[SEPT. 24, 2005]
SPRINGFIELD -- As Hurricane Rita moved closer to
the Gulf Coast on Friday, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich authorized the
Illinois National Guard to send aviation assets and personnel to
Texas to help with rescue and response. The Illinois Army National
Guard will send three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and four air
crews -- approximately 15 people -- to Texas in response to the
Category 4 storm.
"As Hurricane Rita bears down on Texas and Louisiana, Illinois
stands ready to help," Blagojevich said. "Our National Guard
helicopters and crews will be on the scene to help transport
supplies and rescue victims as soon as the storm subsides enough to
allow relief efforts to start. We've also let the Federal Emergency
Management Agency know that Illinois is still ready to help provide
housing and services to individuals and families displaced by this
latest storm."
"Texas has asked us to provide aviation assets and
personnel to help give them the needed response capability to deal
with the significant recovery effort anticipated due to Hurricane
Rita," said Maj. Gen. Randal Thomas, the adjutant general of the
Illinois National Guard. "We looked at our available aircraft and
air crews and determined that the Illinois Guard can provide this
support to the people of Texas and maintain sufficient aviation
capability here in Illinois to allow the governor to respond to a
potential state emergency."
The UH-60 helicopters and air crew members are from 1st
Battalion, 106th Aviation. The Illinois Army National Guard aviation
unit is headquartered in Peoria, with units in Chicago and Decatur.
The UH-60 Black Hawk is a versatile utility transport helicopter
able to provide general aviation support, aeromedical evacuation,
command and control, and special operations support. The helicopters
and crews will arrive in Texas on Sunday.
On Friday, Blagojevich also updated the state's efforts to help
people displaced by Hurricane Katrina and living in Illinois. It's
estimated that more than 8,500 displaced victims remain in Illinois,
with a large majority of them in the Cook County area, according to
numbers reported by the Illinois Department of Human Services. The
state has helped more than 4,400 people from the Gulf Coast states
with transitional housing, medical care, cash benefits, food stamps,
Medicaid, and unemployment and veterans' benefits claims.
According to the latest reports provided by the Department of
Human Services, which is leading the state's coordinated effort to
make services available to Hurricane Katrina victims in Illinois, a
total of 8,638 evacuees were estimated to be in the state as of
Sept. 17. Of those, 4,455 contacted the state of Illinois for
emergency and temporary services.
A total of 440 evacuees, including
415 flown to Illinois on flights arranged by Federal Emergency
Management Agency, have been provided with state housing. Of those:
124 are currently residing in Alton.
93 are currently residing in Tinley Park.
47 are currently residing in Madden.
40 are currently residing in Rockford.
27 are currently residing in Elgin.
The remaining 109 have left those facilities, including 49 who
have left the state and have been provided with airplane, train or
bus vouchers through the Department of Human Services.
Over 1,000 evacuees contacted the state through the Victims
Assistance Hotline, (800) 843-6154, from Sept. 9 through Sept. 15,
while 2,571 more walked in at local Department of Human Services
offices or were referred to the state by the American Red Cross. The
toll-free line will remain in operation for as long as it is needed.
The Department of Human Services has
managed the largest caseload in terms of specific services to
displaced victims. According to the agency's latest numbers:
1,797 Temporary Assistance to Needy Families vouchers have
been granted to low-income families and individuals.
3,240 food stamps cards have been issued.
2,606 Medicaid referrals have been made.
5 Aid to the Blind and Disabled benefits arrangements have
been made.
Other state agencies have provided
the following assistance:
The Illinois Department on Aging has provided information,
assistance and nutrition services to 42 individuals.
The Illinois Department of Employment Services has processed
almost 700 unemployment claims.
The Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs has helped
reroute 46 benefits checks.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has provided
medical screenings to 404 victims, 30 of whom were hospitalized,
as well as veterinarian services for 32 domestic pets.
According to numbers and
self-reporting from the Department of Human Services, most the
evacuees living in Illinois are in the following counties:
Cook County: 6,612 evacuees
Will County: 911 evacuees
St. Clair County: 760 evacuees
Madison County: 357 evacuees
Champaign County: 204 evacuees
Marion County: 141 evacuees
Jackson County: 135 evacuees
Macon County: 132 evacuees
Vermilion County: 124 evacuees
Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, Blagojevich
ordered all state agencies to respond in a coordinated manner to
help both the recovery and cleanup efforts in the Gulf Coast, and
the victims coming into Illinois. Illinois' efforts to date include
the following:
More than 400 children displaced
by Hurricane Katrina are enrolled in 46 school districts across
the state, as districts responded to the governor's call to
waive residency requirements and open their doors to displaced
students.
Blagojevich deployed nearly 2,100
Illinoisans to help Louisiana respond to the devastation
resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The deployments include nearly
600 firefighters and 800 National Guard troops.
The Illinois Department of
Employment Security is helping displaced victims process
unemployment claims and is facilitating job searches and job
training. The Department of Employment Security and Central
Management Services employees have set up remote computer
stations in the state facilities in Tinley Park and Alton, where
the first displaced victims arrived, and are in the process of
setting up the same services in Elgin and Rockford, where more
evacuees arrived this week.
A group of more than 100 state
employees helped the Louisiana Department of Social Services
process 25,000 evacuees for emergency food stamps, unemployment
benefits, temporary housing and other assistance. Altogether,
about 130 Illinois state employees representing more than a
dozen agencies assisted Hurricane Katrina victims in the Gulf
Coast region.
The Department of Financial and
Professional Regulation has asked state-chartered banks and
thrifts to provide free check cashing, eliminate ATM service
fees, and help establish checking and saving accounts for
displaced victims now residing in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of
Revenue extended filing deadlines until Oct. 31 for taxpayers
who owe Illinois taxes and are from counties damaged by
Hurricane Katrina.
A total of 134 highly trained law
enforcement officers from state and local agencies were deployed
to Louisiana. These include weapons-of-mass-destruction teams,
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 pulled by two semis in the law enforcement
convoy.
The governor dispatched a total
of 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 and dispatched an
11-member incident management team to George County, Miss., to
assist local emergency managers during the crisis. This week, a
10-member incident management team left Springfield to relieve
the first group. The newly deployed team includes two employees
from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and eight
emergency management coordinators from around the state.
The state's 39 community colleges
are accommodating Illinois residents displaced from higher
education studies because of the hurricane, while Illinois' 12
public universities are taking in students affected by the
destruction along the Gulf Coast.
For hurricane victims, the
Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency have offered free camping and removed
length-of-stay requirements at all state parks and historic
sites that offer camping.
The Illinois Department of
Transportation 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 made 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 Department of Corrections has also delivered 3,000 bedrolls
to the Red Cross in Hillside.
The Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs sent toiletries and food to facilities where
displaced victims have been housed and, in collaboration with
several other federal and private agencies, will send food to
the Gulf Coast states.
The Department of Central
Management Services 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 also links to
shelters so displaced individuals can call loved ones.
The Department of Human Services
sent 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 Environmental Protection Agency and the
Illinois Department of Public Health dispatched 12 specialists
to Louisiana. They 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 IEPA trucks stocked with emergency response
equipment and two IPDH vehicles were deployed.
