Dome to Dome story

[Lucy]

Hi all,

The buses from SuperDome, New Orleans, are to arrive in Houston at the Astrodome about 1 AM. Central Time in the morning (Thursday). Already the citizens of Houston were there with hand-made signs to welcome them and tell them that we want to help them.

Best part of being in the Astrodome will be that it's air conditioned!!!! Bet that will feel good.

There is a massive effort going on here which has been planned for 3 to 4 yrs. Alot was learned during our flood with T.S. Allison back in June of '01. Actually, I believe it was originally planned for the possibility of a major disaster happening locally, but it seems more like a drill, due to the fact that this city is not experiencing any disaster itself, other than that many here have relatives or friends in some of those areas.

I'm pretty sure the military will bring in some sort of bathing area to set up there as many of these people are wearing clothing they've had on for several days now. Only thing the Dome here lacks is privacy.

Nearer to Bush Airport to the north of the city, a motel or hotel has been staffed to serve as a spill-over hospital. There have been ads on TV trying to bring in available nurses to help staff it.

The first night after the long trek from N.O. there were 55,000 hotel/motel rooms filled. I'm sure that now they've spread out all over the city and surrounding areas.

Seems as though every church has been converted into a shelter, most seemed to be able to take in several hundred of the refugees. Many prepared meals for anyone who'd show up for dinner this evening.

Will let you know if there's anything that I might hear locally that might not make the national or international news.

Another medical set-up is located at Ellington A/F base in a hanger there. People in serious need of medical attention can be airvac'd right to that hanger. I suspect that the big airport is the reason the make-shift hospital has been set up in the motel to the north. Probably some smaller airports around town have similar facilities set up for treatment.

Memorial Hermann and Texas Children's Hospital and possibly other TxMedCenter Hospitals have their own jets and are flying in patients in need, I think, as transfers from some of the storm area hospitals. As you know, they've been operating on emergency generators, and I don't think those can go on indefinitely. Hobby Airport to the south is a very short distance from the Dome and the TxMedCenter which has also made arrangement to take in more patients.

Oh, and ALL the bottled water will be gone from the Walmart shelves tomorrow, at least from our local stores.

Employees from the stores ruined by the storm, thousands of them, will be transported here and housed in churches. I think they might be used to help get the supplies from Walmart to the people who need them.

From about 7 AM til this afternoon, just one local tv station here had already raised well over 4 million bucks during their tv drive. All the local networks are having their own telethons, so just these drives locally will amount to alot for immediate relief.

Public and private schools are enrolling the refugees children, and local universities are partnering with the same type of universities in La. Rice U. here and Ga. Tech., two highly academic institutions are partnering with Tulane to accept their students as Tulane is probably the most competitive university in La. Same with other types of universities -- matching with similar schools.

May have mentioned this before, but the governor has opened up Texas schools to the refugees' children. This should help to re-establish a little normalacy to their lives.

Ahhhh, just heard that the first buses HAVE ARRIVED at the Astrodome!

Also, the first repair of a breech in the levy in New Orleans is starting to work...finally..whew!!

OK, good night. Be safe.
Yours, Luce

[MaggieRedwings]

Morning Luce and Morning TEXANS!!!!!!!!!1

It is wonderful to hear some "positive" news in light of all the devastation and suffering that is going on. Texas is a big state with a big

May they have some peace and a little privacy for each and every one of them to try and sort their life out and begin a new one.

Maggie

This will now be my sign of peace on this site

[starfire]

Thanks for the information, Luce, and I'm proud of Texas for doing so much to help. Makes me wish I were a Texan myself.

Maggie, I LOVE your peace sign. I loved that dove from the first time I saw it.

Shirley

[Umber]

AWESOME! Tears are streaming down my cheeks. This is what love your neighbor this all about!

Lori

[CAMary]

Amen to that, Lori!

Thank you Luce for the uplifiting info....that combined with Pegster's good report add a little light to these very sad times

Love,

Mary

[Peggy]