Rescuers Find More Survivors, More Damage

By BRETT MARTEL, Associated Press Writer
34 minutes ago

CREOLE, La. - Hurricane Rita's path of devastation along the Texas-Louisiana coast became shockingly clear Monday, as rescuers pulled stranded bayou residents out on skiffs and Army helicopters searched for thousands of cattle feared drowned.

Crews struggled to clean up the tangle of smashed homes and downed trees. The hurricane slammed low-lying fishing villages, shrimping ports and ranches with water up to 9 feet deep. Seawater pushed as far as 20 miles inland, drowning acres of rice, sugarcane fields and pasture.

In coastal Terrebonne Parish, the count of severely damaged or destroyed homes stood at nearly 9,900. An estimated 80 percent of the buildings in the town of Cameron, population 1,900, were leveled. Farther inland, half of Creole, population 1,500, was left in splinters.

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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050927/ap_on_re_us/rita

Reuters - Mon Sep 26,10:35 PM ET
Kevin Shivers (R) and his sons Daniel, 13, (L) and Brad, 10, pose outside their devastated home in Jasper, Texas where the U.S. flag still flies from a tree felled by Hurricane Rita that crushed their home September 26, 2005. (Richard Carson/Reuters)

Many Rita Victims Still Wait for Relief

AP - 1 hour, 24 minutes ago
PORT ARTHUR, Texas - Nearly four days after Hurricane Rita hit, many of the storm's sweltering victims are still waiting for electricity, gasoline, water and other relief. The situation prompted one top emergency official to complain that people are "living like cavemen." In the hard-hit refinery towns of Port Arthur and Beaumont, crews struggled to cross debris-clogged streets to deliver generators and water to people stranded by Rita

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/world/tropical_storms_and_hurricanes

AP - Mon Sep 26, 2:23 PM ET
A casket is stuck in a tree surrounded by floodwaters in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 in Grand Chenier, La. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

FEMA Under Fire Again, Now for Rita Effort

By JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 10 minutes ago

HOUSTON - Saying they were caught off-guard by the number of people in need, FEMA officials closed a relief center early on Wednesday after some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in triple-digit heat.

The midday closing of the Houston disaster relief center came as officials in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Rita criticized FEMA's response to the storm, with one calling for a commission to examine the emergency response.

Across southeastern Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency * FEMA delivered ice, water and packaged meals to residents who rode out last week's hurricane, which blew ashore at Sabine Pass in East Texas early Saturday.

But the agency was not ready for the roughly 1,500 people displaced by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina who sought help at the Houston center when it reopened Wednesday.

The center, offering help from a variety government and private organizations, initially opened for Katrina refugees. It closed last week when Houston was evacuated before Rita.

The line started forming Tuesday night, and as temperatures reached record highs, some people fainted and had to be carried off by police and other refugees.

FEMA spokesman Justin Dombrowski said the agency closed the center for the day because of the heat and the unexpectedly large crowds. Those already in line were allowed to enter.

FEMA said it would reopen the center Thursday morning and keep it operating into the evening seven days a week. The agency was also making plans to deal with any similar situation, said Mike Casella, another FEMA spokesman.

Frances Deculus, 65, of Beaumont got in line at 3 a.m. and emerged shortly before the center shut down. She said that all she was able to do was register for FEMA assistance, and that she will have to return to actually get any help.

"We don't know what to do. It's frustrating. We have five small children," said Deculus, who is staying in a Houston hotel with 12 other relatives.

Dombrowski said FEMA is asking refugees who do not need help right away to wait a few days. He also encouraged refugees to register with FEMA by telephone or the Internet.

Local officials, including Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz and Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, whose county includes Beaumont, said FEMA's response has been inadequate.

Griffith said he has asked Gov. Rick Perry to set up a commission to study the emergency response to Rita. Congress is holding hearings this week on the federal government's response to Katrina.

FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg in Austin said communications between Austin and rural East Texas have been troubled, in part because of power problems. But he said FEMA had set up 27 distribution points in 27 southeastern Texas cities.

"I don't know what could have been done better since the materials were in place before the hurricane," Fredenburg said. "We're doing everything we can to get water and ice to whomever remains."

Perry, meanwhile, issued an emergency order allowing the utility Entergy to immediately erect temporary lines and plug into the Houston area's power supply to get electricity flowing to the hardest hit areas.

But it could take three to four weeks to restore power to those areas of southeast Texas where nearly all transmission lines are down and homes are so damaged they can't safely receive electricity, said Paul Hudson, chairman of the state's Public Utility Commission.

In rural Tyler County, north of Beaumont, volunteer firefighters distributed food, water and ice to hundreds of residents trapped in their homes by fuel shortages or by huge fallen trees blocking the one-lane, dirt roads out.

Firefighters are climbing over the trees to get to stranded residents until crews can cut the debris away, said Roger McGee, a firefighter.

McGee said the firefighters had been collecting the supplies on their own until Tuesday, when FEMA showed up to give them meals, water and ice to distribute.

"We're tired. We're wore out, but we ain't giving up," McGee said.

Ortiz said he expects to allow residents back into Port Arthur by the weekend, even though as of Wednesday, the industrial town of about 58,000 had no power, water or sewer service. Ortiz said it could take three to five weeks to fully restore electricity.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050929/ap_on_re_us/rita

Conditions Primitive in Texas After Rita

By PAM EASTON, Associated Press Writer
35 minutes ago


WOODVILLE, Texas - Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, conditions remained primitive in parts of Texas, where some residents were taking baths and brushing their teeth using water from the Neches River and others were sleeping in tents.


The plywood sign outside the home in East Texas where eight Beaumont families had sought refuge from Hurricane Rita carried a simple message: "Help Needed. Ice and Water. 43 People."

The evacuees had no electricity and little water or food after the storm. As temperatures neared triple-digits, adults used paper towels dampened with bottled water to keep children from overheating. A campfire was built to keep mosquitoes away.

"The only thing we could think of to survive was to put out that sign," said Tiffany Moten, 24, who was staying at the home near Livingston. "Luckily, we were blessed, and we have a lot of friendly people who came up and brought us water and ice and things like that. We are trying to make it."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered ice, water and packaged meals Wednesday to residents who rode out the storm, but some officials in hard-hit areas criticized the agency's response, with one calling for a commission to examine the emergency response.

In Houston, FEMA closed a disaster relief center just hours after its doors opened when some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in the heat. FEMA officials said they were caught off-guard by the roughly 1,500 people who showed up, but said it would reopen the center Thursday morning.

Local officials, including Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz and Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, said FEMA's response has been inadequate.

Griffith said he has asked Gov. Rick Perry to set up a commission to study the emergency response to Rita. Congress is holding hearings this week on the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg said communications between Austin and rural East Texas have been troubled, in part because of power problems. But he said FEMA had set up distribution points in 27 southeastern Texas cities.

"I don't know what could have been done better since the materials were in place before the hurricane," Fredenburg said. "We're doing everything we can to get water and ice to whomever remains."

Meanwhile, local officials and volunteers were trying to help residents and evacuees any way they could. In Woodville, Dam-B Volunteer Fire Department Chief Thomas Eller tried to coax elderly residents to leave their homes Wednesday.

"A lot of them don't want to leave, but I don't want to give them a choice," Eller said. "I would rather move them out of here kicking and screaming then have to put them in a (body) bag."

Eller had persuaded Joseph Robinson, 90, and his 75-year-old wife, Wanda, to ride out the storm at the firehouse but they wanted to go home after the storm passed.

"There ain't no place like home," said Joseph Robinson, who has emphysema. "We got winter coming on. We'll have cool weather. We'll be all right."

Farther east in Jasper, Jeff Sargent, vice president of an Arizona-based ambulance company that helped evacuate a Texas nursing home, helped run a makeshift triage center out of a church.

He said it was difficult for many residents, trapped behind miles of downed trees, to get medical care, food or water. So far the triage center has seen about 300 patients and treated everything from heart problems to heat-related illnesses, he said.

Some rural residents said they felt forgotten after the storm.

"They are still stuck on Katrina, and Rita's done some hellacious damage up in these woods," said Sharon Lakey, a 49-year-old Farrsville resident who sat in a long line of vehicles waiting to get gas in Jasper.

___

Associated Press writers Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Liz Austin in Austin and Abe Levy in Port Arthur contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050929/ap_on_re_us/rita

AP - Wed Sep 28, 6:51 PM ET
Signs inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency hurricane relief center direct people where to obtain services Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2005. Saying they were caught off-guard by the number of people in need, FEMA officials closed the center early on Wednesday after some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in triple-digit heat. (AP Photo/Donna Carson)

Hurricane Rita passes, but not financial worries

By Daisuke Wakabayashi
Sat Oct 1, 7:33 PM ET


LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana (Reuters) - Hurricane Rita's powerful winds and heavy rains collapsed homes, uprooted trees and knocked out most infrastructure in Lake Charles, Louisiana, but for Howard Hazelton, that was the easy part.

"The hurricane wasn't bad, but this is the real disaster," said Hazelton, who had to walk 20 miles to cash a $425 paycheck from his job as a liquor store cashier. He was laid off from his previous job as a plant engineer.

"I've got no job to go back to. It's been displaced. I'm not sure things will ever get back to normal," he said.

Hazelton, who took the liquor store position after being laid off from his previous job as a plant engineer, was typical of many of the Gulf Coast hurricanes' less-affluent victims, many of whom had been living paycheck to paycheck, and now are unemployed.

After Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency offered $2,000-per-household in emergency assistance for victims, handing out nearly $1.5 billion to be used for rent, clothes or food.

But the agency has since discontinued that program in favor of another aid package offering $786 a month in housing assistance for up to 18 months.

"We need FEMA's help," said Valorie Victorian, who had already relied on welfare vouchers to pay the rent on her modest home near the Lake Charles business district.

"My daughters told me the (FEMA) operators were helpful, but it's hard to know what I can get," said Victorian, who stuck out the storm at home with her husband and two daughters.

THE NEEDS ARE GREAT

The needs in Lake Charles are great. The city was one of the hardest-hit communities near the Texas-Louisiana border when Hurricane Rita struck there on September 24.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the median household income in Lake Charles -- home to riverboat casinos and large petrochemical refineries -- falls far below the median for Louisiana, which is among the five poorest U.S. states.

Lake Charles remains mostly abandoned with no electricity. The business district, a row of fast food restaurants and small shops, was shuttered, with boarded up windows and debris covering storefronts.

But without electricity and spotty telephone service, even applying for assistance is not so easy.

Victorian's daughters -- Tekisha and Kendra -- walked to the fire department to charge their mobile telephones, so they could call and register for unemployment benefits.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Labor Department announced that another 60,000 Americans lost their jobs last week due to the hurricanes, lifting the total number of workers who sought benefits because of the storms to 279,000.

Michael Williams, a 37-year-old construction worker and Lake Charles resident, says it might be weeks before he can return to work.

"I'm not trying to take money that I don't need," said Williams. "If we have another hurricane, I hope it's no time soon."

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20051001/us_nm/hurricanes_money_dc_1

Hurricane Rita refugees to wed in Wyoming
10/1/2005, 3:49 p.m. CT
The Associated Press

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — New home, new job, new life — new wife.

Robert Baquet and Stephanie Bordelon were married Sunday, just days after their Ville Platte, La., home was destroyed by Hurricane Rita.

Baquet moved to Casper after Hurricane Katrina, hoping the job prospects were better in Wyoming than they were in Louisiana. As soon as he arrived, he decided he'd found a new home.

And a good thing he did — while Katrina missed Ville Platte, Rita hit the town hard.

His first words to Bordelon when she got off the plane: "We're getting married."

"I was a little stunned," she said. "But everyone here has been so great to us."

Linda Henderson, owner of the Sage & Sand Motel, gave them a space for the wedding, and the hotel's maids pooled their tips to help buy Bordelon a wedding dress.

"I've never been anywhere with people who have been so nice," Baquet said. "I want to stay here forever."

http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1128200043285450.xml&storylist=louisiana