Hurricane Rita Response Team Mobilizes in the Gulf
September 22, 2005
Rita is threatening a wide coastal area stretching from Texas to already-affected Louisiana. Photo: Reuters, courtesy of www.alertnet.org
A Mercy Corps team in Baton Rouge is deploying to areas of eastern Texas and western Louisiana affected by Hurricane Rita. The five-person team, led by relief team Deputy Director Nick Macdonald, has procured relief items such as water, food, hygiene items and shelter supplies to distribute to displaced people along the eastern edge of Hurricane Rita's swath.
Just hours after Rita's crushing landfall, emergency team members delivered a truckload of supplies to Abbeville, Louisiana where at least 1,500 Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans were returning to a shelter after having been evacuated for a second time.
New Orleans levees have once again been overcome in the low-lying Ninth Ward, and both flooding and wind damage have occurred across already devastated parts of the Gulf coast. As the team rushes relief to eastern Texas, precautions are being put in place to ensure the safety of the staff remaining in Louisiana.
Staff in Mississippi have temporarily relocated to Baton Rouge. Tornado warnings in Hancock, Mississippi, where the team has set up a remote office, indicated the severity of Rita's wrath. Additional staff arrived yesterday in Baton Rouge to ensure that ongoing relief efforts in Katrina-affected areas along the Gulf coast are not overlooked.
Mercy Corps is also already working with social service agencies in areas stricken by Rita to assist with their efforts as much as possible. Aid workers in the Gulf report that emotions throughout the region are high.
Officials estimate that 1.8 million people could be displaced by Hurricane Rita; those evacuees could have immense needs in the coming days and weeks.
Heavy flooding, up to five feet in some neighborhoods, could present new challenges to efforts already underway in New Orleans.
Macdonald, who is currently based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reports that people he's talking to are in disbelief about another major storm yet they're ready to do whatever is necessary to be safe. He also reports that the team is monitoring quickly-changing conditions hourly.
"People here were just beginning to make some progress putting Katrina behind them and looking forward," he said.
Mercy Corps is mounting an effective humanitarian response to Hurricane Rita. Check back regularly for the latest updates on the agency's response.
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