Illinois welcomes more Hurricane Katrina evacuees         

Approximately 175 individuals receive medical care and housing on arrival Wednesday night

[SEPT. 8, 2005]  EAST ST. LOUIS -- A plane dispatched by the Federal Emergency Management Agency from an evacuation center in the Gulf Coast area arrived Wednesday night in East St. Louis carrying nearly 175 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Deputy Chief of Staff for Social Services Louanner Peters and state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, received the group on behalf of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.

A triage area was set up at MidAmerica Airport to provide immediate medical care. State agencies processed all arriving individuals and families and bused them to local housing, provided by the state of Illinois.

On Tuesday night, Blagojevich welcomed the first 180 displaced victims to Illinois at Chicago's House of Hope and directed state agencies to immediately provide medical care, housing and any forms of assistance necessary for victims of one of the worst disasters in U.S. history.

"The state of Illinois welcomes the victims of Hurricane Katrina," the governor said. "We will do everything we can to help reconnect families and restore some semblance of normalcy for the people of the Gulf states who have gone through a tragedy most of us can't imagine. Tonight, every person who arrived in the Metro East will not only have a safe place to lay their head, but will also get the medical care they need, clothing and hot meals. We can't take the pain of this experience away, but at least we can provide them with a chance to get back on their feet."

As announced by Blagojevich on Sunday, Illinois stands ready to receive up to 10,000 displaced victims. The governor has called on elected officials, community leaders, not-for-profit organizations, religious institutions and social service providers to match the state's coordinated relief effort to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The governor has also encouraged Illinois residents, as well as all state and public university employees, to donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Donations can be made by calling 1 (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 that is part of the state's coordinated effort to assist displaced people who come to Illinois. The number, 1 [phone], will stay in service for as long as needed. The toll-free number has received several dozen calls from Gulf Coast area residents who were able to come to Illinois before or shortly after the onset of the tragedy.

By calling the number, displaced families and individuals can find out how and where they can get food, clothing and medical care. Operators from the Department of Human Services will also offer information on food stamps, child care, housing, K-12 public school enrollment, unemployment benefits, as well as services and benefits for veterans, seniors and people with disabilities.

Displaced victims across the country can call 1 (800) 621-FEMA [3362] to get registered for cash grants for hotel and rental assistance, home repair and replacement; help with medical, dental, funeral and transportation costs; and other disaster-related needs. The TTY number for hearing- and speech-impaired callers is 1 [phone].

Private citizens who want to offer assistance to arriving victims can also call a toll-free number specially set up by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and specify to operators how they can help. That number is 1 [phone].

Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, Blagojevich has 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:

• Blagojevich announced the deployment of nearly 1,100 more Illinoisans to help Louisiana respond to the devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The latest deployments include nearly 600 firefighters who left Monday and 500 National Guard troops that were scheduled to depart for Louisiana on Wednesday. This latest deployment brings to 800 the number of Illinois National Guard troops sent to Louisiana.

• A total of 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 pulled by two semis in the law enforcement convoy.

• The governor 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.

• The governor dispatched an 11-member incident management team to George County, Miss., to assist local emergency managers during the crisis.

• 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 in the week, the Illinois State Board of Education 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 resident 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 evacuees receive disaster unemployment assistance and is already helping nearly 700 Illinois unemployment claimants living in the affected areas. The department 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 call 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 Environmental Protection Agency trucks, stocked with emergency response equipment, and two 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 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]