Evacuees from New Orleans arrive at the D.C. Armory. (Newsline Photo by April Chan)

By April Chan
Maryland Newsline
Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005

Two hundred and ninety-five people who had been airlifted from the New Orleans area due to damages wrought by Hurricane Katrina arrived this week at the D.C. Armory, where they will live as they begin to recover, officials said.

Various D.C. officials estimated time frames ranging from 30 days to nearly three months for the evacuees to get back on their feet and for the Armory to be used as a shelter. Mayor Anthony Williams (D) stressed they may not be staying in the District of Columbia that full time. 

“The Armory should only be the first stop,” he said.

D.C. Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp (D) said Prince George's, Montgomery and Arlington counties have volunteered to help as well, and officials expect to move some of the evacuees in those directions as new arrivals are processed.

“This is the entry point for Maryland, D.C. and Virginia,” said Barbara Childs-Pair, director of the D.C. Emergency Management Agency.

The Armory can accommodate more people - up to 400 - and will be used for this purpose, “as long as it takes,” she said. 

Local residents show their support to the new arrivals. (Newsline Photo by April Chan)

Williams' speechwriter Therman Evans said the city estimates this aid will cost about $6 million but stresses "there's no way to tell right now how much it will actually be." The city is expecting 100 percent reimbursement from federal authorities, he said.

District relief workers encountered a number of hurdles coordinating the evacuation effort with such offices as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Childs-Pair said.

The mayor's office initially announced last Friday the city was sending 10 buses down to Louisiana to pick up evacuees.

Childs-Pair said workers in Washington had loaded the buses with medical equipment and infant supplies and sent them off to New Orleans only to be turned away upon arrival. “FEMA said they had no evacuees to receive them,” she said.

Williams' senior speechwriter, Erik Linden, said the buses eventually returned to the District at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday with only one evacuee.

But the equipment and supplies have been distributed to victims in Mississippi and Alabama, Childs-Pair said.

On Monday, Williams' office said the city would broaden its evacuation effort by airlifting people who had fled Louisiana for Arkansas, at the request of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R).

But federal authorities delayed the airlifts until Tuesday and changed the pick-up point from Arkansas to New Orleans. The 295 people picked up arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport on two planes that afternoon, officials said.

Gary Graham, 49, talks to reporters about his ordeal leaving New Orleans. (Newsline Photo by April Chan)

The evacuees didn't know they were being brought to Washington until after they boarded the planes, said Gary Graham, 49, a pharmacist from Gentilly in New Orleans East, who was among the new arrivals.

D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large) said the city received whoever federal authorities in the Gulf Coast managed to evacuate.

He pointed out, “We've never done this before. We'll do some things right and some things wrong.”

Security is tight around the Armory as the media and concerned individuals hover outside, waiting for a glimpse of a friend or loved one stepping into the Armory. They have not been allowed inside to see the evacuees.

“Inside the Armory is their home now,” Cropp said.

“Many are shell-shocked,” Catania said. “We're all sensitive to their needs not to be made a spectacle.”

Rodney Ford, 50, a fashion designer who lives in the District, was among the onlookers Tuesday. He waited outside the Armory gates, hoping to spot a friend or two upon their arrival.

“I live a couple of blocks up the street,” he said. Though he said he tried using the Internet to find the whereabouts of his friends, “I couldn't get through. Everything was shut down.”

There are free phones for the new arrivals to use inside the Armory to get in touch with loved ones, in addition to food, cots and hot showers, said Kendaya Trottie, a volunteer who had been helping to distribute toys to children and serve food.

Red Cross worker Ronald Tabor said that once the evacuees are properly processed, they are free to make arrangements to meet family and friends in the area.

Tabor had the task of turning away not only donations of clothes and blankets from well-meaning individuals – all fire stations are collecting them – but also of turning away those who managed to escape the Gulf Coast and drive on their own to the D.C. area.

“We're only taking in people who came by airplane,” he said, adding that he directs other refugees to area Red Cross chapters in the region. “There, they can get processed right away and get the help they need.”

Childs-Pair said Delta Airlines had donated two commercial planes to airlift the evacuees out of New Orleans, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority bussed the new arrivals from Dulles to the Armory.

Copyright © 2005 University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism