Officials in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties have been told to prepare for up to 2,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors who could arrive in Washington this week.
“It’s a major undertaking,” Roger Serra, director of Snohomish County’s Department of Emergency Management, said Monday evening. “We’ve never experienced anything like this.”
In South Snohomish County, the Emergency Services Coordinating Agency is getting ready to support the incoming survivors, said Lyn Gross, the agency’s emergency services director. The agency, located in Brier, did not know how many evacuees to expect. County and state officials are working out the details this week.
“We are working together as a group,” Gross said. “It is all a group effort. No one is standing alone on this.”
Some survivors will make their own way across the country to take refuge with families and friends, Gross said. If survivors arrive in Snohomish County, they are encouraged to contact FEMA or the Red Cross for assistance.
Unlike the short-term shelter provided after floods, shelter likely will be needed for an extended period of time, perhaps up to six months or even longer, Serra said.
“We want to make sure we bring back normalcy to their lives, a bed, shower and maybe a kitchen.”
Tentative plans call for evacuees to arrive at McChord Air Force Base and Fort Lewis in Pierce County, he said. They could remain there for three to four days of processing.
A list of possible sites for evacuees to be housed is being drawn up, part of a humanitarian effort throughout the Puget Sound area. Sites might include senior centers that are no longer being used, Serra said.
In Everett, the Snohomish County chapter of the American Red Cross remained open all weekend, with phones ringing nearly non-stop.
“This is an amazing outpouring,” Chuck Morrison, executive director of the local Red Cross chapter, said of public response to the disaster.
Donations have streamed in, with an estimated $100,000 mailed or hand delivered to the Everett chapter so far. “I know I got several checks for $2,000 to $5,000 each,” Morrison said.
Nationally, the Red Cross has raised $400 million, he said, approaching the $430 million raised nationally for tsunami relief earlier this year.
People are volunteering at the Everett chapter for a one-day training class to prepare them to be sent on hurricane-relief assignments of two to three weeks across the nation.
“We’ve got a couple hundred folks in line to be trained in the next couple weeks,” Morrison said.
“I’m amazed by the number of people who have called about volunteering,” he added. “They recognize that it’s a natural disaster and want to help.” This week’s training classes are filled, but people can sign up for classes next week.
In addition, local hurricane relief crews have been deployed to the Southeast, Salt Lake City and Houston, Morrison said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
