Heat overcomes hurricane evacuees

(9/28/05 - HOUSTON) (KTRK) -- There was a long line of people waiting in the heat outside FEMA's hurricane headquarters in Houston Wednesday.

The disaster recovery center opened at 8am for Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Some evacuees camped out the night before just be first in line, but the efforts became chaotic outside the headquarters when the heat became too much for several people. There were some people fainting and one woman was taken away to get treated for heat exhaustion.

Because of the dangers posed by the heat, FEMA decided to shut down the line Wednesday morning. Normally, the line would be open until 7pm.

FEMA officials are hoping that on Thursday, there will be a break in the weather and things will be a little calmer.

Another reason they shut down the lines is because there are already so many people waiting that they wouldn't be able to help any more people if they got in line. They are asking evacuees to come back another day.

The city of Houston came out to the FEMA center in full force, bringing water and ice in the hopes of preventing any more individuals from experience heat exhaustion. The police department, the parks department, and firefighters were on hand distributing water and helping to set up fans to keep evacuees relatively cool.

To apply for federal disaster assistance, call FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA or go to the website by clicking FEMA.gov.
(Copyright © 2005, KTRK-TV)

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