Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us September 20, 2005 Ashland city spokesperson helping Texas evacuees By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Seltzer Ann Seltzer will become a hurricane evacuee sometime Wednesday. The City of Ashland spokesperson traveled to Texas a week ago to help people displaced by Hurricane Katrina pull their lives back together. She signed on with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and has worked in Houston, Dallas and, now, is working to locate hurricane victims in and around Galveston, Texas. “But all of this is coming to a grinding halt,” Seltzer said. By Wednesday evening, weather forecasters believe Hurricane Rita, currently a category 1 hurricane storming against the Florida Keys this morning, will threaten Galveston. All locals, Hurricane Katrina evacuees and disaster relief workers could be forced from homes, shelters and hotel rooms. A voluntary evacuation of the city has already been announced. “We were told that there will be mandatory evacuation out of Galveston because of Hurricane Rita,” Seltzer said, adding she should get the official word during a noon conference call today. “After that, I don’t know. We might be deployed to Dallas. Houston still has about 800 people in the Astrodome.” At this point, Galveston is the FEMA point for everyone in south Texas. “The City of Galveston has been absolutely phenomenal,” Seltzer said. Seltzer has been there since Friday, working 12-hour days to find hurricane victims and help them register for FEMA emergency funding. She has written public service announcements and coordinated efforts with local government and the business community. And Seltzer has listened to those left homeless by the hurricane. A woman in her 70s whose New Orleans home was damaged beyond repair by Katrina didn’t understand how she could get emergency funds from FEMA. “She will not register with FEMA,” Seltzer said, explaining the woman intends to rely on her homeowner’s and flood insurance policies. “She cannot believe it’s free money.” Another woman and her child needed help renting an apartment because a background check on housing applicants revealed the mother is on parole. Seltzer and other relief workers found nine older evacuees in an elderly care facility. An extended family of 38 turned up in a Texas City church, just outside of Galveston. Seltzer is trying to ensure that each person registers with FEMA to obtain emergency funds and help finding housing, employment and a fresh start. The Galveston disaster recovery center registers between 70 and 120 hurricane victims each day while “Every story is unique to that person,” she said. “It never seems to stop. The days just fly by.” Although she and her husband spent two years in the Peace Corps, this is the first time she has responded to a such a serious disaster. Seltzer thinks she’ll return to Ashland and her desk in the city offices by the end of the month, even though she’s not sure where she’ll be between now and then. “On a human level, I feel like I made a difference,” she said. “I feel like I’ve helped FEMA and connected with them.” Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams