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FEMA caught off-guard at Houston aid center

Residents grow weary and impatient waiting in a line they were told would be staffed by the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only to find out that the Red Cross would not be on site Tuesday in St. Charles Parish, near New Orleans, Louisiana. Life across much of the New Orleans area was struggling to return to normal nearly a month after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the area. PHOTO: EPA

Saying they were caught off-guard by the number of people in need, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials closed a relief center early after some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in broiling heat.

The midday Wednesday closing of the Houston disaster relief center came as officials in areas hit hardest by Hurricane Rita criticized FEMA's response to the storm, with one calling for a commission to examine the emergency response.

Across southeastern Texas, the agency delivered ice, water and packaged meals to residents who rode out last week's hurricane, which blew ashore at Sabine Pass in East Texas early Saturday.

But the agency was not ready for the roughly 1,500 people displaced by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina who sought help at the Houston center when it re-opened on Wednesday.

The center, offering help from a variety of government and private organizations, initially opened for Katrina refugees. It closed last week when Houston was evacuated before Rita.

The line started forming Tuesday night, and as temperatures reached record highs, some people fainted and had to be carried off by police and other survivors.

FEMA spokesman Justin Dombrowski said the agency closed the center for the day because of the heat and the unexpectedly large crowds. Those already in line were allowed to enter.

FEMA said it would reopen the center on Thursday morning and keep it operating into the evening seven days a week. The agency was also making plans to deal with any similar situation, said Mike Casella, another FEMA spokesman.

Frances Deculus, 65, of Beaumont got in line at 3am and emerged shortly before the center shut down. She said that all she was able to do was register for FEMA assistance, and that she will have to return to actually get any help.

"We don't know what to do. It's frustrating. We have five small children," said Deculus, who is staying in a Houston hotel with 12 other relatives.

Local officials, including Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz and Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, whose county includes Beaumont, said FEMA's response has been inadequate.

Griffith said he has asked Governor Rick Perry to set up a commission to study the emergency response to Rita. Congress is holding hearings this week on the federal government's response to Katrina.

FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg in Austin said communications between Austin and rural East Texas have been troubled, in part because of power problems. But he said FEMA had set up 27 distribution points in 27 southeastern Texas cities.

"I don't know what could have been done better since the materials were in place before the hurricane," Fredenburg said. "We're doing everything we can to get water and ice to whomever remains."
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