the county is getting 500+ refugees put into our old WW2-era NG camp.

I am glad because I feel like we can at least do something tangible, beyond giving money, to help and comfort these people. We can, hopefully, give them a community. And help them to feel less alone.

Having said that, there were immediate murmurs in local cafes and stores about how all these people would be roaming the streets aimlessly, draining our economy, how we don't have enough public housing or jobs for them to stay here permanently... lots of overtly and subtly racist comments to the effect that our crime rate would go up, more gangs, drugs, etc. However, I think these people will still a warm welcome from local churches and individuals. 500 people can be absorbed.

Just a report from North Texas. Which, mostly, is grateful to be able to help.

[Catherine Vincent]

15. The racists will just have to deal with it.

Haven't they figured out that we have to learn to live together.