Area steps up Gustav relief

DREMC photo Receiving final instructions before heading to Franklinton, La., to assist Washington / St. Tammany Electric Cooperative with power restoration efforts following Hurricane Gustav are Duck River Electric Membership Corporation employees, from left, Sean Scheller, Manchester; Bryan Burton, Decherd; Heath Nave, Shelbyville; Team Leader Tommy Adcock, Shelbyville; Jerry Jennings, Shelbyville; and Lin Rowe, Lynchburg. Not pictured are Joel Potts, Columbia; Seth Warf, Lewisburg; and Steven Hopkins, Lewisburg. (DREMC photo)

Scott Johnson, of Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, assisted on Sunday in processing Hurricane Gustav evacuees at Berry Field/Nashville International Airport.

"The evacuees came in on military transport aircraft such as C-130s and C-17s as well as commercial charter aircraft," wrote Johnson in an e-mail to the Times-Gazette. "Our operation was set up in an Air Force hangar at the airport. I believe our group at the airport processed approximately 1,300 evacuees.

"Once we registered them with FEMA they were transported by Metro bus to shelters in Williamson, Davidson, Rutherford and Coffee counties."

Meanwhile, Duck River Electric Membership Corp. sent two four-man crews and a team leader Tuesday morning to Franklinton, La., to assist Washington/St. Tammany Electric Cooperative with power restoration efforts following the hurricane.

Equipped with two line construction trucks and two aerial bucket trucks, the crews will be working in Washington, St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes to assist in the restoration of electric service to the cooperatives 48,000 members.

Shelters open

As of Monday, the American Red Cross was operating shelters in Tullahoma, Smyrna, Goodlettsville, Lebanon, Franklin and Nashville, which Red Cross said were housing approximately 1,700 evacuees. The Red Cross was preparing to open one more shelter in Nashville to accommodate the remaining evacuees who may choose voluntarily to come to middle Tennessee, totaling 10 shelters.

The Red Cross reported Monday that 144 of the evacuees were at the Tullahoma National Guard Armory. Other sites included the Smyrna National Guard Training Center, College Hill Church of Christ in Lebanon, Goodlettsville First Baptist Church, Middle Tennessee State University, Franklin Recreational Center, and three churches in Nashville.

Johnson said the evacuees represented a wide range of ages and physical conditions.

"Although they were displaced, hot, and tired, they were almost all very appreciative of the assistance provided by the State of Tennessee. One New Orleans resident told me he had lived in Arkansas since Hurricane Katrina and had just moved back to New Orleans. He actually had a sense of humor about his timing."

More than 5,000 people took shelter in Tennessee, and the governor suspended some state laws to expedite services to Hurricane Gustav evacuees.

There were 29 shelters open in the state Monday, and 20 of them were at capacity and no longer had beds available, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has given residents the go-ahead to return to the Crescent City early Thursday, but with several warnings -- many homes are without electricity or working toilets and a dusk-to-dawn curfew would still be in effect.

"It's my humble opinion that the city is still in a very, very vulnerable state," Nagin said Tuesday evening.

For other evacuees

Some evacuees were moved, and have been tracked, by recognized agencies. But other evacuees may have left on their own and be staying with relatives or friends in other states. Johnson said that evacuees need to be aware of several services available to them:

Family Locator: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has a hotline to call to register families and individuals. It will assist relatives in finding family members that have become separated during the evacuation. The number is (800) 588-9822.

Disaster Assistance: Evacuees and others who believe they have been impacted by the hurricane can contact FEMA for various types of assistance at (800) 621-3362.

Donations: Persons who wish to donate funds to assist hurricane victims can call (866) 586-4483. Checks or money orders should be made out to either the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army. These organizations have the largest share of sheltering and feeding hurricane evacuees.

The Red Cross asks that the public not bring any items such as clothing, furniture, diapers or other items to any of the shelters. The Red Cross only accepts monetary donations.

Donations may be made at www.nashvilleredcross.org to the National Disaster Relief Fund. Shelters, as well as the hurricane relief effort in the Gulf, will be funded through this fund.

Utility assistance

According to DREMC President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Allison, the request for utility assistance was received on Monday and was coordinated through the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. Michael Watson, DREMC's director of operations, assembled the crews from employees throughout the cooperative's service area who volunteered to make the trip.

"We are glad to respond to requests for assistance such as this," said Allison. "You never know when it might be Duck River Electric putting out the call for assistance following a tornado or ice storm. We've never failed to receive assistance from other cooperatives when we've asked for help in the past and we have an obligation to respond when we receive requests to assist others," he noted.

The DREMC team, led by Tommy Adcock, includes Joel Potts, line foreman from Columbia; Sean Scheller, lineman from Manchester; Seth Warf, lineman from Lewisburg; Steven Hopkins, lineman from Lewisburg; Jerry Jennings, line foreman from Shelbyville; Heath Nave, lineman from Shelbyville; Lin Rowe, lineman from Lynchburg; and Bryan Burton, lineman from Decherd.

According to DREMC, electric cooperatives throughout the United States have pre-arranged emergency operating agreements to cover such emergency restoration crews. The utility providing the crews will be reimbursed for all costs and expenses related to its response.

"At this time we are not sure exactly how long the DREMC crews will be deployed. We will continue to monitor the success of their response and will likely replace the original responders with fresh crews should they need to stay more 10 days to two weeks," said Watson.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.