New Orleans – With the situation in the smelly and sweltering Superdome becoming ever more desperate, authorities have found a new home for the building’s nearly 25,000 hurricane refugees: the Astrodome in Houston.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided about 500 buses to transport the refugees, and the first caravan of buses was expected to arrive in Houston late Wednesday. The mayor said military cargo planes were en route as a backup in case the bus system is inadequate and the roads are too flooded.
“It’s unsanitary; it’s hot; those people haven’t had showers or baths in four to five days,” Mayor C. Ray Nagin said Wednesday of the Superdome situation.
But word of the move to Houston came as Nagin had grim news for refugees desperate to see what is left of their homes: “The city will not be functional for two or three months.”
It was not immediately clear how long the refugees will be in Houston, 350 miles from New Orleans.
“We’re buying time until we can figure something out,” said William Lokey, chief coordinator for FEMA.
The Astrodome’s schedule has been cleared through December for housing evacuees, said Kathy Walt, spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The building no longer is the home of a professional sports team – the Houston Astros left in 2000, and the dome is now used for conventions, concerts and high school football games.
Cots and blankets for up to 25,000 people were being set up on the Astrodome’s floor. Knowing that the people would arrive tired, frustrated and disheartened, shelter organizers began planning activities that might help take the evacuees’ minds off their troubles, such as free trips to museums and amusement parks.
Organizers plan to use Astrodome kitchens and locker rooms to keep refugees fed and clean but said they realize it won’t be easy because the stadium was not built to handle so many people.
The situation at the Superdome was worsening: the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising.
The floodwaters are threatening the generators that are providing electricity for the remaining lighting. There has been no air conditioning and only limited lighting since power went out during the hurricane Monday.
