Plans to airlift evacuees on hold

[Amelia]

Plans to airlift evacuees on hold

Many uneasy with long trip to Mass., other states

By Frank Phillips and Tatsha Robertson

Globe Staff |

September 7, 2005

Plans to airlift thousands left homeless by Hurricane Katrina to states that have offered them shelter, including Massachusetts, have been put on hold indefinitely by federal officials after many evacuees expressed reluctance to leave the region, a state official said yesterday.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman for Governor Mitt Romney, said Bay State officials, who have launched a massive effort to care for displaced people at Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod, were told of the change last night.

''The Federal Emergency Management Agency has informed Massachusetts as well as the other states that were set to receive evacuees to go into a standby position," Fehrnstrom said. ''All plans to transfer evacuees to other states are on hold until further notice."

Fehrnstrom and officials in Texas, who had sought to relocate some of the more than 200,000 evacuees that poured into their state, said some of those forced out of their homes by the storm are wary of traveling further when so much in their lives remains uncertain.

''Many evacuees have expressed their preferences to remain in the region, so they can address the status of their loved ones, their property, and their employment," Fehrnstrom said.

It was not clear last night whether FEMA has temporarily postponed the planned resettlement of evacuees in other states, or is rethinking the idea altogether.

In an interview at the Astrodome in Houston yesterday, Judge Robert Eckels, the facility's coordinator of the Katrina evacuation efforts, said some families also fear leaving the shelters in Texas because they worry they will not get the financial help and other assistance they need.

''There are some people who are resistant to leave the dome because they are afraid they will be lost to FEMA," Eckels said. ''They want to stay until they are registered in the system. They are afraid they won't get the financial help from either FEMA, or from HUD vouchers or the social security system."

Others fear their loved ones will not be able to find them, said Justin Dombrowsky, FEMA liaison for the Katrina effort at the Astrodome.

''There are still people moving out, not in mass numbers but it's a continual number of people moving within Texas and out of Texas," he said.

Yesterday, a plan to move as many as 4,000 evacuees from the Astrodome onto luxury Carnival Cruise Lines ships in Galveston was shelved when people expressed concern that the boats would be too isolating.

Eckels said some evacuees are leaving the dome for other states and cities, but more are settling in temporary housing now becoming available in Houston or nearby suburbs. In all, more than 25,000 people remain at the dome and three nearby shelter facilities.

Governor Rick Perry of Texas launched a plan Sunday to begin airlifting evacuees out of overburdened Texas to other states that had offered help. But, Kathy Walt, a spokesman for Perry, said the White House that same day contacted the governor's office and urged the state to take no immediate action and hand over the operation to FEMA. Since then, it appears, the operation is at a standstill.

The postponement was made after Massachusetts officials, religious leaders, charitable organizations, and volunteers had finalized a broad plan to make evacuees feel at home in Massachusetts. They had decorated an airport hangar in Bourne with banners that read, ''The People of Massachusetts Welcome You," had laid out stuffed animals and toys for the children and clothing, food, and other staples for all, and had even arranged care for any injured animals that might arrive.

Dozens of individuals showed up at the Massachusetts Military Reservation to volunteer their time and goods.

A battery of charity and government workers, including counselors, clergy, interpreters, and doctors waited for those fleeing Louisiana and Mississippi to arrive; a large play area had been set up to provide child care as parents register upon arrival.

But only one family came through yesterday -- a Louisiana couple with three children who had heard that Massachusetts was taking in hurricane victims. They drove to a relative's home in Buzzards Bay and came to the hangar to find out how they could register their children for school, what other services might be available, and how they could help other victims.

Yesterday Romney signed a $25 million emergency budget, passed in one day by the Legislature, to aid the evacuees. The measure gives the governor authority to spend the money on expenses such as emergency personnel overtime, as well as housing, medical care, and education for the evacuees, according to the governor's office. Volunteers were asked to commit at least five days of their time to help out on the base. They are people like Fay Larkin, of Weston, who said she learned of the hurricane only after returning from a seven-day sojourn in the Adirondacks for her son's wedding.

Larkin, a Harvard Medical School research manager, said she raced down to the Cape, where she joined scores of other volunteers under a white tent.

''We got to help the people out," said Bill Davis, a retired army veteran who once lived on the Otis Air National Guard Base decades ago. Davis, wiped away tears, then grabbed for his wife Kyra's hand, saying, ''I'm sorry. . .I get so emotional."

Nancy Koder, 58, of Sandwich, was up at 4 a.m. packing her Ford Contour full of clothes and sheets she'd washed and bleached the night before, tied tight with ribbons and bows.

Koder, an artist who volunteers with the Salvation Army, said she could hardly stand to watch the suffering on TV without doing something to help.

''I crashed the gate at 7 a.m.," she said with a smile. ''I just said, 'I'm not going. Get used to me.' "

When she got inside, she said, she was told that all the beds had been made already. So she took her clothes and headed over to the hangar, where she spent the day sorting books and clothes and other supplies from Salvation Army trucks as they arrived.

Volunteers each filled out an application asking them to note the amount of time they can spend at the base and to agree to criminal background checks. While most people submitted their paperwork and went home, others waited patiently under the tent. Soon after the names of those passing the background checks were read aloud. Those people were given a security ID.

Not everyone who came to volunteer was welcome. Ed Norris of Pocasset was driving to the grocery store with his wife, Paulette, when they saw a sign asking for volunteers.

''For the past few days we were trying to figure out how we could help," he said. ''I saw the sign and I said 'Baby, let's go.' " But Norris's determination was immediately stunted because of a brush with the law nearly 10 years ago. ''I want to help, but I can't," he said, tearfully.

Lisa Hanson, 44, a realtor from Hull who signed up with the Red Cross last week, was folding sweatshirts and socks and underwear in the vast hangar.

''My biggest worry is what to do emotionally for somebody who has lost somebody -- and just the whole trauma of being transplanted, losing everything and feeling disconnected," she said. Michael Paulson, Megan Tench, Mac Daniel, Scott Helman, and Lisa Wangsness of the Globe staff contributed to this report.