Message from the ACTS Team on September 15, 2008:

The newspaper article, included below, appeared on the front page of today's newspaper from where ACTS is deployed in Orange, TX.  At the bottom is a picture of Don Samuels (ACTS Liaison to the EOC) with the Governor!

Today Union College's International Rescue and Relief students and other ACTS certified volunteers completed 5,000 damage assessments.   Tomorrow, ACTS teams from around the country will begin to go door to door for personal needs assessments. 

Montemorelos School of Medicine, MX team will assist in this endeavor, along with Heritage Academy, Bass Academy and others as they arrive from across the U.S.

Three commercial kitchens, are feeding survivors and those returning from mandatory evacuation.

Financial help is Urgently needed feeding volunteers and those devastated by hurricane Ike.

Official Press Release:

Gov. Perry in Orange; warns of re-entry

Associated Press

September 15, 2008 02:33 pm

— AUSTIN (AP) _ State officials said Monday there are still at least 37,000 evacuees seeking temporary shelter more than two days after Hurricane Ike roared into Texas.

But as some caregivers begin to see evacuees leaving their safe havens, Gov. Rick Perry is warning residents not to return to the devastation in the hard-hit areas of southeast Texas. He said first responders and emergency workers are too busy to deal with returning evacuees.

"Do not come back into the impacted area until the officials ... have given that all-clear," Perry said at a news conference in Orange. "Stay where you are."

Steve McCraw, the state homeland security director, said there were at least 284 mass shelters in Texas. He said there were more than 37,000 evacuees but noted that number "fluctuates from day to day."

"A very major operational priority is taking care of them, including moving water, food (and) ice as quickly as we can into those areas," said McCraw, appearing alongside Perry.

In Austin, more than half of the evacuees who had sought shelter from Ike have since left, but authorities can't say for sure where they are now.

Sara Hartley, emergency operations spokeswoman for the city of Austin, said there were 6,200 evacuees at the peak of sheltering operations that began before Ike hit. Now there are only 2,700, prompting authorities to begin consolidating shelters. There are currently eight shelters open in the city, down from 23, she said.

She said some returned to central and southern coastal areas that were spared the destruction that Ike brought to Galveston and surrounding areas. Others were staying with family and friends, but it was impossible to say how many, she said.

"We have seen almost two-thirds of our evacuees leave our shelters, but we don't know where they're going," Hartley said.

Perry called on evacuees not to add to the woes of authorities in the hardest-hit areas.

"The absolute worst thing that could happen is for people who are in areas that have electricity, that have fuel, that have water, to come back into these areas and put additional strain on the structure that we have in place," Perry said.

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