It’s been a little over 3 days since the rain began here in Marshall from Gustav and even though we and the Gulf Coast didn’t see near what could of happened, it was still quite a storm. From what I saw here, the evacuations and preparations were 100% better on the Louisiana side of the fence, as opposed to 3 years ago when Texas had a somewhat orderly and steady and relatively uneventful evacuation (*although the traffic jams and heat were awful and horrible bus fire that claimed more than 2 dozen people)* of 2 + million people from the Houston Metro area for Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Katrina ripped into the poorest sections of New Orleans where little state preparation and an overwhelmed Federal Emergency Management crew were unable to move people out ahead of time. I still see that as a stark contrast in Leadership on the Texas side, Gov Perry rallied state, county and city agencies to urge voluntary and mandated certain areas evacuations, buses were chartered, the news media went on fever pitch in the Houston metro area, we even made plans to receive family in Austin, if they needed it, but they didn’t, as they choose to weather the Storm. Now it wasn’t a perfect response, but the stark contrast with New Orleans and Southern Louisiana’s evacuation 3 years ago spoke volumes of the leaders on the ground at the time.
How times have changed, gratefully Gustav never made Cat 5 but wow what an evacuation. We are reported to have had nearly 1000 people housed in Marshall’s convention center, our own gymnasium here on campus is housing 50 or so patients through an operation run through FEMA. And while it is a little odd for Camo and fatigues to be on campus, I can say I’m grateful they came, I’m grateful to the leadership of the City and my University for allowing and supporting these people needing a short term roof over their heads away from the storm. But it’s still odd to have a Hospital in a gymnasium. . .
All in all a great big Kudo’s to Gov Jindal, the local officials along the Gulf Coast, the people of Louisiana and the Federal Emergency Management and the National Guard who are all doing a superb job from what I can see. . . .
A little wet but un-phased by the Hurricane but grateful for the scores of unsung heroes who are making a difference on the ground.
C
(BTW) The photo is of the overall building where the Hospital was setup, although it was set in the older gymnasium (Keys Gym) to the left but connected to this newer section which houses the renovated and new gymnasium (Ornelas Gymnasium) which is to the right side of the buidling pictured.
Article on FEMA Hospital from ETBU’s Site: FEMA Hospital in Keys Gym
