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San Diego Readies For More Hurricane Victims
SDSU Sets Up Hundreds Of Cots
In Gym
POSTED: 6:08 pm PDT September 6, 2005
UPDATED: 10:34 am PDT September 7, 2005
|
David Perez, chief operating officer of Surge Global Energy in Carmel Valley, took the situation into his own hands Sunday after what he said was a slow, frustrating wait for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to do so. Perez chartered a Boeing 737 and personally escorted 80 evacuees to San Diego, NBC 7/39 reported. The hurricane survivors are currently being housed at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. Perez is making a second trip to Louisiana to drop off supplies and pick up more evacuees. |
Steve Perez |
"David is a good and generous man who has a tremendous amount of confidence in his own ability to move mountains," said Ken Druck, of the Jenna Druck Foundation. "That's what he is trying to do here."
Meanwhile, officials at San Diego State University have struck a deal with the Red Cross to house evacuees at the school's Peterson Gym, NBC 7/39 reported.
Tuesday, students helped set up cots in the gym. A nearby building will be used for storage and as a kind of medical facility. SDSU has promised to house the evacuees for up to 60 days.
City officials and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger held a conference call Tuesday to try to determine when and how many evacuees would be moved to San Diego. San Diego city officials have told FEMA that the city can handle up to 600 people. There are about 1,000 total hurricane survivors being evacuated to California.
"We do not intend to keep them there very long," said San Diego Red Cross spokesperson Gayle Falkenthal. "A shelter is nobody's first choice of accommodation. We'd like to get them into private hotel rooms in the area and then begin with getting case workers to them to work on a recovery plan."