Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

County braces for arrival of victims

Clark County braced for the arrival today of up to 500 hurricane victims by preparing a recreation center to provide a variety of social services, but the planes might not be coming just yet.

As of late Sunday, state and county officials had not heard when or if any more hurricane victims will arrive in Nevada.

"Apparently there are not a whole lot of people wanting to get on an airplane and leave the area," said Frank Siracusa, the state director of emergency planning. "So we're just taking it day by day."

The flights were being coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which had already pulled back once last week on the plan to bring the hurricane victims to the area.

The Gulf Coast residents who had been scheduled to arrive today were to be examined by medical workers from the Clark County Health District and University Medical Center at McCarran International Airport and taken by about 60 Regional Transportation Commission buses from McCarran to Cambridge Recreation Center, Assistant County Manager Darryl Martin said.

The recreation center, between Flamingo Road and Twain Avenue on Cambridge Street north of UNLV, has been set up to help the hurricane victims with government and private services ranging from housing to school enrollment, much as was done during three days last week at the Fertitta Community Assistance Center at Catholic Charities downtown.

As of Sunday, Cambridge Recreation Center remained closed.

At Fertitta, more than 1,200 people were helped last week. The center will remain open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this week for those who came on their own, not on the federally sponsored plane.

Martin said running the two centers simultaneously is "going to stretch everybody," meaning that many public agencies will have to put personnel in both locations. He said he hoped this "wouldn't affect" delivering services to residents of the Las Vegas Valley.

A total of 134 people on Saturday and another 60 people on Sunday had made their way to the Fertitta Community Assistance Center, said Stacey Welling, a county spokeswoman.

"We wanted to keep the center open on a limited basis this weekend," Welling said.

By Friday afternoon, Housing and Urban Development had placed 60 people, bringing the total to 190 since Wednesday, Welling said.

Another 59 people received Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services by Friday, Welling said.

Health District nurses had administered 43 immunizations, and 68 health evaluations had been completed, Welling said.

Southwest Gas Company had completed 45 natural gas hookups and Nevada Power Co. had turned on electricity to 41 households, she said.

Five school registrations on Friday brought the three-day total to 55 at the center, because some families are registering children directly at their neighborhood schools, Welling said.

Martin also said he hoped the process of helping the victims arriving by plane would take only a few days, so as not to interrupt services normally provided to the local community for too long. Those services include afterschool programs for neighborhood youth.

The Cambridge center may also serve as a temporary shelter with up 250 cots, he added -- unlike Fertitta, which has been used only as a one-stop center for services.

Since Sept. 1, the American Red Cross Southern Nevada Chapter has served more than 900 hurricane survivors locally. The agency's total financial assistance to date in the valley amounts to more than $290,000.

The Red Cross provides amounts ranging from $360 for a individual to $1,565 for a family of five or more.

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