AP: Texas

09/23/2005

Associated Press

Texas and other states educating schoolchildren who fled Hurricane Katrina can get federal emergency relief funds under legislation approved by the Senate.

The Senate approved the legislation late Thursday that would allow Federal Emergency Management Agency to transfer money to states for primary and secondary education. The bill was sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who serves on the Appropriations Committee.

"The Senate has brought relief one step closer to the states who have opened their doors and their hearts to the victims of Katrina," Hutchison said in a statement. She said Texas budgets are already stretched and the help is needed.

Under the bill, FEMA could transfer money from its disaster relief fund to the Secretary of Education to cover expenses such as buying textbooks for schools where evacuated students ended up. An estimated 45,000 such students are in Texas schools, she said.

The students had to have lived or been enrolled in a school in an area declared a disaster area as of Aug. 22.

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LUFKIN, Texas — Officials said they believe the population of Lufkin has nearly tripled to about 100,000 with Hurricane Rita evacuees in the city. The city's normal population is around 35,000.

Officials estimate that as many as 10,000 people are taking shelter in the city, with the rest staying in private homes or parking lots.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, said he was worried about East Texas evacuees being in the path of the storm.

"The state successfully evacuated a lot of people off the coast and out of Houston. The problem is a good number of them are stuck in East Texas, right in the direct path of the hurricane," Brady said.

He said evacuees are stuck in cities such as Livingston, Jasper, Woodville, Newton and Cold Springs, 70-80 miles inland, that were originally east of the projected hurricane path.

"We have thousands of people with no fuel or food, no shelters, no cots, no security ... When the winds start hitting tonight those people are going to be stuck," Brady said.

Brady decided to ride out the storm from his home, about 25 miles north of downtown Houston. He said he had planned to evacuate with his wife and two young children, but "the roads were too much and I'm glad we didn't."

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AUSTIN (AP) — The state Department of State Health Services said there is an "urgent need" for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to volunteer in the care of Hurricane Rita evacuees in Texas.

Health Services Commissioner Eduardo Sanchez said people are needed to assist in triage and treating evacuees in shelters throughout Texas. To volunteer, call: 1-800-942-5540.

The agency said volunteers should be able to "self-sustain" for two to three days.

Officials at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio said special-needs patients at shelters in their area are creating an urgent need for volunteers as well.

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AUSTIN (AP) — East Texas state parks now in the path of Hurricane Rita have closed, and campers have been relocating to parks as far away as West Texas and the Panhandle, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Friday.

Most parks are offering free camping to hurricane evacuees, and some campers with reservations have offered their campsites to those fleeing Rita.

Officials estimate 1,000 Rita evacuees are in state parks across Texas.

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LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AP) — Texas National Guard personnel started leaving San Antonio on Friday to pre-position themselves on the edge of Hurricane Ritas path, officials said.

The 149th Fighter Wing will lead Task Force Seguin, which has about 400 soldiers and airmen and was planning to wait out the storm in College Station.

Airmen from Garland, Fort Worth and El Paso will assist civil authorities with emergency support functions such as rescue, medical care, transportation, distribution of supplies, security and road clearing.

Texas National Guard members were among the first responders in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, helping evacuate some 35,000 residents from the Superdome.

Gov. Rick Perry recalled personnel from Louisiana on Sept. 19 to prepare for the arrival of Rita.

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Hospital and nursing home patients from Texas and other Gulf Coast areas threatened by Hurricane Rita arrived in Louisville and Lexington on Friday morning and were taken to nearby hospitals.

Two National Disaster Medical System flights carrying 78 people arrived early Friday at Louisville International Airport, said Chad Carlton, a spokesman for Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson.

In Lexington, a flight with 27 patients and 15 of their family members arrived at Blue Grass Airport later Friday on a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane, said Milton Dohoney, the chief administrative officer for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.

The plane that arrived in Lexington is based at Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas. Air Force Capt. Jon Reinsch, the flight's navigator, said the plane traveled from Dyess to Colorado Springs, Colo., then to Scott Air Force Base near Belleville, Ill. — where a medical team boarded the plane — before going to Beaumont, Texas, and on to Lexington.

Reinsch said the flight crew had been awake for 26 straight hours as of 10 a.m. CDT.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The government has purchased more than 20 million pounds of canned meat, poultry, fruit and vegetables in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and as Rita approaches the Gulf Coast, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Friday.

About four million pounds of this food will restock U.S. Department of Agriculture and state supplies that were used for Katrina relief. About 16 million pounds of this food will be used for Katrina and Rita disaster relief.

Additionally, USDA has worked with Texas officials to prepare food stamp waivers in anticipation of potential needs within the state beginning this weekend.