SubscribeGustav Evacuees Grouse About Treatment
Let’s see, free transportation, shelter and food gets you what kind of gratitude these days?
From the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Publicly assisted evacuees in Jefferson begin arriving to mixed reviews
by Barri Bronston and Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune
Friday September 05, 2008Publicly assisted evacuees began returning to Jefferson Parish in droves Friday, with some describing the experience as horrendous and others giving their weeklong experience passing marks…
The evacuees offered mixed reviews of their exile that began Aug. 30, as Gustav, then a powerful Category 4 storm packing 140 mph winds, threatened the area.
“This was the first and last time,” said Rakena Holmes of Avondale, who evacuated to Shreveport with several family members, including her wheelchair-bound brother.
“We thought that with my brother being disabled, this would be easier. But it was chaotic. Next time we’ll use our own transportation.”
Holmes said she and 3,000 other people were housed in a vacant Sam’s Club warehouse, where they slept on cots and dined on hot dogs, chicken patties and green beans.
“You’d stand in line for an hour and then they’d run out of food,” she said. “It just wasn’t organized.”
The evacuation was conducted as part of joint evacuation plan between Jefferson Parish and the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.About 7,000 parish residents used the service.
Viola Roussell of Marrero, who also evacuated to Shreveport, said the food was edible but the lines to the restrooms were painfully long. Still, she said, she has no regrets leaving and would do it again.
“It’s better to do this than to stay here and get hurt,” Roussell said.
Holding her 10-month-old daughter, Shakima Hawkins of Houma described her evacuation to the Century-Tel Center in Bossier City as “horrible. There were too many people, and it was scary because I was all by myself.” She said she barely put her daughter down for fear that someone might take her.
Not all evacuees criticized the experience. Floyd Prejean of Marrero said his stay at the Bossier City arena was “nice. The Red Cross was there. The Fire Department was there. It was very well organized. And the food was good.”
Carra Butler of Gretna agreed. “It was a nice place,” she said. “The people were very nice. The Red Cross did a great job. But it was too much trouble to go through. I just as soon stay home and take my chances with the next storm.”
Paige Fuentes of Kenner, who evacuated to Shreveport, said her biggest criticism was the lack of showers — until portable ones were brought in four days into their stay. “And you had to wait in line for everything for food, for coffee and when the showers got there for showers.” …
Fuentes said she and her boyfriend lucked out when a couple they met at a local mission invited them to their home to clean up, take a nap and enjoy a home-cooked meal.
Despite the couple’s generosity, Fuentes doubts she will go through such an ordeal again. “I’d prefer to use my own money and get a hotel,” she said.
There is no pleasing some people. And how soon they forget:
But it was too much trouble to go through. I just as soon stay home and take my chances with the next storm.
And so the cycle begins again.
(Thanks to CGardner for the heads up.)
12 Responses to “Gustav Evacuees Grouse About Treatment”
Leave a Reply
You must be registered and logged in to post a comment.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
“Viola Roussell…said the food was edible but the lines to the restrooms were painfully long.”
So, it was basically like every sporting event you’ve ever attended?
September 6th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
In their defense, as one who has grown up evacuating periodically it is a beatch. It is a horribly stressful time and I can’t imagine having to go through it with hundreds of strangers.
That being said, those people in this article that obviously had the means to evacuate themselves but chose to ride the government dime - you get what you pay for.
September 6th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
And let me add I have not unpacked from Gustav and will be probably be evacuating again in a day or two due to Ike.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
“We thought that with my brother being disabled, this would be easier. But it was chaotic. Next time we’ll use our own transportation.”
If you had your own transportation , then what in the hell were you doing riding on my dime you ungratefull SOB?
September 6th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Some of these ingrates were brought to Oklahoma City. While most were grateful to have a place to stay complete with baskets of personal items (toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, deodorant, etc.) and most needs taken care of–there were a few that took offense that lunches consisted mostly of sandwiches, and some thought it not very hospitable that they had to sleep on cots.
Let me tell you a personal story. You can compare this experience with theirs. When Hurricane Betsy hit in 1964 or 1965, I was living in New Orleans. Once the winds quit tearing apart our city and the waters began to subside, we had NOTHING except whatever we’d had the good sense to lay aside before the hurricane. The Red Cross was there, but was in other parts of town more than ours, and many were selling “clean” water for outrageous amounts–often the water wasn’t clean at all, but people were desperate.
Many, many people in that hurricane (including me) would have loved to have had one of those rejected sandwiches this batch of refugees was too good to eat. Toothbrush? Oh my, brushing one’s teeth was an incredible luxury during those days. It took weeks for some, months for others, to get the power on, to fix roofs so that the next rain didn’t soak you, to have clean running water again–all the things we take for granted.
So to these refugees–shut your fat yaps and be darned grateful some people cared enough to get you out of harm’s way, and make sure you were housed, fed, and cared for. A lot of people aren’t that lucky.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Then move!!
People didn’t evacuate when ordered before Katrina hit, then the levees broke. How is any of this Bush’s fault?
If the city evacuated when ordered, it would have just been a matter of draining the city and dealing with the property damage. Instead it became a massive rescue effort to save a bunch of happless idiots.
Three years later the city is evacuated and people still complain. Frankly, I’m tired of subsidizing the warehousing of welfare recipients in a flood plain.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Has post-Katrina given even more people the impression they are entitled to Government protection and comfort during a natural disaster?
September 6th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Homeland Security needs to buy some X-Boxes and bigscreen tv’s.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
This is Redickilus.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I am currently out of country now with my parents who are adopting a boy born with special needs, but have talked to my brother back in my hometown where some evacuees were moved to stay temporarily in a local athletic complex.
Near where they are staying is a nice gas station with a patio for patrons to eat from the small cafe. According to my brother, some of the evacuees walked the short distance to the station to buy beer and malt liquor and were sitting outside the store drinking at all hours of the day. When the gas station told them to leave they refused so they station stopped selling to them.
What do you think happened? They walked the mile or so down the road to the local grocery store and purchased more alcohol and went back to the gas station to drink outside on the patio. The authorities had to be called in and some had to be arrested! A ridiculous scene of people who think something is owed to them! Makes me sick to my stomach…
September 6th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I’ll ask the obvious, so where was the father of Shakima’s child? Let me guess, she doesn’t know where he is, she doesn’t care where he is or she doesn’t have a clue who the father really is.
Personal responsibility is obviously not in her, or the father’s, vocabulary.
Welfare mommies beget more welfare mommies and the cycle continues.
Apologies for the cynicism but I just don;t see why we, as a society, continue to help people that refuse to help themselves.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
As a mother of an almost 11 month old, who has a husband that goes TDY quite a bit, showers are few and far between. They are an absolute luxury. I might be able to wash my hair one week, and my face the next.
What a self-centered, ignorant ass. Guess she’s never heard of GI-baths? Take a wash-cloth, a bit of water and some soap. Strip down to whatever is comfortable.. and wash. <_< A hand-towel can dry you off just fine.