Emergency Shelters: Venues Opened Their Doors

Convention center managers are accustomed to hosting large crowds in their facilities. But not crowds who need showers, beds, hot meals, laundry, child care, counseling and social services.

The thousands of evacuees from the storm-torn Gulf Coast posed special challenges to the dozens of venues that offered emergency shelter after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. But the facilities rose to the occasion, drawing on their staffs' event-management skills and their communities' generosity to transform cavernous exhibit halls into sleeping and living accommodations for thousands.

The facilities ranged from the Louisiana Superdome and Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, which each housed 25,000 New Orleans evacuees during and after Hurricane Katrina, to smaller venues caring for hundreds of survivors in states as far away as Arizona, New Mexico and North Carolina.

The largest shelter operation was at Houston's Reliant Park, whose Reliant Astrodome and Reliant Center accommodated more than 27,000 people — mostly from the Morial and damaged Superdome. "We've done some of the biggest events, but this was like nothing I've ever seen," said J. Shea Guinn, Reliant Park president and general manager. "Within a short period of time, 24 to 36 hours, we essentially put together a city."

Guinn said he received his first inkling that the SMG-managed Reliant Park would be needed when a judge knocked on his door at six in the morning.

"The first thing he said was, 'Get ready for 25,000 people. They're going to start coming in tonight.'"

A task force was convened, comprised of representatives from the American Red Cross, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Reliant Park, local law enforcement and the medical community.

With the arrival of the first vehicle, a school bus commandeered by a teenage boy, plans fell apart. Houston officials were left with no idea of how many buses to expect after communication with Louisiana was lost.

"It became everything from school buses to church buses to chartered buses," Guinn said.

After the Astrodome reached capacity, 190 buses were still lined up outside Reliant Park and 50 more were on their heels. Officials were trying to arrange for alternate shelters when drivers opened the doors.

"Those people had been on buses for nine hours," said Guinn.

At that point, Reliant Center, with more than 700,000 square feet of exhibit space was set up to handle 15,000 additional evacuees. By then, two 100,000 sq. ft. warehouses were already filled with donated goods, and 55,000 volunteers were pitching in. Even current and former SMG employees from other facilities helped in the effort.

Guinn said staff slept at Reliant Park, working around the clock in shifts. "It was a stressful situation. But when things got tough, all it took was going down to the floor of the Astrodome and thinking what these people went through," he said.

Ultimately, what became known as Reliant City housed two medical facilities, many social service organizations, child care centers, portable showers, basketball courts, children's playgrounds, two air-conditioned tents with video games — and 27,000 people. The settlement was so large it received its own postal zip code.

When the Category 5 Hurricane Rita barreled toward Houston, Reliant City had to be dismantled almost as quickly as it was erected. Continental Airlines donated flights. Other Katrina survivors boarded buses to evacuate from their second hurricane.

Reliant Park, which remained a FEMA staging area until early October, is finally getting back to normal after having to postpone or cancel 20 events. With the facility cleaned and refurbished, Guinn said Reliant Center is preparing to host a home and garden consumer show, marking a return to its regular event schedule.

Although Houston provided temporary housing for 100,000 storm survivors, transitioning evacuees from shelters was more difficult in smaller communities. At the Alexandria Riverfront Center, the number of evacuees was still growing due to church shelters closing and local hotels being fully booked as a result of Hurricane Rita, said Shirley Ingram, manager of the Alexandria, La., facility.

As in Houston, local churches, civic clubs and college students were helping meet the needs of the Alexandria venue's 700 evacuees. But Ingram said she has no idea how much longer the center will be needed.

"We hadn't even entertained the thought of being a shelter two weeks before Katrina," she said. "And then, boom, we were given about 15 minutes' notice before we got our first people."

The Red Cross supplied cots, although it took several days for the first shipment to arrive. The city built temporary showers and added a bus stop for the center. Churches and the city contributed enough washers and dryers to provide laundry facilities.

Ingram said event producers have been understanding. However, even after the evacuees leave, it will take six weeks of painting, carpet installation and refurbishment to return the center to its former state.

Greg Davis, director of the Cajundome/Convention Center in Lafayette, La., a community of 110,000 people, is in the same boat. The 6,500 evacuees at the Cajundome had dwindled to 1,000 when Hurricane Rita hit.

"We have residents who are asking us, 'Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?' We're not able to point to it," he said, adding that FEMA has offered no timeline.

The Cajundome, which has 77,303 sq. ft. of exhibit space, is home to a child care center, counseling services, after-school tutoring, recreation facilities and a post office.

New Mexico's Albuquerque Convention Center, also managed by SMG, was prepared for 1,000 evacuees but received less than 100, said Tom Morton, the venue's general manager. Although staff worked hard to care for the storm survivors, Morton said the experience was rewarding.

Future emergency response efforts could be helped by better coordination between FEMA, the Red Cross and the Intl. Assn. of Assembly Managers, Davis said. "There needs to be a better plan and better coordination of how we work together, so we can all do a better job of providing evacuees the basic fundamental services they require as a result of a disaster."

Guinn said the numerous on-site disaster drills with city and county officials were useful in helping Reliant Park respond to Katrina. Still, he said, "When the real thing comes, it's never like the drill." And for a disaster of Katrina's magnitude, "There wasn't a guide to open. You rewrote the book as you went along."