Grateful evacuees return to Louisiana

MUSCLE SHOALS - Before dawn Friday, a convoy of 10 buses left the Shoals and three more rolled out of Phil Campbell as evacuees from Hurricane Gustav began returning to their homes in Louisiana.

As the evacuees began boarding buses around 5:30 a.m., many paused to say thanks to officials and volunteers who operated the shelters at the Muscle Shoals and Phil Campbell campuses of Northwest-Shoals Community College.

"I've never been hugged and had my hand shook so much in my life," said Mike Melton, director of the Colbert County Emergency Management Agency. "It was very gratifying to see how much they appreciated what the people of the Shoals had done for them."

The Muscle Shoals campus had been home to 542 evacuees since Monday. The Phil Campbell campus housed 175.

Sammy Washington, chief of campus safety at Northwest-Shoals, said numerous evacuees told him the next time they have to flee a hurricane, they are going to ask to be placed on the buses headed to Muscle Shoals. "Just about everybody came over to me before they got onto the buses to tell me thanks for the way they were treated while they were here," he said.

Northwest-Shoals President Humphrey Lee said an outpouring of support from government agencies, volunteer groups, churches, businesses and residents in the Shoals and Phil Campbell made the shelter operation run smoothly. "I am really proud of a lot of folks."

He said several evacuees pitched in to help at the shelter.

"There were a couple of guys working so hard that my maintenance staff told me I should hire them to work here," Lee said. "In one of the buildings where people were staying, the evacuees folded all the cots and blankets and swept and mopped the floor before they left."

Melton said several evacuees stayed busy while they were here by helping to keep the shelter and the area outside clean.

He said it was heartwarming to see people from all over northwest Alabama volunteering to help at the shelter.

"There's no better place in the country to live than right here," Melton said. "The people around here never let anybody down when there is a need."

Statewide, about 6,500 evacuees who were housed temporarily at 28 community colleges returned home Friday.

"Our college presidents and their staffs performed a terrific job in providing shelter and assistance to the people of Louisiana in their time of need," community college Chancellor Bradley Byrne said in a news release. "I am very proud of what they did, and I appreciate the help we received from the Department of Public Health, the Alabama National Guard, local law enforcement agencies and faith-based and civic organizations in our communities."

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