Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Texas evacuees wait on FEMA relief

A group of 37 storm evacuees from the Orange, Texas, area sought refuge in Gurdon just before Hurricane Rita knocked down trees around their home and cut their electrical power off for what might be as long as a month.

According to Irving Broussard, a home owner in Orange who was lucky enough not to have any known, extensive damage to his property, 70 to 80 percent of his 30,000 population town was demolished  as far as residential structures.

Broussard is staying at the Faith Mission on Second Street in Gurdon.

"I had a daughter and son-in-law who lost three bedrooms and a bathroom near there, in Little Cypress (Texas). They will have extensive repairs and we are all waiting on electricity," Broussard said.

Broussard has been staying with the other Texas evacuees in Gurdon since the early morning hours of Thursday, Sept. 22. He and his wife, Gertrude, are being fed by his son-in-law Dougs cousin, Tommy Potter of Gurdon.

Doug Trammell has already left for Texas to evaluate the extent of the damages to his Little Cypress home. He has called to advice his wife, Marian, that the electricity to the Orange area may be down for another month.

Broussard, who is a grandfather, said there is talk of he and the mothers and children, going back to Texas before then, if arrangements can be made to use his generator.

But as for now, the men of the nine-car caravan from last Thursday are in Texas scouting out damages and the women and children remain in Gurdon, or some have went to a relatives home in Austin, Texas.

Broussard said it is first time to visit Gurdon, "but it is sure a nice little town."

"I would like to thank Tommy Potter and the Food Bank for helping us so much, and the individuals who pitched in too."

Potter, a Gurdon hair dresser and coordinator of Faith Mission, was talking with his cousin, Trammell, when Hurricane Rita had her sites on the Orange and Britt area of Texas, just a few miles from Louisiana on the coast.

Potter told Trammell to gather family and friends and "make a road trip" to Gurdon.

Three ladies, who have been staying at the main Potter house, "the Ghost Light Inn," on Front Street, since early Thursday morning, have all said the trip here was not an easy journey.

Recalling the jaunt to Arkansas were: Shannon Meriweather, 40; Billie Joe Campbell, 30; and Kristie Monk, 20.

Kristie and her mother, Shannon, are from Orange, Texas and Billie Joe, a family friend, is from Deweyville, Texas, population 2,000.

Before describing the trip, all three women brought up the slowness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help Texas evacuees.

Campbell, a single mother with two young children who lost the roof to her mobile home in a tornado related to the hurricane, asks, "Why cant President Bush help us?

"I go on the Internet and give my FEMA information to get some sort of financial aid for me and my kids. It says my requests are expired because I am from Texas. It says New Orleans is top priority. Fine. But why have Texas victims turned into no priority?"

Monk, who has a two-year-old daughter and works at McDonalds in Orange, supporting her child from that job, said, "It does not matter who needs it worse, us or New Orleans. The United States helps with the Asian tsunami to this day. Are we Texans, from the home state of the president, less important to him and the other elected officials than someone in Asia that we dont even know?

"Frankly, ours is the only residence I am aware of on 16th Street in Orange, Texas, that is still standing. But what about those who are not so lucky? If Bush thinks his lack of efficiency in New Orleans got him a lot of bad press, wait until he gets some feedback from his fellow Texans."

Campbell said if the president insists on helping those overseas, that would be fine once our "own nest" is secure.

"We are United States citizens. Why are we being made to wait for the FEMA relief? If they even gave us a portion of what New Orleans was getting, most of us could understand the distinction of funds dispersed in accordance with severity of damage. But we have kids to feed, and Bush has not directed the federal government to give us a dime until he determines if we are lying about being evacuee status."

Meriweather described the exodus from Orange last Wednesday night. She said the journey usually takes about six hours. This time it took 12.

"We were the last ones to evacuate before Rita hit," she said. "There were people all along the highway in stalled cars, no place to sleep and nothing to eat. Many walked with signs, trying to catch a ride.

"At one point, traffic was so backed up, it took two hours to go one mile."

Stephanie Potter, the uninformed hostess, said she and her husband had not had a chance to talk about inviting his family from Texas and their friends to live in Gurdon for awhile before it happened.

"I was proud he invited them, but it has been hard," Mrs. Potter said. "Several of the women have enrolled their children in the Gurdon schools for the month or so they plan to stay. We want to give a special thanks to the Fountain of Hope Food Bank for opening their doors to the folks we have taken in. It is not as hard now that the men have went back to Texas to evaluate damages, but I bet they will have to come back awhile. It will be OK though. Really, we are glad to be here for them."

Tommy Potter said he has been dealing with depression among some of the evacuees.

"Most of them are holding up well after hearing about their losses, but it is taking its toll as the reality sinks in. I have found that keeping them busy with something simple, like mowing a yard or fixing food, goes a long way toward keeping spirits up."

Potter is the local coordinator for Celebrate Recovery, a "life hurts, God heals" Christian support group.