Gustav evacuees head back to homes
By Adam Smith
The North Jefferson News
Evacuees from Hurricane Gustav were allowed to return to their homes on Friday after a five-day stay in central Alabama shelters.
The Gardendale Civic Center, which served as a medical needs shelter, had hosted about 10 evacuees since Sunday, in addition to workers from the Jefferson County Department of Health and Department of Human Resources.
Heather Hogue, of the county health department, said a bus left the civic center shortly after 10 a.m. on Friday and would meet up with other buses leaving Fair Park Arena in Birmingham, heading back to Louisiana.
Their departure came sooner than was originally expected by officials from the state and county.
Civic Center director John Brigham said Thursday that he expected the evacuees to be at the center through Saturday. While Brigham said he was glad the facility was available to help, the situation isn’t without its challenges.
“There are two more hurricanes coming down the pike,” he said, in reference to Hurricanes Hannah and Ike, expected to make landfall this week. “It’s hard for us to handle.”
Frank Phillips with the county health department said there was one nurse assigned to 10 evacuees at the shelter, in addition to an environmental specialist and a disease intervention specialist.
“The plan was not to send any medical needs people to the Jefferson County area; they were supposed to go to Memphis,” Phillips said. “But with that many people, some needed the medical needs shelter.”
State and county officials with the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the Red Cross worked together to get the evacuees moved into shelters at the Fair Park Arena, Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and other locations like Wallace State in Hanceville.
Mark Kelly, public information officer with the Jefferson County EMA, said preparations were being made earlier this week to ensure evacuees were properly identified through armbands, that family members remained together and that there was plenty of food and water available for the ride back.
“We have to focus on one thing at a time,” Kelly said. “The thing about a hurricane is you do have some preparation time. We now have to get the shelters closed down, the evacuees back home and we’ll start monitoring the next one.”