HURRICANE KATRINA IN SALT LAKE C

A very different assignment for a Red Cross hurricane deployment

We are working in a shelter at an army base. The shelter was set up on Camp Williams, which is a National Guard Training Site operated by the Utah Army National Guard. It is located 26 miles south of Salt Lake City. This is a small army base that was built many years ago around the Second World War era and updated from time to time as most bases are.

A Red Cross Shelter was set up on this base to handle 572 Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans that were flown in on Saturday September 3, 2005. Most of these people were evacuated from the dome and individual rescues.

The plane landed at the Salt Lake Utah airport with evacuees who were still in clothes that had excrement on them, dirty, hungry, thirsty, filled with fear, and in shock. They were greeted by Red Cross workers, and the army national guard who checked the luggage for weapons. Most of the weapons in their luggage consisted of knives and razor blades. These were taken out of the luggage and the baggage was loaded on trucks with the evacuees taken by bus to the army base.

They were given beds and bedding in the barracks, meals provided by the Southern Baptist Church in the chow hall, hot water and hot showers, and a community center equipped with large TV’s, couches, books, puzzles, long tables of free phones to call any place they wanted to and long tables of computers to go on line.

There were tables of snacks of every kind. Coolers filled with bottles of water, juice and soda pop. Also plenty of coffee, hot chocolate and milk were served with each meal three times a day. Different originations in town furnished pizzas, subways, sandwiches, pies and cakes.
It has been a very interesting and wonderful experience to help these evacuees.

The Utah state government, Salt Lake area job work forces, churches, Salvation Army, FEMA and many businesses came forward to help these people. Once the evacuees were there for a couple of days they began to love it. It is dry in that part of Utah, no humidity like New Orleans, beautiful mountains, the temperature was in the 80’s and 90’s most of the time. A few of the nights got down into the 50’s. Some told me that it was like going to heaven.

The Salt Lake City resources came together and offered tours by bus to many areas which included the Harlem Globe Trotters basket ball game, NASCAR, the state fair, hiking, visiting the copper mines, mountain excursions, city tours, ski resort, horse back riding, haircuts and a visit with the hair dresser, manicures, massages, shopping in the malls and many more things.

A large building was opened with clothes, shoes and suitcases for the taking. They could have as much as they wanted. A medical team was there for them, (one even had open-heart surgery). Some needed glasses, prescriptions, and dental work.

Apartments were offered to the ones that wanted to stay and they were given jobs. The apartments and utilities are free for one year and they were completely furnished with new furniture, complete kitchen set-up, linens, bedding, bathroom towels, washcloths, shower curtains etc. for an apartment, and if they couldn’t stay in the apartment for the length of the lease, FEMA bought their leases.

The job workforce group came to the base to offer jobs to the people. Some of the evacuees decided to stay in Salt Lake or the surrounding area and took jobs. Some had never worked in their lives and didn’t know about working and thought some of the work was hard. Some were very grateful to have a job. They all seemed to love this area. It is very different from Louisiana. There are mountains, no humidity, people treating them nice and people smiling at them. Some feel at home here. They want to stay. Some want to go back home to New Orleans, especially the older ones. No matter how much you tell them that there is no place to go to, they still want to go home and be there even if it means to die. Some have serious mental problems, some were in the prison system, one was a pedophile, and some had serious medical issues.

The job of the Red Cross at this type of shelter is very different than other disasters. The Red Cross shelter in this case is on a base and the other state agencies are on base to have it all come together in several buildings, which the main building was the community center. In the first couple of weeks there were press, TV, radio, the governor, (several times) state representatives, mayor, other officials from organizations coming here to the camp to see and talk to the people. The evacuees took the bus system into town, the mall, sight-seeing, church, restaurants, bars and any place they wanted to go.

A bank was opened on base for them, a social security office was opened, a post-office, the chapel was in full swing with Chaplin’s and mental health nurses to help them. It turned into a small city with everything they would need to get them back on track. There were vans and buses to take them to town or to the malls for shopping.

The ones that were on drugs used their money to go to town to find their choice of drugs, the alcoholics bought their bottles or 6-packs. They couldn’t take the booze or drugs onto the base, so some were caught trying to hide the bottles or drugs.

I have read some Internet articles about the camps being like prisons. That is absolutely not correct. If our bases and barracks are good enough for our military soldiers, they are good enough for any of us.

This was a wonderful place that had barracks they could live in, wonderful food, there linen was washed for them, the community center has a row of phones that are free and they can call any place they want to.

There were many tables of books and puzzles for adults and children. A nursery was run by the volunteers for the children to play in and for the parents to have some rest time away from the children and the stress of it all. There were Red Cross workers to help teach the clients how to use the computers, to get their names on line so their relatives could find them.

A building was set-up for the wheelchair and people who needed medical care with their meals brought to them.

The people who could, walked all over the area and they were taught to keep the areas clean as on a base there is never trash thrown on the ground. They learned quickly and enjoyed the clean look of the place as we were told by some of them. The people in wheel chairs always had someone there to help them with what ever they needed. The people told us this was a very nice place to be.

It was a wonderful lesson for all of us with the different cultures coming into play. We would smile at them and speak to them. At first they wouldn’t look us in the eyes, and they finally ask us why we were smiling at them. We told them that was the way it was in the west. Everyone smiled at everyone. Then they began to smile back.

Some of these people had never been out of New Orleans, never been very far from their home. Some had been born and lived in the same house all of their lives. The older female is the dominate one in the household and holds everything together. They all mind mama, even the men when they are home.
The hurricane evacuees were treated very well in Utah.

They ask questions like why didn’t the Red Cross rescue them? We told them that the Red Cross does not conduct search and rescue operations. We are an organization of civilian volunteers and also cannot get relief aid into any location until the local authorities say it is safe and provide us with security and access.

Access to New Orleans is controlled by the National Guard and local authorities and while we are in constant contact with them, we simply cannot enter New Orleans against their orders. The state Homeland Security Department had requested that the American Red Cross not come back into New Orleans following the hurricane. Our presence would keep people from evacuating and encourage others to come into the city.

The Red Cross has been meeting the needs of thousands of New Orleans residents in some 127 shelters throughout the state of Louisiana and many others elsewhere since before the hurricane made landfall. We are fully staffed and equipped to handle these individuals once they are evacuated. We will continue to work and to focus all our efforts on our lifesaving mission of feeding and sheltering.

There was a wedding with all the trappings, a beautiful brides gown, tuxedos for the groom and entourage, cake, reception with wonderful food, limousine, bride and groom riding in a hose drawn carriage in a parade downtown with Dixieland music, the honeymoon was at a deluxe resort, gifts, well-wishers etc.

This couple met when they got on the airplane at New Orleans to come to Salt Lake. What a happy ending. They are going to make their home in Salt Lake City, Utah.