It's dwindling big time. We have more going out today. These people are linking up with families and mainly going out of town, being picked up by family or going by bus. Some, I'm sure, have gone into housing and then some families have been adopted by local families. |
Lufkin was bursting at the seams. Some of those folks were at double capacity. |
So far, we're opening no new shelters. We're just expanding where we are. |
That's going to change because people are running out of funds. |
The Red Cross didn't ask FEMA to come in. We serve people through the Red Cross. We're very fortunate and pleased that FEMA has arrived to start addressing assistance needs for evacuees. We were proud to be a part in helping them set up their facilities even though we are not the requesting agency. |
The response has been overwhelming. Texarkana is a community with a warm and giving spirit. |
These people are just devastated because they have family members that are still trapped. The water was still rising and they're worried about those they know were there. |
They came in here with dysentery because they'd been on that bridge for several days. They've been sick and some are still sick. |
They know they don't have a home to go back to. |
They've had some folks with special needs they were working on helping. They asked to stay open a few more days in order to complete those tasks. |
Volunteer nurses that are working in other areas of the community come to us and went through Red Cross orientation. |
We have about 39 people who will be out there. |
We have churches on standby and we're adding to that number as we speak. |
We have three who've gone down there ... and we're training other spontaneous volunteers as we speak so they will be available. |