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Bio:
Varenise Ross
Resident, New Orleans
Ms.
Varenise Ross is a resident of New Orleans. She was initially
advised that the Superdome would not be open to the general public
for shelter. Only the sick and elderly would be allowed entry.
It was not until noon on Sunday, August 28, 2005 that she learned
that the Superdome had become open to the public. Ms. Ross asked
a relative with transportation to take her and her young child
to the Superdome.
She
waited for hours with her child to get into the Superdome. Even
as the rain began, they stood outside with thousands in a line
stretching around the Superdome. Each person had to be searched
before allowed entry to shelter. Ms. Ross and her son were finally
allowed into the Superdome and out the rain around 6:00 p.m. on
Sunday evening.
For
nearly five days, Ms. Ross and her son remained in the Superdome.
Lines for food and water stretched around the Superdome several
time each day. Officials would often run out of food and water
supplies before everyone in line was fed or received anything
to drink. Those who missed out had to wait until the next serving
time to get something to eat. Parents began waking there children
up at 4:00 a.m. to stand in line for food to ensure they would
receive something to eat. The sick and elderly were often pushed
to the side or left without assistance to maneuver through the
long lines for food or water. Many of them expired where they
sat seemingly without notice by officials.
When
the buses started arriving to carry people to safety, Ms. Ross,
with her child in her arms, stood in line waiting to board. The
sea of people waiting to get on buses that held only 50 people
was too dense for her to let her child out of her arms. Many adults
began using children's diapers because there were too many people
to move through to get to the restroom and they would lose their
place in line. After standing in line for almost 28 hours, Ms.
Ross and her child boarded a bus to Texas.
Once
in Texas, Ms. Ross met up with other evacuated family members.
They were able to make contact with a relative in California who
drove to meet them in Texas. When they arrived back in California,
Ms. Ross and her family attempted to contact FEMA by telephone
for several days to no avail. They located a FEMA office in Oakland
and went to seek assistance. Upon arrival, they explained that
they had unsuccessfully tried to reach FEMA by phone and wanted
to know what to do next to start putting their lives back together.
Ms. Ross and her family were told that the local office could
not assist them. They had to go through the 800-telephone line
for assistance.
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