|
Gustav impacts the mountain
By David Lusk
The Weekly Post
|
|
Published September 4, 2008
SAND MOUNTAIN—Imagine the threat of weather forcing you to leave your job and home behind, and you’ll have some idea of what the evacuees from the path of Hurricane Gustav are dealing with. Estimates in the hundreds of thousands of people were officially evacuated from affefcted areas, and approximately 500 to 600 of those people ended up in DeKalb County, in shelters at Northeast Alabama Community College and at the DeKalb County Schools Coliseum.
For Joseph Andrews of Lake Charles, La., this is his second evacuation.
“I’m just getting back from the last big storm we had; I’ve been back in Lake Charles for about a month,” explained Andrews.
Like most of the other evacuees, Andrews had to leave behind a home and a job. Many evacuees were separated from their family members. But, in spite of confusion over their final destination,evacuees like Andrews and his new friend Jerome Watkins were pleased to be in DeKalb County.
“These people out here are wonderful. I’ve never been around people so kind and so wonderful. I’ve never met people like this, and I’ve been everywhere you could name; California, New Orleans, Las Vegas. These people here take the cake,” Andrews explained. “My hat is off to them. They are wonderful.”
However, the trip here wasn’t that wonderful, according to Andrews and Watkins. They stated that when the government ordered the evacuation and called in the National Guard, even the bus drivers were unaware of where they were headed.
“The biggest thing, really, messing the whole thing up was, everyone got on the bus — but not only the passengers didn’t know where they were going, the bus drivers didn’t even know where they were going,” explained Watkins. “So no one knew where the buses were going. And once the buses got to the shelters, they didn’t have enough spaces for evacuees.”
Andrews, who has family in Birmingham, hoped to stop in that city, but the buses kept rolling north as shelter after shelter filled up. But Watkins and Andrews both came to see that as a blessing in disguise.
“You get to one place and the shelter is full. You get to another place and the shelter is full. So you get constantly moved,” said Watkins, “until we ended up where there were some nice people. With God’s grace. We ended up in a better spot.”
Dr. Joe Burke, a spokesman for NACC, stated that the Red Cross are the actual coordinators of the shelters, but that the college provides both the space and personnel to assist the evacuees.
“We have somewhere between 250 and 300 evacuees here, and we are at capacity,” said Burke. “We’re filled up. Of course, you know the Coliseum has our overflow. Everything has gone very smoothly.” Burke commended the cooperation between local law enforcement, disaster relief personnel and the school in meeting the evacuees needs. Burke also noted significant local community responses.
“The Rock church in Scottsboro brought in some supplies; water and snacks and things. The DeKalb Baptist Association and the Sand Mountain Baptist Association have provided relief aid, in the form of helping with food preparation and serving and those kinds of things. Farmer’s Telecommunications contributed two large fans which have been a lifesaver for us,” said Burke. “Our medical training program instructors have been here around the clock, since Sunday, and there are also some medical personnel with the Red Cross.” Burke also acknowledged the contributions of both Jackson and DeKalb County’s Emergency Management Agencies.
All of that is necessary because, at the end of the day, the evacuees, the refugees, are people; they are human beings with needs, in a difficult situation.
“It’s scary,” Andrews explained. “You don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know what you’re going to run into, or how you’re going to be treated. But so far we’ve been treated wonderfully. These people have opened their homes up. They’ve fed us and clothed us, and gave us a place to sleep and take a shower and stuff. It’s been nice. It’s been like a vacation, really, it seems like. They have really, really bent over backwards for us. It’s been truly wonderful.”
Andrews had just started a job as a cook at the Blue Duck Cafe’, when hurricane Gustav blew up. Now, he’s offering to cook for the other evacuees.
“I’ve been offering to help in their little cafeteria here. I’m not blowing my own horn, but I’m a good cook. So I’ve been offering to help cook, or unload trucks, or whatever they need help with,” Andrews explained. “I’ve been helping out, as much as I can. Just got done mopping up some water; we had a little flood in there where the drains backed up, but we just grabbed some mops in there and started mopping.”
Evacuee Shawn Griffin was staying at the Coliseum. Originally from Dallas, Tx., Griffin said that he had been living in New Orleans for the past three years — working on renovation projects in the aftermath of Katrina. Griffin gushed over the quality of treatment that he received at the Coliseum.
“I was riding on a bus for 30 hours. I just want to let people know what a great job local people have done during this whole thing. They took care of us, medically, and looked after our needs,” Griffin explained. “The police, fire department, ambulance and Red Cross personnel here all worked together perfectly. I just wanted to say thank you.”
Ronnie Helton, Rainsville’s Fire Chief, was activated as the Incident Commander for the Coliseum evacuee effort. Helton worked in close cooperation with Rainsville Police Chief Roger Byrd, his own assistant chief Derek Huskey, and Red Cross Executive Director Linda Clark. For Helton, the challenge of this operation was the short notice.
Helton stated that, although the Coliseum had been previously used for a foul weather shelter, it had never been used for anything of this magnitude. But for local aid workers, apparently the first time is the charm.
“These people said they’ve been to so many shelters, and they said that this shelter here was one of the nicest shelters they’ve been through,” said Helton. “They said they’ve been through some that didn’t have food or water or bathroom facilities. All the people here have helped.”
As of Tuesday, officials were unsure when the evacuees would depart. Some estimates ran as early as Wednesday, some as late as next Monday. Evacuees like Andrews and Watkins would like to get back home, but as during the storm they said they will rely on faith.
“I always have had faith in the Lord, and in good people,” said Andrews. “Faith has a lot to do with it. It kind of calms you down. You know? You’re not nervous and kind of scared about what your situation is turning into. So, it helped out a lot. Give it time. It’ll work out.”
Watkins agreed. “You’ve got to put it in the hands of the Lord, you know?”
Editor’s note: other evacuees were sent to Snead State Community College, while some animals evacuated from the area ended up at the Jackson County Animal Shelter.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
