Illinois to take 5,000 to 10,000 Hurricane Katrina victims      

Governor calls on community leaders, legislators, not-for-profits, social service providers, ministers and businesses to work together to supply housing, medical care, food, clothing and other emergency services to displaced families

[SEPT. 7, 2005]  CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced Sunday that Illinois will likely take in 10,000 displaced victims from the Gulf Coast states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The state will immediately provide housing, medical care, food, clothing and any emergency services displaced families and individuals need at this time of crisis. The governor also called on the entire community to match the state's coordinated relief effort to assist displaced victims.

The governor's announcement and call to the community underscore Illinois' response to the humanitarian crisis in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Since the onset of the tragedy, Illinois has provided medical personnel, troops and other forms of assistance to the disaster area, while also making services available here to victims.

"Hurricane Katrina has devastated the lives of thousands of men, women and children in the Gulf Coast. We must unite as a community to assist those who are desperately in need and make sure displaced victims know Illinois can help them. We're taking 5,000 to 10,000 victims," said Blagojevich, who met with federal and state legislators, area ministers, community leaders, not-for-profit organizations, social service providers, and business leaders Sunday at a town hall-style meeting in Chicago's Quinn Chapel to discuss how the community can assist the state in reaching out to victims.

"Whether it's housing, feeding, clothing and providing medical care to displaced victims, sending troops from the Illinois National Guard to the Gulf Coast, opening our classrooms to children who have been left without school, or helping residents in those states file unemployment claims, we will do everything in our power to help them cope with this tragedy," the governor said. "Our efforts will only be successful if we all pitch in. That's why today I'm calling on the community to join us in assisting displaced families and individuals, meeting their urgent needs and helping them get back on their feet as quickly as possible."

As displaced victims start arriving at area airports this week, they will immediately be provided with housing in the Chicago area, Springfield and Alton by the state, the Red Cross and other social service providers. By the beginning of the week, nearly 500 victims from Gulf Coast states had already arrived in Illinois and were being assisted by state agencies and the Red Cross.

Under direction from the governor, the state's agencies are prepared to provide housing, medical care, food, clothing and crisis counseling to Gulf Coast victims. The state's coordinated efforts will also make it possible for displaced families and individuals to get connected to other state services and with not-for-profit community organizations that can provide additional help.

Blagojevich has encouraged Illinois residents, along with all state and public university employees who want to help hurricane victims, to donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Donations can be made by calling (800) HELP-NOW [1 [phone]]; [phone], for Spanish speakers; or through www.redcross.org, a secure Internet site.

Additionally, the governor has set up a toll-free number as part of the state's centralized effort to assist displaced people who come to Illinois. The number, 1 [phone], will stay in service for as long as needed.

By calling the number, displaced families will be able to find out how and where they can get food, clothing and medical care. Operators from the Department of Human Services will also be able to offer information on food stamps, emergency and temporary housing, and K-12 public school enrollment.

The toll-free line, which is part of a multiagency effort to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Gulf Coast, will also provide unemployment information, help displaced veterans find out what services are available to them in Illinois, and provide assistance to seniors and people with disabilities.

Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, Blagojevich ordered all state agencies to respond in a coordinated manner to help the recovery and cleanup efforts in the Gulf Coast and the victims coming into Illinois. Illinois' efforts to date include the following:

• On Saturday, 134 highly trained law enforcement officers from state and local agencies were deployed to Louisiana. These include teams trained to deal with weapons of mass destruction, tactical response teams, underwater dive teams, a mobile command post, various all-terrain vehicles, boats and trucks. The Illinois Department of Transportation contributed 500 yards of fencing and 500 stakes on two lowboys to be pulled by two semis in the law enforcement convoy.

• On Friday, the governor dispatched an 11-member incident management team to George County, Miss., for 14 days to assist local emergency managers during the crisis.

• Last week the governor also dispatched 52 members of the Illinois Medical Emergency Response Teams to Louisiana to assist with care of the massive number of sick and injured victims from Hurricane Katrina.

• Last week the governor directed the Illinois National Guard to send more than 300 soldiers and 50 military vehicles to assist in Hurricane Katrina cleanup efforts. The soldiers assembled in Springfield and left for Louisiana.

• The governor ordered the state's public schools to waive residency requirements and enroll any child displaced by Hurricane Katrina who relocates to live with family, friends or in a shelter in Illinois. By early this week, the Illinois State Board of Education had received requests from some 30 students, who will be placed in school districts in Belleville, Peoria, Wheaton, Metro East, South Cook (Lansing) and Whiteside County.

• The state's public universities have also responded to the governor's call to provide accommodations for college students displaced by the hurricane. The state's 39 community colleges will accommodate any Illinois residents displaced from higher education studies because of the hurricane, while Illinois' 12 public universities will also take in students affected by the destruction along the Gulf Coast. Students are encouraged to contact admissions offices at each university to begin an expedited process to enroll in the institution and to access university services like financial aid.

• For hurricane victims, the Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency are offering free camping and have removed length-of-stay requirements at all state parks and historic sites that offer camping.

• The Illinois Department of Transportation has waived certain transportation rules to allow standard-sized semis carrying supplies and materials to Louisiana to be overweight by up to 15,000 pounds when they travel on Illinois roads. Currently, a standard-sized semi is allowed to weigh 80,000 pounds when traveling through Illinois. The Department of Transportation will also grant emergency permits to companies that need to move oversized equipment to the affected area.

• The Illinois Department of Corrections is making available various items through the Illinois Emergency Management Agency's emergency procurement system, including 256,000 half-pints of water, 8,500 blankets, 18,300 clothing items, and 2,900 dozen packages of cleaning supplies.

• The Illinois Department of Employment Security is assisting its counterparts in Louisiana and Mississippi with taking disaster unemployment assistance claims and regular claims. The Department of Employment Security is also providing the Illinois Emergency Management Agency with timely information on Illinoisans who have the job skills required for civil engineering, health and safety engineering, and other areas of expertise that are greatly needed during this time of emergency. In coordination with the affected areas, the Department of Employment Security is also instructing its local offices to help displaced victims receive disaster unemployment assistance. The department is already helping nearly 700 Illinois unemployment claimants living in the affected areas and has set up a toll-free number, [phone], to provide information on claims. Illinois claimants residing in Mississippi can also call the department's Harvey office at [phone], while claimants residing in Louisiana and Alabama can call the Moline office at [phone].

• The Department of Central Management Services has made available its Bureau of Communication and Computer Services to help provide communications assistance to devastated areas. Using broadband services, including high-speed data transmission to remote areas underserved by local carriers, the bureau can provide relief command centers with uplinks for phone and Internet access and links to shelters so that displaced individuals can called loved ones.

• The Department of Human Services is sending staff skilled in processing food stamps, to help the U.S. Department of Agriculture implement a disaster food stamp program in 25 Louisiana counties.

• The Illinois Department of Agriculture has made the Expo Building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds available to the Illinois State Police as a staging area to consolidate personnel, equipment and supplies in preparation for deployment. The building could be used for several days, providing a secure, easily accessible location for supplies and vehicles of all sizes.

• The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Public Health are contributing 12 specialists to help in Louisiana. The specialists are members of four environmental health strike teams being sent by the state at the request of the Louisiana Emergency Management Agency. Their expertise includes drinking water, sewage, food safety and food salvage. In addition, two Illinois Environmental Protection Agency trucks stocked with emergency response equipment and two Illinois Department of Public Health vehicles were deployed.

• The State Emergency Operations Center continues to be fully activated with representatives of more than a dozen state agencies and Illinois Emergency Management Agency personnel who are assessing assets their agencies could provide to assist disaster response and recovery efforts. The center is in continual contact with the Emergency Management Assistance Compact officials in the affected states to coordinate requests for assistance with assets Illinois can offer.

[News release from the governor's office]