Hundreds Find Refuge In El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (AP) – As the floodwaters rose around her 9th Ward home in New Orleans, Doris Causey tried her best to reassure her family.
“I told them that God made me a promise, there was a rainbow in the sky and we would be all right,” Causey recalled Monday from a shelter at the El Paso convention center. “But as the water rose my 18-year-old told me, ‘I don’t want to hear about any promise, get in the attic.”‘
Causey, 59, and her daughter, Karen Cheneau, 40, were among more than 400 evacuees brought from hurricane-ravaged Louisiana to this West Texas city on Sunday. Though their final destination was a surprise – officials said most knew only that they were heading to Texas – the tired crowd was said to be in good spirits Monday and thankful to be alive.
Lt. Mario Hernandez, an El Paso fire marshal’s investigator, said several evacuees were taken to area hospitals but most were in relatively good health. They clutched garbage bags or small suitcases with all they had left, Hernandez said. “It was overwhelming,” Hernandez said, fighting back tears. “They were holding on to bags like they were protecting the Hope Diamond.”
At the shelter, sleeping quarters have been separated from a dining area complete with a projection television. Evacuees had a football game on Monday evening. Tables were teeming with books, newspapers and coloring books for children.
With donations from local businesses, firefighter trainees put up two basketball courts and a set of playground equipment near the loading docks, Hernandez said. Some families were reunited at the shelter. Others, including Causey, were able to reach relatives by phone.
Most of Causey’s relatives are scattered in shelters in numerous states, though all have been accounted for. It wasn’t until they arrived in El Paso, Causey said, that she confirmed that her youngest daughter and 2-year-old grandchild survived.
After floodwaters briefly receded in the immediate aftermath of the storm, Causey sent the pair to the Louisiana Superdome. “That was the hardest decision, but I knew it was the right decision,” Causey said with sadness in her eyes. “I thought they were gone, because of everything we were hearing.”
The younger woman has been at a shelter in Lafayette, La. Cheneau and Causey said they spent much of last week sheltered in a school a few blocks from their house. They waded through waist- to chest-high water to get there and saw things they’ll never forget. “I don’t care what you see on television, it will never show the impact of what happened,” Causey said, as her daughter nodded and wiped away tears.
At first, they survived on looted food and water. Most days there was just enough for the crowd of strangers sharing the abandoned building. Eventually, food and water was dropped from helicopters.
It took a few tries to figure out how to warm the meals ready to eat, but the pair say they were extremely grateful for the help. “We were too hungry to bother to read,” Causey said of the directions on the packages. She and her daughter laughed lightly as they recalled crowds of people happily eating the cold military rations.
They eventually walked out of the city, carrying a suitcase each with the few things they could save. “We just have two outfits each,” Cheneau said. They aren’t sure what they will do next, but leaving El Paso isn’t yet a priority. “Everybody is trying to get here (because) she is the strong arm,” Cheneau said of her siblings and other relatives as she pointed to her mother.
“I don’t think anyone knows what the next step is,” Causey added.
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL, Associated Press Writer
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-09-06-05 0110EDT
