Audio clip
Kimberly George
Hurricane Gustav evacuee Anne L. Braun talked with tears in her eyes Friday after her mother-in-law broke her hip during her stay in Chattanooga.
“I know I’m never evacuating again,” she said. “When I get home, it’s home.”
Mrs. Braun, who came with her family from Des Allemands, La., was one of an estimated 350 Gustav evacuees who were in Chattanooga since Aug. 31. About 250 of them stayed in shelters, Salvation Army official said.
Most shelter evacuees started the trip back home on Friday. But Mrs. Braun and her family can’t return until at least Monday, according to local doctors.
Her mother-in-law must stay to recuperate from hip surgery. She tripped over a rug and fell in the middle of the night while going to the bathroom at a local hotel, Mrs. Braun said.
“This is one big mess,” she said. “I’m never leaving home again — only if it’s a Category 5 (hurricane).”
The Salvation Army shelter, located at 1019 North Moore Road, took care of about 40 people a night from Sept. 1 through Friday afternoon, said Kimberly George, the agency’s community relations director. About 150 to 180 people stayed across the street at the Brainerd Recreation Center, she said.
By Friday afternoon, all that remained at the Salvation Army were deflated air mattresses rolled up on top of cots with Army blue vinyl sheets. A few families remained to talk to social workers before they left for home.
The Salvation Army gave each family that drove to Chattanooga $150 for the return trip home to pay for gas and food. The agency also gave food to some families to take with them. The total cost of the emergency assistance was about $20,000, Mrs. George said.
Annette Willis of New Orleans had been in Chattanooga since Aug. 31.
“This was the only place where they had hotels,” she said.
Ms. Willis left after being warned that the levees might collapse as they did after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
“I might have to leave again (after future hurricanes), but for right now, I can go home,” she said.
Tropical Storm Hanna isn’t expected to affect weather for evacuees on the way home or in Tennessee, said Brian Boyd, hydrologist with the National Weather Service. He said Chattanooga may feel a breeze and see high clouds this weekend, but no rain is expected, he said.
Hurricane Ike, a Category 3 storm Friday evening, may have more of an effect here, he said. However, it’s hard to tell because it’s so far out in the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Boyd said. It probably won’t make landfall, expected around Key West, Fla., until Wednesday, he said..
Yolanda Putman has been a reporter at the Times Free Press for 11 years. She covers housing and previously covered education and crime. Yolanda is a Chattanooga native who has a master’s degree in communication from the University of Tennessee and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Alabama State University. She previously worked at the Lima (Ohio) News. She enjoys running, reading and writing and is the mother of one son, Tyreese. She has also ...
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