USA TODAY International Edition
‘The doors will not close’ in Houston
Convention center shelter filled twice over; more facilities on way
As the stranded streamed in, the shelter set up at the George R. Brown Convention Center was becoming more packed by the hour — 9,000 evacuees and counting, nearly double its intended capacity.
Conditions inside the center in the heart of downtown were crowded but organized with the help of hundreds of Red Cross volunteers and city police, many of them working 24-hour shifts.
Still, as hundreds of evacuees waited in the relentless rain outside, concerns mounted.
“The doors of the George R. Brown will not close,” Mayor Sylvester Turner assured the city Tuesday. “However, I certainly understand that if you have too many people in a space too long, it creates additional problems.”
Turner said there would be mega-shelters opened for displaced residents, possibly by the end of the day.
The scene bore an eerie similarity to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Thousands were sent to the Superdome, a last-resort evacuation center, but the stadium soon sank into chaos with limited power, no plumbing, insufficient food and a shredded roof.
Houston is not the Superdome, government officials stressed Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency was on the ground and in the convention center from Day One, spokesman David Gervino said.
“So many people have stepped up, from everyday citizens to first responders to state and local officials and other government partners, both state and federal,” Gervino said. “We’ve pre-positioned a wealth of assets. We had other teams deployed here before the first raindrops hit the ground. This is a very different response.”
Evacuees entering the Houston convention center were prohibited from bringing firearms or alcohol. Everyone had to be searched, then were told where to find food, clothing and other necessities.
Showers were being set up, and doctors were on duty, along with a pharmaceutical area and emergency room. Evacuees with flooddamaged homes were urged to register with FEMA.
Volunteers were quick to assess needs.
“Right now, we have an urgent need for wheelchairs,” said Tyler Moyer, program marketing manager for the Red Cross. “We are asking the people of Houston who can help, if you can check Goodwill or the Salvation Army to help get the much-needed supplies to these people here.”
Tom McCasland, director of Housing and Community Development for the city, said he hoped to open another shelter close by later in the day.
But, he said, “our doors remain open. At no point have we closed the doors here. We are sheltering people with pets and urgent medical emergencies, and we continue to shelter people as they come in.”
For those inside, there was a mix of relief and frustration.
Isaiah Arellano, 18, huddled with a group of adults and children along the wall in a hallway of the convention center.
He has been at the shelter since Monday, after his house began flooding. He walked through waist-high water to reach a safe place, then was taken to the shelter.
“Last night I slept on the hard floor and used a towel as a pillow,” he said, pointing to cardboard that’s his bed.
“They said there are no cots. Since last night we’ve been asking for a crib for the baby, and we still don’t have one.”
Red Cross officials registered evacuees before giving them meals, blankets and dry clothing. Though officials stressed they would not turn anyone away, they could not guarantee everyone would get a bed or a cot.
A small group of volunteers, the Texas Center for the Missing and the Houston Police Department’s missing-persons division focused their efforts on reconnecting people who were separated from their families and helping people unaffected by the storm find missing relatives.
“We found somebody! We found somebody!” Beth Alberts, CEO of the Texas Center for the Missing, shouted at one point Tuesday morning.
A relative had contacted officials, looking for a man who was lost in the chaos of evacuations, Alberts said.
“We found he’s registered here,” she said. “He’s here. He can let his family know.”
By late Tuesday morning, no missing children were reported to the center, Red Cross volunteer Ashlee Reiszner said.
Marck Acosta of Houston reclined on cardboard and pillows, his 6-month-old daughter, Aubrey, nursing a bottle of milk next to him.
“Long, cold, crazy days,” he said.
The family, he said, was picked up by buses and taken to the convention center Monday.
“Within an hour, they gave us dry clothes,” Acosta said. “They gave us everything we need.”
He was grateful for everything. Asked about sleeping on cardboard, Acosta said: “It’s not the best, but it’s passable. It’s better than being outside.”