Strains mounting in shelters for Ike evacuees (9/17/08)

Tag : caravan shoes
By Paulina Arillaga, AP National Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP, 9/17/08) — Evacuees streaming into hundredsof makeshift shelters set up around Texas are bringing all thebelongings they can carry and at least one unanswerable question:What now?

How long will they have to stay? What is left of their homes alongthe Texas coastline ravaged by Hurricane Ike? What has happened totheir friends and neighbors and relatives? And how much worse canit get?

Shauna Leigh, 20, arrived Friday at 1 a.m. after fleeing Galvestonwith her mother, Rena, and 2-month-old baby, Thomas, just a dayahead of Ike.

She stood outside a San Antonio shelter Monday morning, trying toget away from the crowds and grab a bit of fresh air as her babylay quietly in his carriage, wrapped in a Pooh Bear top and a babyblue blanket dotted with footballs.

Leigh was among the first to arrive at the shelter; her evacueewrist band bears the number 350. Then more and more folks startedstreaming in, including the many busloads of evacuees who hadstayed behind for the storm. Those new arrivals receive wrist bandsnumbered somewhere in upper thousands, now.

``There wasn't hardly anyone in there. It was quiet, but as timeprogressed, more people came,'' said Shauna, as her mother chimedin: ``Longer breakfast line. Longer lunch line. Longer dinnerline.''

They'd like to stay with relatives, but many of them live inHouston or elsewhere along the coast and are still without power.

``Right now we're just waiting it out, seeing what happens. I don'tthink I can stay here that long. There's just so many people andthere's sick people, too, and I have my son,'' Shauna Leigh said.``I just don't want to make this a permanent home.''

More than 37,000 people have been left homeless and are staying atshelters. Even more are on the way as search and rescue teamscontinue to round up those stranded by the storm's floodwaters. Thestrain is beginning to show.

Some shelters are overcrowded, food and water scarce, and therehave been isolated reports of fights and arrests. State officialsurged evacuees not to try to return home too early to hard-hitareas of Southeast Texas, where first responders and emergencyworkers are already overwhelmed and overworked.

But even as some evacuees appeared to be ignoring those pleas,others were still coming by bus from Galveston, Houston and otherbattered cities to nearly 300 emergency shelters set up across thestate.

Pat Schmidt, 57, and her 16-year-old daughter, Marilea, werehanging out by the curb outside of the mammoth warehouse-shelter atPort San Antonio. On the ground beside them were just four bags: Asmall suitcase, two carry-ons and a Pier 1 shopping bag that helddirty shoes and half-empty water bottles.

They arrived on one of the many buses from Galveston at 6 a.m.Monday. The 245-mile trip from the island took more than 11 hours,delayed when other buses in their caravan broke down along the way.

``We went in and they told us they serve breakfast at 8 a.m.,better get in line early,'' Schmidt said.

Schmidt and her daughter plan to stay with her sister-in-law inAustin, doing what they can to keep their minds off of thedestruction back home. Their immediate plans meant meeting basicneeds: A shower — they haven't had one since Wednesday— sleep, then shopping for some extra clothes. Beyond that,Schmidt couldn't say.

``They told us there'd be no power, no electricity for at least twoweeks. Whenever they say we can come back, my sister-in-law isgoing to drive us back. But this is where we are today,'' she said.

``I'll cook to earn my board. We'll just hang out. I don't want towatch anymore pictures of Galveston,'' said Schmidt, nodding towardthe entrance to the shelter. ``Everyone in there was watching it,but I just can't. Not anymore. It's kind of like a dream thatyou're in and you know you're going to wake up. But instead ofsaying, `Oh, it was just a dream.' It wasn't.''

In Austin, more than half of the 6,200 evacuees who sought shelterfrom Ike have since left, but authorities couldn't say for surewhere they went. Some returned to coastal areas that were sparedthe brunt of Ike's destruction. Others were staying with family andfriends, but it was impossible to say how many, said Sara Hartley,emergency operations spokeswoman for the city.

Some who arrived at shelters last week ahead of the storm said thestrain had worsened with the arrival of the latest wave ofevacuees, many of whom chose to ride out Ike and disregardedearlier evacuation efforts.

At one overcrowded East Texas shelter, many of the 1,600 evacueeswere moved on Sunday to other locations near Fort Worth aftertempers flared and fights broke out among evacuees housed in anabandoned Wal-Mart.

The building, pressed into service because several shelters usedduring Hurricane Gustav weren't available, has minimal bathroomfacilities, requiring portable toilets, showers and wash basins tobe placed in the parking lot.

Police said seven people were arrested after incidents Saturday andSunday. One person involved in a fight was Tasered and severalothers were pepper-sprayed, Tyler police said.

``You get 1,600 people on cots in an old Wal-Mart, things like thatare bound to happen,'' said Tyler police chief Gary Swindle.

Nicholas Harris, 23, of Beaumont, among the 900-plus evacueesrelocated Sunday night, was happy to be out of Tyler.

``We was all on top of each other, and everybody had to fend forthemselves,'' said Harris, who was moved to a shelter at the FirstBaptist Church in Watauga. ``It's been real hard, but God's goingto take care of us.''

Associated Press writers Jay Root in Austin, Angela K. Brown inFort Worth and Danny Robbins in Dallas contributed to this report.