By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX –
Texas today continues its role in providing refuge for evacuees from Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states in the aftermath of the destruction of the deadly Hurricane Katrina.
From medical services offered by Texas health care providers to the loan of utility workers to searches for available housing, Texas organizations, state agencies and individuals are continuing to try to lessen some of the heartbreak faced by the victims of the storm.
In Houston, the Astrodome was closed to new refugees as officials who initially thought they could house up to 25,000 individuals said they could not accommodate that many. Once the Astrodome reached capacity, the city said it would open the Reliant Center and the George R. Brown Convention Center to house as many as 11,000 who migrated from Louisiana.
Estimates earlier in the day were that nearly 90,000 storm refugees were housed in Texas shelters with close to 65,000 staying in hotels. That brings the total number of storm refugees in Texas to more than 150,000. Other cities that have taken in storm survivors include Dallas, where 25,000 are expected to be housed at the Reunion Arena, and San Antonio, where another 25,000 refugees are expected. Shelters are also being made available in East Texas in Tyler, Jacksonville, Marshall and Lufkin; and in coastal towns that include Beaumont, Orange and cities in Galveston County.
The influx of refugees, many of whom have medical needs, is putting a strain on medical resources. The Texas Medical Association (TMA) is the primary coordinator for Texas doctors who are volunteering their services to the victims.
"TMA is working with both state and national emergency operations personnel, and our local sister-societies (county medical societies) to arrange for physicians to treat patients in local care facilities and shelters in Texas," said Pam Udall, TMA's Director of Media Relations. She said many are setting up round-the-clock care for patients who have fled the Gulf Coast regions.
Texas physicians are not being deployed across state lines, said Udall, but instead are offering their services in shelters in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and other areas of the state where the refugees are being taken in. Udall said more than 100 Texas physicians have volunteered to assist the refugees, and more are calling daily to offer their services.
State organizations continue to offer assistance, the latest among them the Texas Apartment Association (TAA). "TAA is encouraging its members to respond sensitively and compassionately to this disaster," said George B. Allen, CAE, TAA Executive Vice President. "We are encouraging members to offer short-term leases, and to consider waiving application fees and various move-in fees when possible."
Some TAA members are already offering free or reduced rent to evacuees to help them through the immediate crisis. TAA is also asking members to work with local relief agencies and organizations, and to register their available apartment units with a national database being coordinated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA).
Texas state agencies also continue to respond to the emergency. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has been asked by Texas emergency management officials to uses its electronic signs along two Texas interstate highways to inform travelers that shelters in Houston are full, and directing them instead to San Antonio or Dallas.
The Texas Forest Service's (TFS) Lone Star State Incident Management Team has been asked by FEMA to oversee the receiving and distribution of food, water and ice to the area of Louisiana affected by the storm, including all communities south and east of Baton Rouge, La., including greater New Orleans. The state has established five distribution points staffed and operated by eight TFS wildland fire hand crews.
While Texans have been quick to respond to the needs of the refugees, one Texas think tank, the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP), is questioning the federal government's lack of preparation for a tragedy of such proportions.
"We were disturbed to read that the federal government cut flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005, and cut the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for protection from Lake Pontchartrain from $14.5 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year," noted the CPPP. The group said the Army Corps of Engineers stopped major work in 2004 on the levee system that protected New Orleans. "These spending cuts for critical government work came during the same period that the federal government cut taxes with troops at war, benefiting primarily the richest Americans. Ironically, Congress has scheduled the vote to permanently repeal the estate tax on the very wealthiest for later this month."
The CPPP urged President George W. Bush to appoint a national commission modeled after the 9-11 Commission to address why the Gulf Coast was "inadequately protected" from Hurricane Katrina, why it was not able to respond quicker and more effectively, and what can be done to ensure the nation is protected against such a tragedy in the future.