Evacuees Begin Rebuilding Process In Sun City
EL PASO, TX. – The outpouring of help for hurricane evacuees taking shelter in the El Paso Convention Center and the local stories of help for them have been overwhelming. Now some evacuees want to take that feeling and make it permanent part of their new life in El Paso.
Henry Linen tells ABC-7 that his home in the Central Business District of New Orleans, or the CBD as it’s known to locals, survived the winds of hurricane Katrina. But once the storm had passed, the water started rising and he and his family left that home for good.
Now Mr. Linen says he and his family will now call the Sun City, not the Big Easy, home. Friday at the convention center the job became matching homes with the people who need them. People like Henry Linen. “
Mr. Linen says events like Friday’s housing fair are making it easier for evacuees to get their feet on the ground. He also says it makes his decision to make El Paso his permanent home an easier one.
Mr. Linen tells ABC-7 that, “Some people that come from New Orleans, some of them didn’t have a place to stay, some of them might be on the streets, but when you get here it’s like starting over — a brand new beginning…but it’ll take some getting used to… finding out about our surrounding area, because most of us don’t know anything about El Paso”
Henry also says the city-organized van-trips have made that easier, but there are still just a few more things he needs before he can really call El Paso home. He says he doesn’t really even know where his missing family members are.
Mr Linen says he figures some of his family is somewhere in Texas, now. He hopes that the media coverage of both his and the other evacuee’s plight will lead to may reunions – including his own.
