Mayor White: 100,000 evacuees in Houston

06:29 PM CDT on Friday, September 2, 2005

Associated Press & 11 News Staff Reports

Video: Doug Miller at the Astrodome | Mark Greenblatt at GRB

HOUSTON -- Mayor Bill White said Friday Houston has taken approximately 100,000 hurricane evacuees and he called on other cities to step up and do their part.

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A total of 11,375 people were inside the Astrodome when the initial decision on capacity was made.

More than 15,000 people are already in the Astrodome, which is at capacity so neighboring Reliant Park is now being used for the overflow crowd.

Reliant Center will be used to house up to 8,000 evacuees.

Reliant Arena is also being used as a temporary shelter and transitional site for as many as 3,000 refugees at a time.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry stopped by the Dome Friday and said Texas will continue to do what it can to help its neighbors.

"Because we understand that by the grace of God and 200 miles west, it could have been me in that helicopter looking down at an absolute devastated Houston and Haley Barbour sitting on a television station somewhere saying, 'We're gonna do everything we can to help Texas,'" said the governor."

Mayor White said the GRB Convention Center will also be used to shelter up to 10,000 evacuees.

He said they are in desperate need of sleeping bags, cots and air mattresses for the GRB.

"We could use every cot that we could lay our hands on in the whole region," said the mayor. "...We want people to have some dignity when they get in here."

Donations of those items will be accepted at the south end of the convention center after 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

White is hoping corporations will step up to help out.

Upcoming conventions will be cancelled.

While officials worked out the logistics, thousands of evacuees were left waiting outside the Astrodome Friday in Houston's relentless heat and humidity.

At least 20 buses were lined up in three different directions outside the Astrodome early Friday. Dozens of frustrated and angry people milled about outside.

Some were handed bottles of cold water, their first in days.

“When we got here they said they had no place to put us because they’re full. A man gave us this cold water, the first we’ve had since Sunday,” said Patricia Profit, who stood outside one of the buses. “Before we left New Orleans they said everybody will be in the Astrodome. Don’t panic, don’t worry, you’ll still be with your family. That’s what they told us. Now we can’t be with our family.”

She said some of her relatives were inside the Astrodome.

“I understand people from Mississippi got here before we got here. Now we can’t even get off the bus at all. This is ridiculous,” said New Orleans resident Irving Gray.

“We’re asking that people be patient. Ultimately they are going to be comfortable,” Allen said.

Houston Police Sgt. Nathan McDuell said the city’s fire marshal initially decided the Astrodome had “reached full capacity and we needed to shut it off for all concerned.”

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The Dome was a welcomed sight for many evaucees.

“It would be unfortunate if we were to bring these individuals from a desperate situation and create another desperate situation here,” McDuell said.

He later said the situation had been reassessed and more people could be processed.

“It’s a very fluid situation and we have to deal with the situations as they arrive,” McDuell said. “Our main goal and main interest is to make sure everybody is safe.”

Thirty deputies working on overtime provided security and searched refugees for weapons. A few people were arrested, although Sheriff Tommy Thomas didn’t have an exact count. He said some men were arrested for going into the female showers. Others were arrested for fighting over cots.

“These bunks are going to be territorial. Somebody gets up and then somebody’s going to take their bunk,” Thomas said.

Police officers also have confiscated 30 guns, most of which have been voluntarily surrendered, McDuell said.

Doctors and nurses set up a clinic to help people with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems. Ambulances waited in the parking lots for those needing hospital care, said Dr. Herminia Polacio, a Harris County public health official.

“Many of them have been in situations in the Superdome where they have been under quite a bit of duress, such as several days without medication,” she said.

Outside the Astrodome, trucks delivered sandwiches and paramedics assessed new arrivals for health problems under tents in a makeshift triage center.

Evacuees, most who hadn’t bathed since the hurricane hit Monday, showered in one of four locker rooms once used by the Houston Astros and the Houston Oilers. The Houston Texans, the city’s new football team, and the Houston Astros now play in new stadiums, one within walking distance of the aging Astrodome.

Audree Lee, 37, felt relief after getting a shower and hearing her teenage daughter’s voice on the telephone for the first time since the storm. Lee had relatives take her daughter to Alabama so she would be safe.

“I just cried. She cried. We cried together,” Lee said. “She asked me about her dog. They wouldn’t let me take her dog with me. ... I know the dog is gone now.”

As she was offered chips and an apple, Lee said the conditions Houston are far better than they were in New Orleans, but she can’t wait to get back to her home state.

“I’ve never been through anything like this,” she said. “We have nothing to go home to. I just want to be safe and comfortable.”

Volunteer Daniel Rittgers said many of the refugees remain in shock.

“They are still in the moment of survival,” he said. “They have been displaced.”

Harris County Fire Marshal Mike Montgomery said shelter organizers will do all they can to help the refugees as they try to sort out what to do now that they’ve lost everything.

“We’re trying to establish some sense of normalcy,” Montgomery said. “Our main concern is getting those people where they are comfortable. They are in a dry location. They are in a safe location, and we are attending to their needs.”