Hurricane evacuees thankful, ready to leave

MUSCLE SHOALS - Bryan Manuel is astonished by the hospitality he has experienced in the Shoals since coming here on a bus while fleeing Hurricane Gustav, but with each passing hour, his yearning to return home grows stronger.

"Everybody has treated us really great, but this isn't like being home," the Lake Charles, La., resident said Wednesday as he waited with about 500 other hurricane evacuees at Northwest-Shoals Community College's gymnasium hoping to learn soon when they will be allowed to return to their homes.

Timothy Shearer and Joseph Semien held a hand-written sign Wednesday that read 'Lake Charles bound,' hoping to attract a ride home.

"The electricity in Lake Charles did not go off and there was very little damage," Semien said. "We're all ready to go home - we just need a ride."

When they boarded buses Sunday, Semien and other Lake Charles evacuees had no idea where their journey would end.

"They just told us to get on and we're going to wherever we wound up stopping," he said.

Semien said the accommodations at Northwest-Shoals have been exceptional for a hurricane evacuation shelter.

Mike Melton, director of the Colbert County Emergency Management Agency, said a decision could be made today on when the evacuees will be allowed to return home. New Orleans residents were to begin returning home today, but residents from other parts of Louisiana where the storm damage was more extensive might not be allowed to return for several days.

Mike Moore, Alabama's coordinating officer for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said parish officials in Louisiana will determine if it's safe for the more than 8,100 evacuees that came to Alabama to be sent home.

Evacuees at the Muscle Shoals shelter said it is frustrating not knowing when they will be allowed to leave or if their property survived the storm.

"They could really do a better job communicating to us about when we will get to go home," Semien said.

Darlene Graves, of Metarie, La., is worried about her home and automobile and is eager to return to Louisiana to check on them.

"We can't find out anything about the damage," Graves said. "Everyone in our town had to evacuate, and no one is there for us to call."

An army of volunteers and employees of the community college and local emergency response agencies is trying to make the Northwest-Shoals evacuees comfortable.

Humphrey Lee, president of the college, said the community has rallied to help care for evacuees being housed on the school's Muscle Shoals and Phil Campbell campuses. About 150 evacuees are living at the Phil Campbell campus.

"The outpouring of support from the community has been tremendous," he said.

Chris Sampey, of LaFitte, La., said he will remember the Shoals' hospitality for many years.

"Everyone here has really been nice to us," Sampey said.

After riding on a bus for more than 24 hours, Paul Clevenger, of New Orleans, said he was glad to finally be able to stretch out and sleep on a cot at the Northwest-Shoals shelter Monday. Now he is anxious to return home.

"I'm definitely ready to go back home," he said. "The people here are nice, but it's not home."

Sampey's only complaint with his stay in the Shoals was that the temperature inside the gym was cold. "They need to turn the thermostat up a little."

To show their appreciation for the hospitality at the shelter, Clevenger and Sampey used chalk to create a sidewalk mural in front of the gym Wednesday.

"Before we go back home, we just wanted to say 'thank you' for how well we've been treated here," Clevenger said.

Gov. Bob Riley on Wednesday assigned 130 military police to several state community colleges, including Northwest-Shoals, to relieve relatively small law enforcement agencies so they can return to their regular duties.

Lee said local law enforcement agencies were strained by the extra duty.

"We did it just as a proactive measure for additional presence because we have up to 600 folks on our campus," Lee said.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin gave the go-ahead for evacuees to return home. Many of the evacuees drove themselves to Alabama but stopped generally in south Alabama after an exhausting 12 hours or more on the road.

Other evacuees, at Northwest-Shoals for example, all came by bus and have to wait until return trips can be arranged.

As the evacuees prepare to return to Louisiana, some Shoals emergency responders are already headed there.

Ten officers from the Florence Police Department are headed to Gonzoles, La., to help with law enforcement in the town where heavy rain from the storm caused flooding.

Deputy Police Chief Tim Shaddix said the officers will spend at least seven days in Louisiana.

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@TimesDaily.com.