Inside Houston shelter, a loud and sometimes chaotic night

Another person, Kevin Perkins, described sleeping on the floor and feeling accosted by police officers inside.

“It’s hell,” Perkins said. He shook his head and walked away as Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, during a visit to the convention centre Monday, approached near where he was standing.

“All my stuff damaged. I have no clothes, no shoes, no nothing,” he said.

The din inside eventually fell as thousands of people went to bed. About 9,000 people were in the convention centre by Tuesday morning, according to the Red Cross. With no cots left, some people laid out towels, blankets and strips of cardboard.

Harvey will drop more rain Tuesday on a city crippled by floodwaters that have swamped streets and neighbourhoods. The demands on the convention centre were expected to grow, even while a new shelter opened Monday night and city officials considered opening more.

New volunteers arrived through the night. David Brady, CEO of the Red Cross’ Texas Gulf Coast chapter, said that the volunteers were critical to making sure evacuees “feel comfortable here, and that they’re willing and wanting to pull those cots together.”

“If we get our staff to be friendly and open and welcoming, hopefully that will create a culture with the folks who are staying in the shelter to do the same thing,” Brady said.

For Howard Thomas, the shelter was a place of last resort.

Thomas described himself as living on the streets. He had spent the three previous nights at a $55-a-night motel. But he ran out of money Monday morning.

He was picked up from the motel and taken to the convention centre, where he waited to check in carrying just a blue tote bag with his belongings.

“I’m hoping I can get a place of my own, even if it’s just a one-room shack, just as long as I’m out of the elements, off the street,” he said.

Nomaan Merchant, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Inside Houston shelter, a loud and sometimes chaotic night

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