Kikers
2005-09-04 04:04:57 UTC
Just did a shift helping out at the Astrodome. You really don't get the
magnitude of what 15,000 people look like untill you've seen the floor of
the dome covered in cots. The dome isn't exactly the Holiday Inn. If the
evacuatees think this is great then the Superdome must've been like a
dungeon. I picture the dome with the lights off, no A/C and backed up
tiolets, and 20,000 people with no authorties except at the front door.
Hell.
The Reliant Hall has a medical facility and sleeping area. I think they can
get 5,000 in there. There is also an SPCA area for lost or separated dogs.
Foreign consulate representatives for any tourist or foreign-born
evacuatees. I speak German and tried to locate any who might need help but
people just smiled when I asked, "no, ain't no Germans in there.
Definitely."
Tonight, they were readying the Reliant Center to take ~7,000 more. We got
word that 37 buses were on the way and set up an in-processing station. We
waitid 2 hours then wwe got the word that there were no buses. Don't know
if they didn't exist or if they were diverted elsewhere.
People came up to me and asked all kinds of questions (volunteers have a
specific armband for ID). One guy wanted to know where to go toget his FEMA
check. Some other folks just wanted to know the news. One guy wanted to
know how the game wardens were doing patrolling N.O. Just smiling and
saying hi was enough for most.
Seemd like every 20-minutes an ambulance would leave for the Medical Center.
Lot of police (state, county, local).
More and more LA plates on the freeways. Saw a Lafayette Parish bus.
Orleans Parish buses starting to accumulate at the dome parking lot.
I'm hearing second-hand that some volunteers have been robbed or cars broken
in to. I'm hoping that's not true.
--
A. Kiker
magnitude of what 15,000 people look like untill you've seen the floor of
the dome covered in cots. The dome isn't exactly the Holiday Inn. If the
evacuatees think this is great then the Superdome must've been like a
dungeon. I picture the dome with the lights off, no A/C and backed up
tiolets, and 20,000 people with no authorties except at the front door.
Hell.
The Reliant Hall has a medical facility and sleeping area. I think they can
get 5,000 in there. There is also an SPCA area for lost or separated dogs.
Foreign consulate representatives for any tourist or foreign-born
evacuatees. I speak German and tried to locate any who might need help but
people just smiled when I asked, "no, ain't no Germans in there.
Definitely."
Tonight, they were readying the Reliant Center to take ~7,000 more. We got
word that 37 buses were on the way and set up an in-processing station. We
waitid 2 hours then wwe got the word that there were no buses. Don't know
if they didn't exist or if they were diverted elsewhere.
People came up to me and asked all kinds of questions (volunteers have a
specific armband for ID). One guy wanted to know where to go toget his FEMA
check. Some other folks just wanted to know the news. One guy wanted to
know how the game wardens were doing patrolling N.O. Just smiling and
saying hi was enough for most.
Seemd like every 20-minutes an ambulance would leave for the Medical Center.
Lot of police (state, county, local).
More and more LA plates on the freeways. Saw a Lafayette Parish bus.
Orleans Parish buses starting to accumulate at the dome parking lot.
I'm hearing second-hand that some volunteers have been robbed or cars broken
in to. I'm hoping that's not true.
--
A. Kiker