The Shelter is Up
I just got a call from our director. Conditions at the shelter are "terrible". She's headed in there to see for herself what's going on. I suspect that this may be due to miscommunication with supporting agencies. There were some occasions yesterday when it was stated at the state level that a national volunteer agency would be supplying food, over-the-counter medication and other assistance, which our local folks though was great. The day before, our local personnel indicated that said volunteer agency would absolutely not involved, which our local folks thought was great. I'm wondering which directive (help or not help) the actual agency people were given. That being said, the actual running of the shelter isn't under the purview of my particular agency/employer, but I imagine we'll all do what we can to make things better.
I'm also curious about the state of the facilities. We're working out of a national guard training camp and the evacuees are staying in the barracks. I hadn't gone inside the barracks buildings. Perhaps they're not up to having guests either.
Shortly I'll be getting an update from the site and then I get to break the news to the state ops center that our shelter is awful, though our ops commander may have already done that. I really hope these people have food, water and a place to lay down.
In the meantime, Gustav is still currently a Category 3 storm, but he's hell-bent on visiting New Orleans. (I don't mean to wish a hurricane on anybody else either, but you never hear about Houston having hurricane problems.) Some time around early to mid-morning on Tuesday, he's expected to make landfall around Houma, LA, a bit west of NOLA.
I'm also curious about the state of the facilities. We're working out of a national guard training camp and the evacuees are staying in the barracks. I hadn't gone inside the barracks buildings. Perhaps they're not up to having guests either.
Shortly I'll be getting an update from the site and then I get to break the news to the state ops center that our shelter is awful, though our ops commander may have already done that. I really hope these people have food, water and a place to lay down.
In the meantime, Gustav is still currently a Category 3 storm, but he's hell-bent on visiting New Orleans. (I don't mean to wish a hurricane on anybody else either, but you never hear about Houston having hurricane problems.) Some time around early to mid-morning on Tuesday, he's expected to make landfall around Houma, LA, a bit west of NOLA.
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