The case of the vanishing evacuees, todays strange twist.

[preciousdove]

For the last 48 hours I have been working on a thread documenting where and how evacuees from LA and MS are being moved around. Today despite the carrot, a form to sign up for a $2,000 FEMA debit card evacuees in Texas are disappearing from shelters. The astrodome is down to less than 8,000 tonight from 25,000 earlier. Many hooked up with family and friends, some took advantage of offers from other states, but not many. So where did they go? Texas officials mention that many were thinking of going back and taking their chances.

A huge media call just went out asking displaced people to register with the Red Cross or FEMA but I think that folks are trying to get as far away from FEMA and the Red Cross as possible. They must have heard about New Orleans, about the shanghaied folks finding themselves on planes bound for parts unknown and about the camps that look more like detention camps than shelters. Stay tuned. This isn't over yet.

[2Design]

1. rc is shipping them out -

astrodome was only meant to be temporary shelter - people are being shipped out to multiple states around the usa - at least that is my understanding - they are scattered to the four winds and have no idea where they are going until they get there

[bee]

2. nope. they cancelled all that yesterday. n/t

[Mnemosyne]

7. Do you have a link to that bee? thank you. n/t

[preciousdove]

20. Oregon assistance not needed so quickly, federal officials say

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1126090630195010.xml&coll=7

[Mnemosyne]

25. Thank you much! n/t

[liveoaktx]

3. Geez, I just got a Soylent Green creep up the back

"They're PEOPLE"

[preciousdove]

5. I think they are making themselves scarce far away from the Gmnt n/t

[uppityperson]

4. Were bringing 2000 to WA, now they aren't.

I've been in contact with the RedCross and today they seemed remarkably blase about signing up health care staff, where yesterday they were anxious to. Find out on the news that the 2000 refugees expected here aren't coming.

[preciousdove]

6. nor CA, nor OR, nor IA, nor MN, nor Falls Creek TX prob more still looking

[Mnemosyne]

8. Any link on that up? Thank you. n/t

[preciousdove]

11. Links here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4657680&mesg_id=4657680

[Mnemosyne]

26. Thank you much preciousdove. n/t

[Bobbie47]

9. Mid-America Airport

by Scott AF Base in S. Illinois just got a plane load at 10:30pm
tonight. The plane had 173 people but they said some were air marshalls and crew. They took them to Alton Hospital I guess to be checked out. The reporter said they looked in good shape, was walking on their own. I just heard this on the radio.
St. Louis was suppose to get some 2-days ago they still haven't arrived. Don't know why?

[RoyGBiv]

10. Weird ...

Interesting that you post this. I've sorta taken a break from DU the last couple days and wasn't up to speed on things like this. However, this morning, on the way to work, I heard a brief story on the radio about how a camp at Falls Creek in Oklahoma that was setup to accept 1000 evacuees had sent all its volunteers home. Why? No one showed up. The "why" of that was not asked.

I just thought, "Hmmm ... how odd." (Well, that's not *all* I thought because the camp is a summer camp area run by the Baptist Church, and I have nightmares about experiences there from my youth, but that was beside the point.)

Anyway, the weirdness of this fits with the weirdness of what you mention.

[preciousdove]

12. Here's why Falls Creek is empty

I just got back from a FEMA Detainment Camp
posted yesterday
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/fema.html

[RoyGBiv]

17. Positively bizarre ...

Thanks for that. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. "Welcome to Krakow," as the son said, seems about right.

I would note a few small problems with the article as posted, mostly about the area.

Falls Creek seems to be in the middle of nowhere, but it's not really. Yes, the closest town is Davis, which has around 3,000 residents, but it is located on I-35. When you get on I-35, which takes about 5 - 10 minutes from the front gate, you're 15 - 30 minutes from Ardmore, OK or Pauls Valley (south or north) and about 45 minutes from Oklahoma City, an hour from Gainesville, TX. The phrase "population center" has a bit of a different meaning in a place like Oklahoma than it does in other places. OKC and Tulsa are the only two "real" population centers, and neither are major in the way New Orleans is major. Everything else is small city, town, or spot on the road. Ardmore, with about 25,000 people, is a fairly major city by Oklahoma standards.

My only point with this is that the article paints the area in a way that fits the overall theme, and the picture isn't entirely accurate.

That said, the real problem here is the regulations FEMA established, in particular the horrid "can't leave for 5 months" thing.

[preciousdove]

13. 1 Million displaced in LA; prob same in MS

The next problem will be if these people were afraid to register with anyone how are they ever going to reconcile the living and the dead?

[undergroundpanther]

15. Oh fuck

This is it peeps

There have been rumors of detainment camps floating around for ages.

And now is the time to PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to what happens to these people where they go,how they are treated,and all.
We need people willing to face these"guards to take down names,record stories and pictures.Pose as a volunteer I don't care Just do not leave these people isolated with FEMA.

[Generic Other]

14. Weren't recruiters there today?

Everyone's hiding.

[undergroundpanther]

16. There are horrors that go on

In prisons in America,in mental hospitals,wherever"throwaway" people exist,atrocities and abuse of power occur..So these camps must not be forgotten and FEMA must not be unsupervised by the people lest they commit crimes against humanity. Thier delay was one crime..what others lie in store...
Already people routinely forget about prison abuses and medical experaments on foster kids,prisoners.. and mental hospital abuses and pretend that does not happen here..WEll it DOES....Who can help these people going to Oklahoma..What if this "riot" is an excuse to burn it DOWN and murder people and blame it on an accident?Plaudsible deniability is a tyrants way out of accountability.
Do you TRUST these inhuman pigs to do ANYTHING humanitarian? I don't.

[stevietheman]

18. It's hard to know what's really going on, but....

just think of it... thousands of people with stories to tell, interviews to give, books to write... Does the Bush people want this "Chinese water torture" of one horror story after another going on the next several years? Or would they attempt to quell it?

[earth mom]

19. Could it be possible...

that the don't trust the government and have left to go back home? I know if it was me, I would want to go back to my home no matter what and see what I could salvage.

Also, maybe they too heard the rumors that Bush Co and Halliburton want their property.....

[earth mom]

21. Morning Kick!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

22. I don't think the Astrodome took 25,000. Remember when they turned....

...people away when they only had about 7,000? I think they ended up taking another 3,000-4,000 more for a total of 11,000, but never as much as 25,000.

[OhioChick]

23. This headline caught my eye...........

Scanning my local news this am, I noticed this headline:

"Hurricane Evacuees Not Coming To Cleveland."

CLEVELAND -- The plan for about 400 Hurricane Katrina evacuees to arrive in Cleveland has been put on hold for now, according to the Ohio Emergency Managment Agency.

OEMA spokesman Fred Stratmann said the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday "has called a halt to the evacuation flights that originate in Texas. All the Ohio evacuees were supposed to originate in Texas."

"As of right now we are no longer getting any evacuees in Ohio," Stratmann said.

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/4945306/detail.html

Where are they going, then?

[johnnie]

24. Saw that last night on local news

They were all set up here and talking about them coming, and yesterday they said "Nope, not gonna come here". People don't want to come this far away from home I guess.