Houston – They waded through the chest-high floodwaters in the streets of New Orleans. They were plucked from their rooftops in the rescue baskets of helicopters. They survived the hell of the Louisiana Superdome and a 350-mile bus ride to Texas.
Now, just a few weeks after getting settled at emergency shelters in Houston, Hurricane Katrina evacuees are on the move again to escape another storm.
“This reminds me of the Israelites marching in the desert,” Norman Bethancourt, 51, said as he waited for a bus to take him from Reliant Arena to Ellington Field, where he and the other refugees were set to board planes bound for a military base in Arkansas.
About 1,100 evacuees – down from a high of nearly 10,000 – living in Houston’s two largest shelters, Reliant Arena and the George R. Brown Convention Center, began making their way to Fort Chaffee, Ark., as Hurricane Rita strengthened into a hurricane and lashed the Florida Keys with heavy rain and strong wind.
Forecasters said Rita would probably come ashore in Texas over the weekend.
Houston officials said moving the evacuees was necessary because the shelters might not hold up in a major hurricane. They hoped to have everyone moved by Tuesday night.
The evacuees carried little. Some had a backpack, others a plastic bag. A few had pillows. One girl, tears streaming down her face, carried a stuffed toy in a little cage.
Coast Guard Lt. Joe Leonard said 10 planes flew refugees to Arkansas on Tuesday, and officials were prepared to move another 2,300 today, if needed.
Other refugees went to shelters in Dallas, stayed with family and friends, or returned to Louisiana.
Many of the evacuees were not happy about leaving for Arkansas and were looking for somewhere else to go.
“Hell. It’s been pure hell,” said Lisa Banks, 33, who was outside Reliant Arena with her four children, ages 8 to 15. “I’m not going to Arkansas. I feel like a rag doll, people throwing me around.”
