'I'm about to kill myself'
2005-09-22 08:25
Houston - Cars queued bumper-to-bumper on roads of Houston and Galveston on Wednesday to escape looming Hurricane Rita and for many thousands of evacuees, it was the second time in barely three weeks that they have sought a safe haven.
Galveston, a city of 57 000 on a barrier island, started moving the elderly and infirm in ambulances and buses.
Ambulances fought through the traffic with sirens blaring, families packed everything they could into cars, and dozens of school buses ferried those lacking their own means of transport.
The streets of the port city were virtually deserted and most gas stations, stores and restaurants shut down.
More than one million people are affected by the evacuation order along the Texas coast, which also includes lower-lying parts of Houston and Corpus Christi.
'Stay gone'
United States authorities are taking no chances this time after the withering criticism over their flawed response to Katrina, for which the confirmed death toll has now passed 1 000.
"It's time to leave now, right now, and stay gone until we say it's OK to come back," said Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, after a city council meeting declared a state of emergency late on Tuesday.
Katrina forced Alicia Baxter and her family into the Superdome stadium in New Orleans, then the Astrodome in Houston, and they had arrived in Galveston last week. "I'm about to go kill myself," she said as relatives packed up behind her. "This is unbelievable."
Several thousand people in emergency shelters in Houston were also told to leave again.
About 1 000 Katrina refugees pushed their possessions, many in shopping carts, from Houston stadiums and other shelters. Some were given one-way plane or bus tickets to Arkansas, where more shelters have been set up.
About 976 people were still living at the Houston Astrodome on Tuesday. But officials told them: "Everyone must go."
The George R Brown Convention Centre was also cleared of the 147 men, women and children living there.
"It's a mess, it's a big mess," said Kim Paul, 45. "It's like something from a nightmare. I got no place to stay, my grandbaby needs to go to school, and I don't have transportation. I feel like a gypsy."
Rita has turned into a maximum strength category five storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and officials said the sports stadium and convention centre might not withstand such a storm. Other shelters have been opened but many of the New Orleans refugees chose to get out of town.
At the peak of the post-Katrina chaos, there were 27 000 people living in Houston's Astrodome and convention centre.
Leroy Pratt, who has spent three weeks in the Astrodome, said he was leaving as he had nowhere else to go.
Pratt said a debit card with $2 000 and another for $360 from the Red Cross had been stolen. He said he had also lost contact with his family. "They said I could get on the bus, so I'm going," said the 55-year-old.
- AFP