Refief Update

Status Update as of September 11th at 2:30pm from Waco-McLennan County Emergency Management

Little new information has been provided to us since our last lengthy reporton Saturday as of 2:30pm. As of today (Sunday) at 2:30 pm, we are not aware of any evacuees living ingroup shelters in Waco. All of the other original evacuees that have cometo Waco have been placed in apartments or other more permanent housing.Saturday calls to the various churches who have been prepared to receiveevacuees at their facilities have not indicated any change from Saturday'supdate.The number of families staying at Parkside Village apartments remains ateleven (32 people). They indicate they still have eleven more vacanciesavailable. As of this update requests they still need mattresses and boxsprings and dining room tables with chairs. With many of the hotels and motels booked for Parent's Weekend at Baylor, noreferral calls from hotels to Emergency Management with requests to provideassistance were received. Any other churches or individuals who are providing for the needs ofhurricane Katrina evacuees are asked to please contact Emergency Managementat 750-5911 so we can properly register and provide for their needs and anyadditional resources that become available.Throughout this tragedy all Texas Emergency Management offices participatein daily conference calls. The Waco-McLennan County office continued toparticipate in these calls throughout the weekend and will each day untilthey are discontinued by the state. State officials announced Saturday thatall responders have returned from the affected areas except the Texas ArmyNational Guard and Texas Forestry Service Incident Management Team. Thereare no more evacuees officially sanctioned to come into Texas.The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum raised $950 on Saturday from peoplevisiting the museum. Those who contributed, got in free that day. The Texas Department of State Health Services announced the availability ofa toll-free hotline for people in crisis in the aftermath of HurricaneKatrina. By calling 1-800-273-TALK callers will be connected to a network oflocal crisis counselors. From the Louisiana Governor's office: The LA Governor's office has set up anidentification process that allows persons to register for a replacement ID.As persons start to interact with government or purchase plane tickets andetc, they will need ID. Go to . It has been requestedthat this information be distributed to all people providing care or housingto help Louisiana citizens get the message.An evacuee can get a Texas ID card from DPS for no charge. An Evacuee can receive a temporary Driver License and ID from DPS for nocost however the license will only be good for four months.A regular Texas Drivers License will come with a charge.People from Louisiana who had previous public housing through HUD or hadSection 8 vouchers can call 1-800-955-2232 for help.At the close of school Friday, Waco ISD reported 31 children enrolled inWaco schools, Reicher Catholic School reports 3 students, St. Paul'sEpiscopal School reports one student, and Midway ISD reports 14 children intheir system. A total of 7 students are enrolled at McLennan CommunityCollege. Baylor University has 25 undergraduates enrolled and one studentis enrolled in Truett Seminary. We have also learned that Baylor's Graduateschool has admitted five New Orleans students into their program. Businesses who have job openings should contact the Texas WorkforceCommission. They are coordinating job opportunities with job seekers.Donations and Resources: Cash donations are still one of the easiest ways to help. They are beingaccepted at the Waco Water Office at 425 Franklin Ave., and area ExtracoBanks. These funds will be given to American Red Cross to be dispersed asthey see fit. Persons wanting to donate items are asked to contact Caritas,Salvation Army and other local agencies to see what specific items they arein need of. This information and additional local and national resource information forhelp are being added regularly to the City's web site. By going towww.waco-texas.com you will find several linksfor information on the communities efforts and the nation. If you will clickon the link called "Resources for Evacuees" on the home page, you will findcontact information for resources to Find family and friends, contactnumbers for FEMA and state Emergency Management offices, American Red Cross,Local and state Texas Workforce for job help, Green card and immigration,County Welfare, Salvation Army, Schools, Library and Education, Insurance,Medicare and Social Security, Key medical, dental, pharmaceutical and familyplanning needs, local pharmaceutical stores and more. Citizen volunteers are invited to print out these resource web pages toprovide to evacuees that they are serving and who do not have web access.The city will be happy to provide as many printed copies as may be needed bycalling 750-5636. As additional community resources and contacts arereceived, they will be added to the list.Citizens are advised to use caution in responding to some requests fordonations. Several examples have been observed in our area of peopleclaiming to be evacuees from hurricane Katrina and attempting to gain fromthe victims' tragedy. Other potential criminal activity in our area isbeing monitored to properly protect our citizens.Information contained on all these daily updates are archived on the city'sweb site. Daily voice updates are provided by phone on the City's PublicInformation Hotline 750-5606.Anyone who comes into our community that needs sheltering, please call750-5911. This update will be issued each day around 2:30pm.###

Larry W. HolzeDirector - Municipal InformationPublic Information OfficerCity of Waco(254)750-5636Larryh@ci.waco.tx.us