Teresa Arey of Westbrook watched the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina on television last week knowing her sister could be somewhere in the middle of it.
Arey’s sister Shirley Dorr, originally of Gorham, moved two years ago to Derryville, La., a town just north of New Orleans about 10 minutes from Lake Pontchartrain. But last week she was forced to leave her home, and Arey didn’t know where her sister was or how to contact her.
“You’re helpless; you can’t do anything,” Arey said. “I tried to call several times, but I got no answer at all.”
While Maine is thousands of miles away from the disaster, many local people have ties to people in the area. Whether it’s a local resident anxiously waiting to hear from a loved one caught up in the devastation, people preparing to head to the area to participate in the massive relief effort, or people who want to do whatever they can to help, Katrina has affected many local people.
Fiona Fanning, director of emergency services for the American Red Cross chapter in Portland, said Katrina has spawned the largest mobilization in the 125-year history of the Red Cross. As of Sept. 1, the effort spread over nine states, with more than 76,000 evacuees being housed in 275 Red Cross shelters.
Finally late last week, Arey got the call she was waiting for, albeit a short one. She said she got a two-minute phone call from her sister, letting her know she was all right and not much else. Still, that was enough for Arey.
“We were just happy she was OK, and we had heard from her,” she said. “She didn’t get flooded. She was far enough away.”
Since they did not have much time to speak, Arey said she wasn’t even sure exactly where her sister was, or if she would be leaving the area anytime soon. “I just wish she’d get in her car and get out of there,” said Arey. “But I don’t know that she can.”
Now that she knows her sister is safe, a relieved Arey is free to say what she thinks of her sister’s decision to try and ride the storm out. “I personally think she’s an idiot for not getting out of there,” she said with a laugh, adding that she hopes her sister comes back to Maine. “She better come home. I have extra bedrooms so she can stay here.”
While Arey waits to hear from her sister again, some people with local ties have headed down to the hurricane-devastated region to do what they can to help.
Westbrook Fire Inspector Lt. Chuck Jarrett, a tech sergeant in the New Hampshire Air National Guard, got the word on Thursday afternoon that his unit was being called up to help. Jarrett, who left from Pease International Airport on Friday morning, said he wasn’t told exactly where he was going, just that he needed to pack for a 14-day deployment somewhere where he would be part of a team doing security and law enforcement, protecting the people on humanitarian missions there.
Jeremy Reynolds, a sergeant in the Army who originally hails from Gorham, said Friday he was told to prepare to head into the area devastated by the storm.
Speaking from his base at Fort Hood, Texas, Reynolds, the son of Westbrook firefighter Kathy Reynolds, said Friday he hadn’t been told what his mission would be or where he was going. “We’re just getting stuff ready,” he said.
Having just gotten back in March from an extended tour in Iraq, Reynolds said it is hard to be leaving his wife and family again so soon. “It’s always tough leaving family,” he said. “But it’s my job. It’s what I signed up for.”
As is usually the case in disasters of this magnitude, the Red Cross is playing a large part in the relief. Fanning said there were 11 volunteers from the York and Cumberland counties already down south helping the hurricane victims.
“We’ve deployed them to the affected area,” Fanning said. “Some people are nurses or mental health professionals, and some have experience working in large kitchens.”
With cell phone and land line service operating sporadically, if at all, Fanning said it is difficult to know exactly where the volunteers from Maine are at any given time. She said most of the volunteers went to a staging area in Houston, and from there were assigned to areas where they were needed the most.
Fanning said the Red Cross will be sending more volunteers from Maine into the region. “We do anticipate continuously sending people down there over the next couple of weeks,” she said.
One natural thing for some people to think when seeing a disaster of this magnitude is to go to that place and try to help. Fanning said in the case of hurricane Katrina those good intentions could actually do more harm, especially when people do not have the proper training.
“We are discouraging members of the community from getting in their cars and going down there,” Fanning said. “This relief effort is big enough as it is. Officials don’t need people going down there with the best of intentions and becoming victims of the disaster themselves.”
Jarrett said he was also anxious to help however he could. “I look forward to helping people,” he said. “If that means going down there, so be it.”
Fanning said the best way for people, without the training Jarrett and Reynolds have, to help the relief effort is financially. “The fastest, best most efficient way to help is to make a monetary contribution,” said Fanning. “That way the Red Cross can get people things like food, water and shelter.”
Fanning said people who want to make a donation or find out how they could assist in the relief effort can call the Red Cross at 1-800-HELP NOW or visit their Web site at www.redcross.org.
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