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Letter Re: First Hand Observations on the Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Bus Evacuation
James:
I was a bus driver for the evacuation of the New Orleans Convention
Center and figure that I should put my two cents in worth.We drove
straight through from Ohio to a staging point (LaPlace) in New Orleans
and were
escorted to the Convention Center. This was on Saturday morning around
9 a.m. New Orleans time about a week after the dikes let go. We were
lucky not to be in the first wave that came into the Super Dome earlier
in
the week as we heard they were still ordering parts to repair the busses
that got busted up when they got mobbed. [By the time that our busses
arrived] they had the evacuees fenced off a block from out busses and
they only let through enough to load one bus at a
time.
They
were
literal
bag
people
and brought what they had in bags and we loaded them up and took off to wait
for a escort. We went to a staging site to get the escorts for our first leg
of the trip and for all the busses to form up. There were ten in our convoy.
We did not know where were going. We were told in Ohio we were going to Texas,
but when we got to the staging area we were told we were going to Arkansas.
Fort Smith to be exact a old WWII training base with some of the barracks restored.
The evacuees needed off the bus to use the restroom and we were told not to
let anyone off, but the call of nature reigns, so we let everyone off
to pee and smoke before heading for Arkansas. The back story for not
letting
people off the bus (which we learned couple days later) was that they did this
at another location and the people would not return to the bus in a timely
manner and looted the site they had stopped at. The number one item
looted was alcoholic beverages...so no stops anymore was the order of the day...
We had little food on board, just what folks in Ohio gave us to give to people,
Vienna sausages, sardines, and water. Some of the other buses were luck in
that they had pallets of MREs and
water at the Convention Center and those at the end of the line were loaded
up with
them for the trip...
We started for Fort Smith with the escorts switching when jurisdictions changed.
We were not briefed on the trip and it turned out they were not going to stop
for anything. About five hours into the trip the last five busses in the convoy
(we were the second bus, but everyone kept passing us) got off the highway
and went to a travel center that was turned into a rest
stop for evacuees. Boy talk about a needed break. We needed to get out of the
drivers seat for a while. Most of the busses had two drivers and a few had
only one. We had two and learned latter that is what FEMA required
for the trips, but some companies only sent one driver per bus. We drove straight
through from Ohio to Fort Smith switching off every five hours or when we got
sleepy. All DOT regulations were
suspended for the emergency, no log books, no hours of service everything was
suspended. We were running on agricultural fuel as they were so short of over
the road fuel. The agricultural fuel is tax free and dyed red, so that the
DOT can catch illegal use of non-taxed fuel. Anyway the stop was a evacuees
dream
come
true,
A tent with mostly new clothes and other items free for the taking and heater
meals and water to drink and flush toilets. Speaking of toilets we did have
a toilet on the bus and had to open it up. We were told by the company to keep
it locked up, but on a non stop trip that was not going to happen. More on
this subject, later. :O(((
We got our break and we told everyone on the bus when they heard us honk the
air horn to get back to the bus or they were going to be left behind.
Everyone got back on the bus, but many got on another bus as they did
not remember which bus they had been on. So off for Fort Smith again...the
next two stops were for fuel as some of the busses had small tanks and did
not get topped off at the staging point..We had a 210 gal tank and had topped
off just before getting into the affected area as we did not know what the
fuel situation was..We saw several mile-long lines at gas stations after we
refueled and were happy we refueled when we did.
We got into Fort Smith at 5:30 am and were told no one off the busses....well
that did not happen, our toilet was full and the evacuees had been on the bus
some 20 hours and needed to stretch their legs and get something to eat. They
had busses lined up what seemed like a mile on base. We could not figure out
what was going on. We let the evacuees off as there
was a mess hall serving food, but they could not remove any items from the
bus. Well it was 7 PM before they off loaded from our bus and the local
authorities were stripping everything off the busses and going through everything
and I
mean everything. They took all our water and food off, so we did not
have anything for any other evacuee we might be hauling, and they went through
everything the evacuees had. They were looking for weapons and alcohol in particular
and anything that might be considered looted items.
So expect to get searched. If it is a biological or chemical issue then expect
everything you got to be trashed and then you will be issued clean items to
wear and sleep in.
Anyway, we went to a hotel and spent the next day cleaning the bus up. The
smell was unimaginable from the sardines and people who had not showered for
a week or more and the toilet, which we dumped the next day...but we were lucky..on
some of the buses people just went where they were and there were wet seats
and other stuff laying around. It looked like a party was going on with
all the whiskey and wine bottles we found...
We heard that they relocated everyone from Fort Smith to smaller sites like
Bible camps in the middle of nowhere and the evacuees were told they were not
allowed to leave the site, but then again some of these sites were several
miles from anywhere, so they had nowhere to go... The evacuees had no idea
of where they were going when evacuated, some were flown to other places, some
were bussed. Families were split up and they had no idea of where the rest
of the family was. One story going around was that a lady wanted to know where
her father was going and the guard she was talking too did not understand and
she explained they put him on the plane that had just taken off, separating
the family. They did not keep track of anyone and where they were going. They
dealt with this issue once they got evacuees to a shelter/final destination.
We did not carry any more evacuees even though we were there for three weeks,
sometimes sleeping on the busses due to lack of housing. It was very chaotic,
more than what I am used to, out on disasters. I did enjoy my three weeks as
my past disaster experiences prepared me for this one. The only regret was
not being able to stock up on all the MREs that they had lying around. Pallets
of them...I just got one or two at a time for meals...
I have been out on disasters for over ten years now and they are all chaotic
at best especially the big events. They are too big to get a handle on in short
order. They can take from days to weeks to get out of the chaos stage and into
some kind of organization. The politics can be horrible to say the least...
If you have not been through one first hand and want to see what it is like
before you are affected by such an event find a humanitarian aid organization
and volunteer to go out on a or several disasters. It is a eye opening experience
and very good to understand what you might be going through if an event happens
in your area.
My take on the Asian Avian flu is that we will be sheltered in place
which is isolation of the people infected with bird flu from the rest of us.
We will have to fend for our selves in our homes or business pending on when
the quarantine is issued. Hopefully you will be at home when the quarantine
is issued. Figure essential personal will have to live at heir work locations
to keep the power, water, sewer, phone, etc.. going. Have heard that care packages
may have to be made up and delivered to residences if the quarantine is long
term. Basically take a Tupperware container fill it with stuff--food water,
etc.. and tell everyone to stay in their homes until it is dropped off on the
porch and then after the people
delivering it leave then they can get it. Dealing with the sick and dead will
be an issue, just hope you do not get sick. Mass evacuations are a last resort
in a bird flu situation as it raises the risk of spreading the illness not
controlling its spread. You end up in a mass shelter you will have a higher
risk of getting the flu. Keeping people in their homes and restricting contact
with others is the best defense. If you have any questions, I can try and answer
them. Thanks, - Ron
