“They ordered the evacuation, but there were no buses, nothing”

At least 60,000 moved to Arkansas, immediately increasing the state’s population by 2.5 percent. More than 220,000 have been brought to Texas, which has sought the aid of other states to provide shelters. From there, authorities have flown them to places as far as Michigan, Arizona, Utah, West Virginia and Iowa.

Reporters from the World Socialist Web Site went to the Southfield, Michigan, Ramada Inn, which donated rooms and food to nearly 200 evacuees from Louisiana.

A 28-year-old mother with two children, aged 11 and 12, said she was extremely upset with what has happened. She was at the hotel with her friend who had encouraged her to come to Detroit. “I lost my car, my home, I lost everything in the flood,” said the mother who did not want to reveal her name. “And it upsets me because it didn’t have to happen this way had they just spent the money to fix the levees. My kids and I are homeless, and we don’t know where we are going to live.”

She continued, “They issued a mandatory evacuation to leave the city, so I took my kids to Houston, Texas, so that they would be safe.” Later, they went to the Astrodome.

The mother had a hard time recalling the days of the events, because “it was all such a whirl. I thought it was on Tuesday, but I am not sure. We were at the Astrodome for a couple of days when I saw someone circulating around asking if anyone wanted to go to Detroit. I decided to go because I had a good friend there who could help me.”

About 80 percent of New Orleans evacuees were able to leave before Katrina hit, while the rest remained in the city during the storm, abandoned by a nonexistent evacuation policy. Many of those left behind are being loaded on to buses and planes by FEMA and scattered across the country, without receiving a hint as to their destination.

In another cruel blow, FEMA suddenly announced late last Friday that it would discontinue its two-day program of handing out $2,000 debit cards to evacuees. It will distribute the remainder of the cards to those in shelters in Texas, and no other states will receive them. Many people waited on lines for hours in expectation of receiving one, only to find out they were duped into waiting to fill out FEMA paperwork without obtaining any immediate financial assistance. FEMA officials have pledged to make direct deposits into evacuees’ bank accounts on an individual basis some time in the future, but with many victims left with no mailing address or open account, such a plan is fraught with problems.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2005/sep2005/mich-s14.shtml