First, my thoughts and well wishes for the rest of the nation affected by Ike. We understand the difficulties of living with no electricity and few expected tropical storm threats in Ohio. We are sorry for your losses and hope your power (and ours) is restored quickly.

Fuel: Gas is hard to find and running low in the Houston area. We have constantly been told the state had a plan to distribute fuel and generators to gas stations, but there is no evidence of this in the long lines and closed stations. Residents of Houston are asking friends and family to bring gas if they are coming into the Houston area. This raises the potential for all sorts of accidents. Regular and mid-grade fuels are sold out so residents must pay (in cash) for premium grades. Even if residents are not driving their cars, they need fuel to run generators. The cost is eating cash supplies and most banks and ATMS are still out of service.

Currently shelters that provide bedding are using cots. These cots have a weight bearing load of 220 lbs. Clients over this weight are finding their cots collapse below them and shelters are not providing air mattresses nor allowing evacuees to inflate existing air mattresses. Clients in some Texas shelters are sleeping on mats or the floor because they cannot be supported by cots. Given the difficulty of getting up and down off the floor for heavier and elderly clients, we recommend that a practice of providing alternative, appropriate bedding to evacuees over 220 lbs and older than 70 be instated immediately.

Shelters outside of Houston are beginning to condense. The plan is to “move people closer to home and work as soon as possible” so most school shelters were closed today. 2000 residents were bussed out of Galveston yesterday and “condensed” into a new shelter today. The continued readjustment, especially for those who did not self-evacuate and are without independent transportation, is especially challenging. Some evacuees have no existing home and are not sure if their jobs exist so they are worried about being moved back to an area where they cannot earn a living or enroll their children in school. Long term solutions must begin before they are all sent “home”.

Clothing is a big issue. Some evacuees are wearing the only clothes they own. Others packed for a few days and have not had access to laundry facilities within shelters. As of midnight Monday, no vouchers for clothing were being distributed in most Texas shelters. Most shelters do not accept donation of clothes, they are referred to Goodwill and the Salvation Army who, in turn, issue vouchers. It is not clear why these two organizations are not yet issuing vouchers.

Emergency Unemployment Insurance, FEMA, and SBA benefits are authorized, but claim processing centers are overwhelmed. No benefits centers have been opened in Texas shelters. Postal stations are being set up, but shelter addresses will change in the near future adding to the confusion.

There are four emergency shelters open now in the Houston area. Early reports stated that some of these facilities had no electricity or water. We hope this has been addressed and generators have been delivered.

The evacuation from the Ike strike zone appears to still be very fluid. Some people are driving back into the Gulf Coast, reducing the number of evacuees in shelters. Others, in hotels for some days now, are running out of funds and seeking other shelter. More people who have been sheltered in Houston are running out of supplies and using the last of their gas to evacuate. Condensing shelters so quickly is makes the continuing evacuations more complicated.

Some perishable goods are arriving in Houston. People are shopping by flashlight. There is still a shortage of charcoal and lighter fluid, but there is no shortage of wet fallen tree-limbs. Power line assistance trucks began to arrive in the Houston area. 31% of Houston customers are restored. This does not include the large surrounding areas largely without power still. Neighborhoods where citizens have begun clean up are passable. Curfew remains in effect.

Restrictions on the press in the effected area continue. Media no fly zones are being enforced and access to Galveston is being denied. Restoring the Constitutional rights of a free press are essential within the disaster area.