Evacuees Begin Exploring El Paso Area
EL PASO, TX. – Nearly a week after leaving the disaster zone, Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the Sun City look to regain their independence. There are now 463 evacuees are living at the El Paso Convention Center.
But as of Wednesday, with i-d cards, bus passes, food stamps, and other assistance, the evacuees are now getting on with life. The city doesn’t expect any more evacuees to arrive by plane, however some are still finding their way El Paso.
Local emergency management officials say about 30 more evacuees arrived at the convention center Tuesday on their own, looking for shelter and help. Nearly all the evacuees now have ID badges that allow them to leave the convention center and return.
ABC-7 caught up with several evacuees exploring Downtown El Paso Wednesday afternoon. While the newest residents roam the shopping district, city officials hope to clear everyone out of the convention center within thirty days.
City officials tell ABC-7 that the biggest challenge remains connecting hurricane victims with loved ones and finding more permanent housing for them. Another concern for some families without help from insurance received good news from the government.
Family will be eligible for $2000 debit cards supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA says the money is to buy food, clothing and transportation to speed up the process of finding them new places to live.
FEMA has also set up a program to buy plane tickets for victims who wish to leave El Paso. Sun Travel is working with FEMA to book one-way flights. The city is paying for the tickets with a promise of reimbursement from the federal agency.
Emergency personnel want to make sure that to a lot of the hurricane victims reconnect with loved ones. To that end, emergency officials tell ABC-7 that they will gladly accept donations of calling cards to help make that happen.
