If you go to this link and enter your zip code that will give you the contact info for your local Red Cross Chapter. http://www.redcross.org/index.html
I have two empty 4 bedroom townhomes that I'd be willing to let people stay in but i'm pretty worried about damages. If people can't find hotels or need temporary housing I wouldn't mind for a few nights, but I'm weary of people sqatting and not leaving for longer. If anyone knows any nice families that can't find hotels that need temporary housing, let me know. But i feel bad that I just don't want to open the places up to anyone after seeing the looting images etc.
I just got a call from some folks that were going down to the Astrodome to volunteer. Apparently they have so many people they have to turn away volunteers and are diverting them to here: http://www.houstonredcross.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi?section=central
Anyone know how to find out the names of the people going to the Astrodome? I have a great uncle who couldn't get out of his Metairie home and no one's heard from him since 5 a.m. right before the storm hit. I'm hoping & praying he's in the convoy to Houston so someone in my family can possibly take care of him for a while, but I dunno how to find out who's coming to H-town.
I'm ALL for being philanthropic, but be VERY careful about loaning out housing to people. There is a whole set of rules for squatters, renters ect. If I were you and felt the need to contribute...rent out your properties to actual renters with a contract, then donate the money.
You know, that's not an entirely bad idea. New Orleans workers in search of jobs... Houston being a huge long-term hostel for them until they can return. Perhaps we can get Gov't subsidy to create jobs in Houston, such as renovating the Astrodome. After all, with so many having to call the Astrodome home for a while, maybe they'll grow an affinity to restoring the ol' bird, as well.
One idea might be to put the townhomes up for rent then put up disaster victims for free and write off what would be lost rent revenue as a charitable contribution to defray any costs you might occur from damages. Another idea is to contact the Red Cross and let them know you are willing to put up people and see if they can help you out with regard to potential damages. When the Red Cross puts up fire victims in hotels they make them sign a damage waiver. Another option might be that now that there are probably people looking to move for good and maybe you could sell the townhouses at a reduced rate for victims.
People arriving now....CNN interviews with people from the Superdome are sounding pretty horrifying...
In my garage I have probably a dozen or more 40 gallon trashbags full of adult, child and baby clothing I was about to donate to either Salvation Armr or Purple Heart. Do you think there is any way I can take it to the dome?? You know they need a change of clothing down there. It would be my pleasure just to contribute in some way.
This is great of Houston to be doing this but does anyone see a problem for long term? They can't just stay in the Astrodome for a few months and just wander around the street. There has to be some sort of service to give these people jobs or relocate them to a more permanent area or just back on their feet in general. With New Orleans shut down for the short term, these refugees will be in Houston for at least the next few months and they need something other than a dome. I hope there is a longer term plan for these folks otherwise some sort of social unrest could occur
Eventually they're going to be bused back to Eastern Louisiana. Not once New Orleans becomes inhabitable, but certainly once local shelters are set up. It's up to mother nature, however, how long they stay here..
sorry this is so long...but this just stinks. Sept. 1, 2005, 7:52AM Gunfire halts Superdome evacuation Associated Press HURRICANE KATRINA NEW ORLEANS - The evacuation of the Superdome to Houston has been suspended because shots have been fired at military helicopters, even as looting and chaos forced New Orleans police to abandon search and rescue efforts. An ambulance official overseeing the operation said no injuries were immediately reported. ``We have suspended operations until they gain control of the Superdome,'' said Richard Zeuschlag, head of Acadian Ambulance, which was handling the evacuation of sick and injured people from the Superdome. He said the National Guard told him that it was sending 100 military police officers to gain control. "That's not enough,'' Zeuschlag. "We need a thousand. He said that shots were fired at a military helicopter over the Superdome before daybreak. He also said that during the night, when a medical evacuation helicopter tried to land at a hospital in the outlying town of Kenner, the pilot reported that 100 people were on the landing pad, and some of them had guns. "He was frightened and would not land,'' Zeuschlag. He said medics were calling him and crying for help because they were so scared of people with guns at the Superdome. National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured into New Orleans today to curb the growing lawlessness as Mississippi's governor vowed to deal with looters in the neighboring state as "ruthlessly as we can get our hands on them." An additional 10,000 National Guard troops from across the country were ordered into the Gulf Coast to shore up security, rescue and relief operations. The new units brought the number of troops dedicated to the effort to more than 28,000, in what may be the largest military response to a natural disaster. "The truth is, a terrible tragedy like this brings out the best in most people, brings out the worst in some people," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on NBC's "Today" show. "We're trying to deal with looters as ruthlessly as we can get our hands on them." New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin also ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts and stop thieves who were becoming increasingly hostile. "They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas — hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said. President Bush said Thursday the federal government has launched the most massive relief effort in history to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, pledging to reach thousands of victims that still needed to be rescued. With more than a thousand people feared dead, some refugees that had been staying in increasingly deteriorating conditions at the Louisiana Superdome began arriving by bus at a new, more comfortable home at the Astrodome in Houston. Conditions at the Superdome had become horrendous: There was no air conditioning, the toilets were backed up, and the stench was so bad that medical workers wore masks as they walked around. The first of 500 busloads of people arrived early Thursday at the Astrodome. Bush expressed sympathy for those who were still suffering but also said there should be "zero tolerance" for breaking the law during an emergency situation. In a sign of growing lawlessness, Tenet HealthCare Corp. asked authorities late Wednesday to help evacuate a fully functioning hospital in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water and medical supplies was held up at gunpoint. "There are physical threats to safety from roving bands of armed individuals with weapons who are threatening the safety of the hospital," said spokesman Steven Campanini. He estimated there were about 350 employees in the hospital and between 125 to 150 patients. Tempers were starting to flare across the devastated region. Police said a man in Hattiesburg, Miss., fatally shot his sister in the head over a bag of ice. Dozens of carjackings were reported, including a nursing home bus. One officer was shot in the head and a looter was wounded in a shootout. Both were expected to survive. Looters used garbage cans and inflatable mattresses to float away with food, clothes, TV sets — even guns. Outside one pharmacy, thieves commandeered a forklift and used it to push up the storm shutters and break through the glass. The driver of a nursing-home bus surrendered the vehicle to thugs after being threatened. On Wednesday, Nagin called for a total evacuation of New Orleans, saying the city will not be functional for two or three months and that people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least a month or two. Asked how many people died in the hurricane, Nagin said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands." The death toll has already reached at least 110 in Mississippi. If the mayor's death-toll estimate holds true, it would make Katrina the worst natural disaster in the United States since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which was blamed for anywhere from about 500 to 6,000 deaths. Katrina would also be the nation's deadliest hurricane since 1900, when a storm in Galveston, Texas, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. The federal government dispatched helicopters, warships and elite SEAL water-rescue teams in one of the biggest relief operations in U.S. history. Hundreds of people wandered up and down shattered Interstate 10 — the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east — pushing shopping carts, laundry racks, anything they could find to carry their belongings. On some of the few roads that were still open, people waved at passing cars with empty water jugs, begging for relief. Hundreds of people appeared to have spent the night on a crippled highway. Nagin, whose pre-hurricane evacuation order got most of his city of a half a million out of harm's way, estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people remained, and said that 14,000 to 15,000 a day could be evacuated in ensuing convoys. The floodwaters streamed into the city's streets from two levee breaks near Lake Pontchartrain a day after New Orleans thought it had escaped catastrophic damage from Katrina. The floodwaters covered 80 percent of the city, in some areas 20 feet deep, in a reddish-brown soup of sewage, gasoline and garbage. Around midday Wednesday, officials with the state and the Army Corps of Engineers said the water levels between the city and Lake Pontchartrain had equalized, and even appeared to be falling. But the danger was far from over. The Corps of Engineers said it planned to use heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to drop 15,000-pound bags of sand and stone into a 500-foot gap in the failed floodwall. But the agency said it was having trouble getting the sandbags and dozens of 15-foot highway barriers to the site because the city's waterways were blocked by loose barges, boats and large debris. The full magnitude of the disaster had been unclear for days — in part, because some areas in both coastal Mississippi and Louisiana are still unreachable, but also because authorities' first priority has been reaching the living. In Mississippi, for example, ambulances roamed through the passable streets of devastated places such as Biloxi, Gulfport, Waveland and Bay St. Louis, in some cases speeding past corpses in hopes of saving people trapped in flooded and crumbled buildings. State officials said Nagin's guess of thousands dead seemed plausible. Lt. Kevin Cowan of the state Office of Emergency Preparedness said it is too soon to say with any accuracy how many died. But he noted that since thousands of people had been rescued from roofs and attics, it could be assumed that there were lots of others who were not saved. "You have a limited number of resources, for an unknown number of evacuees. It's already been several days. You've had reports there are casualties. You all can do the math," he said. On the flooded streets of New Orleans, dozens of fishermen from up to 200 miles away floated in on caravans of boats to pull residents out. One of those rescued was 40-year-old Kevin Montgomery, who spent three days shuttling between the attic of a one-story home and a canopy he built on the roof. Every once in a while, Mongtomery would see a body float by. But he cannot swim and had to fight the urge to wade in and tie them down. "It was terrible," he said. "All I could do was pass them by and hope that God takes care of the rest of that." Although the Bush administration decided to release crude oil from the federal petroleum reserves after Katrina knocked out 95 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's output, gasoline prices surged above $3 a gallon in many parts of the country.
Call your local chapter of the Red Cross and they should be able to tell you if they're going to have a collection point for donated clothing at the Dome or someother place. The other option is to check in area churches and see if they're doing toy and clothing drives.
