Chattanooga: Gustav evacuees remain in limbo

The biggest worry on the minds of many Gulf Coast evacuees Tuesday was not the state of their homes but whether they had enough money to return to them.

Theodolph Augusta, 23, evacuated Sunday to the Super 8 Motel in East Ridge with eight members of his family, and he said the money has run out.

“Right now, we’re sitting here wondering how we’re going to live for the next few days,” Mr. Augusta said.

His family can’t afford the gas to get back to their home in Gretna, La., he said, and aren’t sure where they’ll go when they check out of their rooms today.

On Monday, the Augusta family was among more than two dozen people who called or registered at the Red Cross shelter in Brainerd, hoping to receive vouchers to cover the cost of housing and fuel.

“We have absolutely been inundated with people coming over here, saying, ‘I need help. How am I going to do it?,’” said Don Allen, director for Emergency Management Services of Hamilton County.

While some evacuees decided to remain in motels, others reluctantly moved into the shelter, he said, where they were at least guaranteed food and shelter.

By Tuesday, the Red Cross shelters on Moore Road were housing 229 people, 17 dogs, 3 cats, 2 parakeets and 7 racing pigeons, according to Claudia Moore, spokeswoman for the Chattanooga chapter. In Dalton, Ga., the Red Cross shelter at the First Baptist Church on North Thornton Avenue swelled from 67 evacuees on Monday to 81 on Tuesday as people sought cheaper alternatives to motels, shelter manager Laura Cleary said.

Until final damage assessments are made, Mr. Allen said, evacuees could not receive the individual assistance needed to defray living expenses.

About 1.5 million households in Louisiana were without power Tuesday, according to Brian Imsand, president of Dillard Smith Construction Co., an electrical contractor based in Chattanooga. The company sent 150 linemen to the region to assist with restoring power.

Mr. Augusta said he and his brother might try to find jobs in the area to earn enough for the return trip, and he said he regretted leaving home in the first place.

Sitting outside her motel room at the Days Inn on Ringgold Road, Marcy McEvilla, 56, of New Orleans, also fretted over her finances. She has kept track of her expenses in a spiral notebook and estimates she has spent $486 for gas and hotel rooms in Mobile, Ala., and Chattanooga.

Having depleted her small escape fund, she borrowed money from her niece to afford the $54 plus tax for the motel room until the family leaves on Friday, she said.

Her biggest worry, though, was the state of the levee near her home. Ms. McEvilla, who sells Mardi Gras masks, feather boas and Mardi Gras beads at the French Market, said she recently purchased $5,000 worth of merchandise and has it stored it in her home. Now she’s anxious that her home still could flood.

“I couldn’t sleep the other night because of all my merchandise,” she said. “How can I pay these people if I don’t have any money?”

The inconvenience of the evacuation from Louisiana also soured Lisa Dugas, 38, of Nine Mile Point, La., on the prospect of evacuating for another storm.

After New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin announced the evacuation, 12 members of Mrs. Dugas’ family, including her 74-year-old father, who is blind, her two children and a family dog, hastily packed and headed for higher ground, she said. She left in such a hurry, she said, she packed only one of her sneakers.

Fear of the storm soon turned to frustration, however, as the family’s vehicle crawled through bumper-to-bumper traffic for more than 16 hours to get from their home on the west side of New Orleans to Meridian, Miss., a distance of about 210 miles. And because all the exits from the interstate were blocked, she said, the family couldn’t stop to go to the bathroom or to spend the night. They wound up at a Red Cross shelter in Meridian Sunday night because there was no room for them at area motels, she said.

Settled in at the Days Inn in East Ridge, the family sat in the shade, grilling chicken in the parking lot and trying to make the most of their day.

“We’re just deathly afraid that, if we go back too soon, we’re going to be stuck in traffic again,” Mrs. Dugas said. “And I’m going to think twice before I ever evacuate again.”