Local volunteers: In some areas, Gustav worse than Katrina
Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram
Even though Gustav was a relatively weak hurricane as it made landfall Monday on the Gulf Coast, many evacuees say it caused more damage in some places than Hurricane Katrina, according to Mary Moran of Amherst.Moran is among seven local American Red Cross volunteers helping with cleanup and rescue efforts in the storm’s wake.
“It’s starting to calm down here, but there are a lot of people still without food or shelter,” she said Thursday morning, calling from a Baptist church gymnasium in Baton Rouge, La.
Moran said Red Cross volunteers and about 200 evacuees waited out Gustav in the church while the worst of the 115-mph winds and violent rain blasted for about five hours.
She said she watched as a huge steeple at another church was ripped off.
The destruction was nothing new for several people who left their homes in New Orleans to seek refuge in her shelter, she said.
But Moran said Baton Rouge residents felt Gustav’s fury more than Katrina’s.
“They were used to being without electricity. That’s one thing,” she said. “But they weren’t used to finding trees in their living rooms.”
Many homes are flooded or wind damaged, but the situation isn’t so bad in the city’s streets, Moran said.
Her shelter received a fresh shipment of cots Wednesday night, and while the rations aren’t gourmet, evacuees are thankful for it, she said.
The local American Red Cross chapter sent Moran and volunteers Yvette Ortiz and Patricia Yacobucci to Louisiana at the beginning of the week. All three women had helped in Katrina’s aftermath.
Four more emergency response area workers — Janyce Schmidt, Karen Caples, Ruth Hebble and Carl Timm — left Tuesday morning for Mississippi, according to the Lorain County chapter’s executive director, Clarence Wills.
“We don’t know exactly what they’ll be doing or even where they’re going to be assigned,” she said. “It could take as long as three days for them to get in contact with us.”
Meanwhile, Columbia Township firefighter and paramedic Kevin Barnard flew Tuesday night to Crowley, La., to help about 12,000 people northwest of New Orleans.
Barnard isn’t with the American Red Cross but had been running missions for the MedEvac division of Air Methods Corp. and helping evacuate critically ill people before Gustav hit.
Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram September 5th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 1% |
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