STORM2K

It was in our newspaper today that we're supposed to be getting some evacuees. They were supposed to come yesterday but they didn't. They're supposed to call me when they have more info on when they're coming. Raleigh and Charlotte are getting some too.

Debbie

VERY Cool Deb!! There's nothing like volunteering, yeah, somedays it does get old but all in all, it satisfies ones soul

Dennis

Yes, Raleigh like Deb mentioned is also hosting evacuees and it's wonderful to live in a city like many other cities across the USA who are opening up their hospitality to those displaced by Katrina.

My church has a shoe box ministry and what we did for the tsunami-affected peeps we're also getting some together now for the Katrina peeps.

Folks and I also are giving money to the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

Prayers and thoughts to all who were affected by that monster storm.
((((HUGS))))

Eric

That's great Debbie!!

Deb - that's just great. Please let us know how that goes. This entire country seems to be helping out in one form or another.

Mary

I saw on the news that Charlotte's didn't come until about 3am this morning. We're supposed to get their overflow. They asked if I wanted to work with children or elderly. I picked elderly. I've always gotten along with older people. Is that strange?

Debbie

Hurricane Evacuees Arrive To Raleigh

POSTED: 7:04 pm EDT September 3, 2005
UPDATED: 9:03 pm EDT September 5, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. -- More than 300 victims of Hurricane Katrina arrived to Raleigh-Durham International Airport at about 7:15 p.m. Monday, Wake County officials said.

Once they arrived, the evacuees were transported to the Wake County Hurricane Disaster Victim Center, which is located in Raleigh.

On Saturday afternoon, local officials were notified of the need to host 500 to 1,000 evacuees of Hurricane Katrina within hours.

In response to the request, Wake County, the City of Raleigh and the RBC Center partnered to set up the Wake County Hurricane Disaster Victim Center.

Emergency crews also set up receiving stations in Charlotte and Greensboro for a mix of medical patients and other people who have been forced to flee damaged areas along the Gulf Coast.

Wake County expected at least 500 people who did not need medical attention to arrive Saturday. But officials sent their emergency teams home Saturday evening. They then called workers out again past midnight when word began to circulate that some storm victims might be coming.

But a county spokeswoman said Sunday that State Emergency Management officials have instructed Wake, Guilford and Mecklenburg counties to assume a standby role until further notice.
In less than 24 hours, this 100,000-square-foot vacant corporate training center in Raleigh was transformed into the Wake County Hurricane Disaster Victim Center.

"We are prepared and ready to receive individuals with a two-hour notice," Wake County Community Health Director Gibbie Harris said. "The community has come together to quickly marshal resources to respond to this need, and we have demonstrated that we can handle something of this magnitude."

About 400 Raleigh, Wake County and RBC Center employees converted a 100,000-square-foot vacant corporate training center in Raleigh into a recovery center -- complete with cots, blankets and pillows -- in less than 24 hours.

"We have no idea how long these people will be here," Harris said. "We just have to prepare for them to be here a while."

The RBC Center and the Raleigh Convention and Conference Center will provide culinary services and operate a cafeteria, if evacuees arrive, officials said.

"The county and city staff have pulled together to make this happen in less than 24 hours," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker said. "I'm proud of our community's response."

Officials said the recovery center could not accept donations.

"We admire and understand people's desire to help these victims," Joe Bryan, chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, said. "We thank them for their generosity and ask them to funnel their donations through established relief agencies."

http://www.wral.com/news/4933412/detail.html

Copyright 2005 by WRAL.com.

deb_in_nc wrote:I saw on the news that Charlotte's didn't come until about 3am this morning. We're supposed to get their overflow. They asked if I wanted to work with children or elderly. I picked elderly. I've always gotten along with older people. Is that strange?

Debbie

That's not strange, at all, Deb! I have always rather work with the
elderly because they can teach YOU so many wonderful and insightful
things!

I think it's wonderful that you're volunteering to help them!

Thanks, breeze. I've always liked older people and some don't understand how I can put up with them. I can't understand how anyone could treat them like an unwanted piece of baggage. Think about your parents and grandparents. Is this how you'd want them to be treated? I say treat the elderly like you'd want to be treated. You'll be there soon enough. They're our history.

Debbie

Katrina Survivors Come To Rest In North Carolina



E-mail This Article
Print-Friendly Format

Make WFMY News 2 Your Home Page



Evacuees from the areas devastated by hurricane Katrina now staying in North Carolina cities say its a different world from the one they survived.


Raleigh, NC -- John Booth landed in a different world Monday night.

No gunfire. No flooding. No bodies left on the interstate.

"The things that are going on in that town, nobody would believe," said Booth, 64, a New Orleans native. "I've seen animals eating animals for food."

Booth was one of the first of a possible 1,500 refugees to arrive in Raleigh Monday night from the hurricane-ravaged city.

Booth said he was caring for his elderly aunt when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last week. He said his wife had gone to care for her mother and that he doesn't know where she or their adult daughters are now.

"I'm nervous. It's hard for me to talk," said Booth. "New Orleans is dead."

Two planes carrying a combined 260 refugees from New Orleans, mostly adults, arrived a couple hours apart Monday night at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

The evacuees were taken to a vacant office complex near the RBC Center in west Raleigh that has been converted into a temporary shelter.

Hundreds of other storm refugees were flown to Charlotte Monday, with more evacuees expected to arrive Tuesday in Raleigh, as well as Greensboro.

Those who arrived Monday were met with food, water, medicine, counselors, and a safe place to sleep.

Charlotte received around 430 refugees on four flights by late Monday, and was housing them at a shelter at the Charlotte Coliseum set up by the American Red Cross.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory and officials in Raleigh said the goal of the relief effort is to take care of basic needs like health care and food and then try to find more permanent living arrangements for the displaced families, whether it's with their own extended family or moving in with host families.

US officials said the federal government would provide money to the state for its relief costs. Governor Mike Easley urged residents to give what they could to relief efforts, saying other states had helped North Carolinians after storms.

Sondra Key of Charlotte did just that, dropping off bags of infant clothing at the Charlotte Coliseum.

"How could you not do something?" she said. "This is an unprecedented case of human suffering. I wanted to show them that the people of Charlotte are pulling for them."

What officials found were tired but grateful evacuees, who kept their sense of humor despite their hardships over the past week or more.

As children could be heard playing nearby, New Orleans native Collins Lewis, 56, said he's very grateful for the care he'd already received at the shelter in Raleigh.

He has no doubts he'll return to New Orleans someday and again make costumes for Mardis Gras.

"That's my craft," he said. "I'm going back home. I think that would be the right thing to do."

Others did not want to go back to the flood-torn city.

"I'm ready to go somewhere else if I find somewhere where I can be contented," said Tommie McDaniel, 38, who was one of 15 family members to arrive on the second flight to Charlotte on Monday.

Angela Red, who fled New Orleans with her two sons, Brandon Red, 17, and Bryan Smith, 12, and her mother, Freddie Red, said she was ready to go someplace else.

She said she would look into putting her children in North Carolina schools if she has to stay long.

"I think this could all happen again," she said. Her mother was ready to go back home.

"There's going to be a new and better New Orleans!" she shouted. "And when there is, I'm going back!"





Associated Press
Ethan Edwards , Web Producer
created: 9/6/2005 11:40:16 AM
Last updated: 9/6/2005 11:41:49 AM