The Untold Gustav Story

Living out the hurricane season in the South is much different than the North. When Katrina hit New Orleans three years ago I was in South Africa. While there, it was very difficult to conceptualize the magnitude of what had happened and the botched efforts of the US Government.

On Saturday when I was coming back from Tunica, the Amtrak train with evacuees had arrived. It was surreal to see the train unloading, countless city busses, and officials trying to direct people. When I woke up Sunday I turned on the news and logged on to the Red Cross. They needed volunteers to help at the shelters so I jumped at the opportunity.

In Memphis, it is estimated there are currently 30,000 evacuees between the shelters and all of the local hotels. In regards to shelters there are two types. Those sponsored by FEMA that are for mandatory evacuees that were brought by the train. Secondly those sponsored by the Red Cross that are for self-evacuees who brought themselves.

The first night I worked at a FEMA shelter in Whitehaven. Whitehaven is a community center in South Memphis very close to Graceland. They were having trouble getting volunteers for this shelter and desperately needed someone to work the graveyard shift. Memphis police stayed at most of the shelters around the city to ensure there were no problems for the evacuees. Still that didn’t help a little old lady who couldn’t sleep and stepped outside to get some fresh air and had her purse stolen.

Whitehaven has approximately 146 evacuees of all age ranges. FEMA provided very nice cots, blankets, and pillows. There were no showers at this community center and from what we saw limited or no organized activities during the first day of their stay. Portable showers were to suppose to be on there way. Memphis City Schools provided meals and the Department of Human Services, Parks and Recreation, and the Red Cross provided support.

From talking with people throughout the night, my Red Cross co-worker and I learned of an interesting tale. Being mandatory evacuees, the National Guard and Louisiana Police swept their neighborhoods and forced them to go to the train stations. Everyone said they were told they would only be gone a couple days. Why they were given a time frame, I don’t know. Some people had nothing but the clothes on their backs. It is unknown if they had nothing prior to coming, if they thought they were only going to be a couple days, they didn’t prepare or if they didn’t have time to prepare.

The six-hour train ride turned into 12 hours. On the train ride up, there were branches covering the tracks which stalled the train for three hours in one spot. More so there were two medical emergencies, a lady who was delivering her baby and a man who was having chest pain. Again it is unclear why someone who was so close to delivering was put on a train to go so far north instead of somewhere closer. According to one evacuee the train also took a wrong turn and had to back up three miles at a snails pace. There was limited food aboard because it was supposed to be only a short ride.

Interestingly when they arrived in Memphis the Memphis police made everyone go through a metal detector. Seeing how there were no security checks prior to boarding, the Memphis police now have a huge collection of guns and knives. In saying that, luckily everyone survived the train ride. With tensions and anxiety elevated, high heat and humidity, lack of food, close quarters and numerous weapons nothing happened.

One the first day, the most troubling to me was the food situation. Most everyone was wide awake between 5am and 6:30am. There were only a couple bottles of water left when our shift started. We tried to put it into cups so we did not have to give people tap water. Who was supposed to be bringing or where the FEMA bought water was, was not figured out in my stay at shelter. Memphis Schools didn’t deliver breakfast until 7:30. They brought semi-warm milk, juice that was frozen, and muffins that were partly thawed. There was still some off brand breakfast cereals from the day before.

As I was handing out the food, one of the day volunteers decided to warm up the 30 or so ham and cheese sandwiches that were left over. That is great however all 146 people wanted something hot. Guess who got to hear the aftermath of that? When I had to tell everyone there were no more hot meals and we only had cereal people were mad. I would have been irate myself. Don’t get me wrong there were many understanding people but on the same token some were angry.

It was a very eye opening experience especially after working at the Red Cross sponsored shelter. At that shelter, there was more food than they could eat, toiletries, and any type of supplies one could think of. Cots were provided, although not as nice but there were games, organized activities, and a definite chain of command when supplies were needed. When we needed some Ensure at Whitehaven, it was a frustrating disaster. Finally my co-worker went to the store and bought some himself.

On my third day of volunteering I was glad to see many improvements at all of the shelters. The City of Memphis had stationed at least one paramedic at each shelter as well as at least two officers. Furthermore the Memphis CIty Schools started serving hot breakfast. Also, the portable showers arrived, which were very nice.

I would like to close with two points. I found it interesting that at 3 am on Sunday another train of 1,000 evacuees was to arrive in Memphis. When the train pulled up, there were only 100 and some people aboard. However, there were 1,000 meals prepared and delivered by FEMA. The Red Cross got wind of this and intercepted the delivery to insure the 800 and some meals did not get thrown out. It makes me wonder how much tax payer money FEMA could have better spent.

Finally the most disturbing story of all. In every shelter I worked and with the volunteers I compared stories it was all the same. Many people believe with every ounce that is in them, when Katrina hit New Orleans, the poorer neighborhoods were flooded on purpose to save the French Quarter. I can't even wrap my mind around that. Someone from the Government would purposely kill many Americans and destroy whole neighborhoods to save a tourist hot spot? Indeed. Those who you ask that have been to New Orleans many times but are not from there can not understand how the French Quarter could be so lightly damaged due to its location and the location of the flood walls. After some thinking it would make sense. Those neighborhoods that were supposedly flooded on purpose, they are the ones the Government is neglecting to rebuild. The places and people they are ignoring, the low-income and predominately black.