Legion of Angels News Archive

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A huge relief effort was accelerating in storm-struck Texas on Monday as the big oil center of Houston struggled to get back to business after it was battered by Hurricane Ike.

About 2,000 people have been rescued from flooded areas in the largest such effort in the state’s history as searchers scoured hard-hit places like the devastated island city of Galveston, which was shredded when the hurricane made landfall on Saturday morning before heading inland to Houston.

Reuters energy correspondent Erwin Seba reported that 12 of the 15 Texas oil refineries that had been shut as a precaution showed no visible signs of flooding or damage — a sign fuel production could resume more quickly than initially thought. But power outages could still hinder their start-up.

Over 4 million people, several refineries and many businesses and gas stations remained without power, but floods were receding as crucial aid such as ice, water and food was being delivered to distribution points.

“Sixty trucks with supplies rolled in earlier tonight. … As we are standing here, deliveries are being made,” Ed Emmett, chief executive for Harris County, which includes Houston, told a news briefing on Sunday night.

He added that six relief distribution points were already up and running and he expected 17 to be in operation by later on Monday.

The relief roll-out appeared to defuse tensions that flared between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and local officials as hard-pressed residents complained about the time it was taking to get supplies to those in need.

Local officials later attributed the rift to confusion over who was responsible for doing what in the relief chain, a situation that led to delays.

The Bush administration came under heavy fire for its botched relief efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Floods have been among the obstacles to rescue efforts and aid operations, but officials said the waters were receding.

“The flood event should be behind us,” Emmett said. Local TV footage showed cattle driven onto roads by flooded fields.

DEBRIS, POWER OUTAGES

Houston Mayor Bill White said all city employees were expected to show up to work on Monday as the country’s fourth most populous city tries to get up and running again.

The city’s two main airports were to resume partial operations on Monday, but with debris still littering its streets and windows blown out of office buildings, as well as power problems, it seemed unlikely the city of more than 2 million people would return to business as usual soon.

That point was underscored by the imposition in Houston of a weeklong dusk-to-dawn curfew.

Power provider CenterPoint Energy reported it had restored power to 380,000 customers, but over 1.7 million or 76 percent of its clients remained without electricity as of Sunday night.

At least three bodies were found in Galveston, which sustained some of the worst damage of the storm. The scale of destruction became apparent as authorities allowed more people to return.

The downtown area, containing the few buildings that survived a hurricane in 1900 that killed thousands, was under a layer of foul-smelling mud and sewage.

“It looks like a war zone. Everything is gone. It’s heartbreaking,” said Susan Rybick, a retiree driving along the seafront with her husband, John.

Ike triggered the biggest disruption to U.S. energy supplies in three years and sent gas prices higher. But U.S. crude oil futures dropped more than $1.59 to as low as $99.59 a barrel on Sunday as traders shrugged off supply concerns.

Source — Yahoo!

NEW YORK - The wave of storms battering the U.S. has plunged the American Red Cross deep into debt as it rushes to prepare for Hurricane Ike, prompting a searching look at how to stabilize its finances.

Gail McGovern, who became the embattled charity’s president in June, said even a request for federal funding is under consideration as the Red Cross seeks to become less dependent on spontaneous donations that arrive only in the wake of huge disasters.

“We are going to explore every avenue we can to ensure we have a healthy Red Cross,” McGovern said in an interview Thursday as her organization deployed 1,000 out-of-state volunteers to Texas to await menacing Ike.

As of last week, when Ike was still a distant threat, the Red Cross said it has raised only $5 million to cover costs from Hurricane Gustav that will total at least $40 million, possibly more than $70 million. It has borrowed money to meet those bills, and now is incurring more expenses as it shifts response teams to Texas and readies its shelters.

“The beautiful thing about the American Red Cross is we are going to be there when people need us,” McGovern said. “As the disaster relief fund depletes, we will borrow money if we need to, to be there.”

Gustav a ’silent disaster’
McGovern said Red Cross officials were calling Gustav a “silent disaster” because it entailed sizable costs for sheltering displaced people, yet did not trigger the flood of donations that often follows more deadly and destructive storms.

With Ike, McGovern said, the Red Cross wants to be ready even though it has no idea how damaging or costly the storm will be.

The Red Cross endured widespread criticism — some from within its own ranks — after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. An internal report cited overwhelmed volunteers, inflexible attitudes and inadequate anti-fraud measures.

Fundraising is only one of several major challenges confronting the Red Cross in recent years. Faced with a deficit of about $210 million, it laid off one-third of the 3,000 employees at its Washington headquarters earlier this year. Emergency response operations have not been affected, and the deficit is now about $140 million, McGovern said.

The Red Cross also had been plagued by rapid turnover of its presidents.

McGovern is the fourth full-fledged president to serve since 2001, along with three interim leaders. She replaced Mark Everson, who resigned last November because of an extramarital affair with an official from a Red Cross chapter in Mississippi.

Source — MSNBC