Gustav evacuees find relief locally
By Staff
Melissa Cason
PHIL CAMPBELL – Johnnie Ardin left everything she owned behind when she boarded a bus in her hometown of Houma, La., trying to escape fierce Hurricane Gustav.
Ardin was one of more than 100 evacuees from the Gulf Coast whose destination from the impending storm brought them to the Northwest-Shoals Community College campus in Phil Campbell.
"We were complaining when we first got here because it's in the middle of nowhere," Ardin said about the campus.
"We didn't realize that this was where God wanted us and we will forever be grateful for the hospitality and love we have received here."
Michael Moore with the American Red Cross said hundreds of people unloaded five buses in order to eat, bathe and rest.
"We had hundreds of people here yesterday," Moore said.
"All the evacuees that are here are from Houma, and many of them are homeless."
After being fed and bathing many of the evacuees moved on to different locations, while 116 stayed in Phil Campbell.
Everyone was given a medical examination upon arrival, officials said.
"We only have the facilities for a small amount of people so the others had to go on to another shelter until they found room," Moore said.
Ardin said this was the case at many of the shelters they stopped at along the way. Once a shelter was full, the remaining people had to go to another shelter.
"We just showed up here," she said. "We were strangers and they were still very good to us."
Evacuees Paula Mott and Mary Harrison said they will never forget the hospitality shown to them and thank God for bringing them to Alabama.
"We just didn't know how much God was blessing us by bringing us here," Harrison said.
"This is right where he wanted us."
Harrison and the other evacuees are grateful for the help they have received in Franklin County but are anxious to return to Houma.
"We expect to see devastation," Mott said. "But, we have to go home for our families."
Mott said they have to return home to check on pets they did not bring or family members that would not leave.
"There's no place like home," Mott said.
Franklin County Emergency Management Agency Director Roy Gober said everything with the evacuees went smoothly and he anticipates having them headed back home by the weekend.
"Everything went well," Gober said.
"Our goal is to take care of them until they can return home."
Moore expects to have the shelter open at least through Thursday.
