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| Hurricane Katrina evacuees, Patricia Moses, left, and her husband Sandy Price, both of New Orleans rest at a shelter at Camp Williams in Riverton, Utah, Sept. 4. Hundreds of people are expected to be relocated to Utah while thousands of others are moved to various spots in the United States. |
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Ten-year-old Derek Lewis and his mother Nicole Miller were happy to shower on Sunday. It was their first shower since last Sunday, the day before Category 4 Hurricane Katrina hit.
The storm left their house submerged under 10 feet of water and were stranded for four days before a helicopter rescued them from atop their roof.
They, along with 600 evacuees from Louisiana, arrived at Salt Lake International Airport over the weekend to applause and cheers from Utah Air National Guardsmen and Red Cross volunteers.
Evacuees are temporarily being housed in barracks at Camp Williams, a Utah Air National Guard base 30 minutes south of Salt Lake City.
“It’s nice to be here,” Lewis said. “I’ve seen a lot of mountains. I want to go play in them.”
Lewis is one of approximately 60-70 children who have been evacuated to Utah. All are with at least one of their parents or a close relative. There are, however, many of their other family members that they have not been in contact with.
“We are trying to get in touch with his father,” Miller said. “We talked to him on Wednesday but he doesn’t know we are in Utah. We are looking for my auntie. I have not talked to her since before the storm.”
“I just want to call her to see where she is,” Lewis said.
Other evacuees are grateful they were able to evacuate even though they did not know they were headed to Utah until the pilot announced it after boarding the plane.
“At first we thought we were going to San Antonio,” said Romalice Harris, a father of three. “We got to roll with the punches. We got to be strong. We are blessed because God and our kids are with us.”
Harris and his family are satisfied with their two bunk bed makeshift home in the corner of an army barrack shared with 40 other evacuees. They are happy to have food, water, clean beds and warm showers.
“We stayed on the street in a cardboard box waiting to get out,” Harris said. “The kids saw two dead bodies just floating down the street. It’s better out here.”
The Greater Salt Lake Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Utah Air National Guard along with other state agencies are working together to provide services for the 2,000 hurricane survivors expected to be placed in Utah by mid-week.
“We will give them a place to sleep — a place to get some quality of life and then get them back with their families and back where they want to be,” said Verdi White, Utah Department of Public Safety Incident Commander. “They realize people are trying to help and they are happy to be coming out of a place where they had virtually nothing.”
Evacuees will stay in Utah as long as they choose to, said White.
Services will be provided for those who have arranged to move elsewhere and for those who want to stay and begin new lives in Utah.
