Tampa, FL – On Wednesday, October 9, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida as a Category 3 hurricane that devastated the state. Five days later, Tampa Bay residents are still experiencing power outages, gas shortages and widespread damage to their homes.

According to PowerOutage.us, 400,000 customers in Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota counties still do not have power. The largest number of outages are in Hillsborough County, where over 150,000 Tampa Electric (TECO) customers remain without power. The CEO of TECO promised the county that 100% of customers will have their power restored by Thursday, October 17.

In the past year, TECO has been under fire, with customers protesting their unprecedented rate hikes. With residents already struggling to pay rent and get food on the table, TECO promised that the rate hikes would mean shorter power outages for customers. By Thursday it will be over a week since the devastation of Milton caused millions to lose power.

Most of those living in the Tampa Bay region without power are those who live in working class and largely immigrant communities. These communities have been forced to go back to work despite the loss of power to their homes. While residents are left in the dark, the city quickly restored power to Central Command’s MacDill Airforce Base and tourist attractions like Busch Gardens.

The shortage of gasoline remains an issue felt by all those living in Tampa. Even before Milton hit, the demand for gas had emptied gas stations across Tampa Bay. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not step in to provide gas for Florida residents until the Saturday after the hurricane. Even then, the state only provided three distribution sites – Plant City, Saint Petersburg and Bradenton – leaving many still without the means to get fuel.

Had the governor taken precautions before the hurricane hit the state, Tampa residents would not have gone to lengths to hoard gas or had to wait in hours-long lines just to fill up their cars. As of Monday afternoon, 50.4% of Tampa and Sarasota area gas stations are without fuel.

Throughout the region, large trees and downed power lines still block off many streets. On Sunday, Governor DeSantis announced that he would be using the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida State Guard, the National Guard, and the Florida Highway Patrol to help with city and county debris removal. Of the at least 23 people who died from the hurricane, one woman in Tampa, one man in Orlando, and one man in Polk County died while clearing the debris in their yards post-Milton.

Residents impacted by Milton can now apply for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Last month, all 11 Florida Republicans in Congress voted down a resolution that would have provided billions in additional disaster relief funding.

Donald Trump and Republicans across the country have been spreading misinformation that FEMA is refusing to help people in Republican areas and is instead using funds to house immigrants. This propaganda has led to individuals threatening FEMA personnel in North Carolina who were providing aid after Hurricane Helene. As a result, these emergency personnel were forced to evacuate and pause their relief efforts in the area.

The state of Florida and Governor DeSantis had time to prepare for the devastation that Milton was projected to bring. Instead, Florida residents were left to fend for themselves in the midst of destruction, flooding, power outages and gas shortages.

#TampaFL #FL #PeoplesStruggles #NaturalDisasters #Environment #ClimateChange #FEMA #Feature

Houston, TX – The fight for survival goes on in Houston. Families spent all day traveling miles back and forth across the city, looking for opportunities to register for aid that may or may not be there. Many picked up food, water, clothes and toys for their children; walking with awkward loads to wherever they are stuck sleeping for the night.

At the Astrodome/Reliant Center, the fury is spilling over and the repression is building. This morning, the number of police at the barricades was five times what is was yesterday. One outraged resident, Celesta Johnson, of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, exploded, “They have us with bands on our wrists. They make you wear bands when you’re in prison.” She was outside the Astrodome with her friend Felicia Mudro, also of Jefferson, and Felicia’s daughter Curston. The women explained that if the children lost their wristbands, or if a person’s wristband appeared too large, the police would take the band and they would not be allowed back in to the Astrodome at all. “We saw a three-month old baby and her mom sleep out on the street because the baby lost his wristband.” There were many others sleeping out last night because of the curfew, according to the pair.

Many are outraged at what they have been seeing from the time they left New Orleans and are suspicious of what will happen to their city. According to Mark Hooktin, 33, staying in a hotel with his two and one-year old sons and fiancé, “Everyone should have been evacuated 50 hours, 60 hours or more before the hurricane come. I think that dam broke on purpose, that’s what I think. I think they wanted to clear New Orleans, and get all of the Black people from out there. I don’t think they want nobody to come back. But I am going back.”

Hootkins’s feelings about the future of the city were echoed by Roy Camry, a tenth-grade student at Mcdonogh Senior High in New Orleans, “It’s not going to be really for Black people. To tell you the truth, I think they’re going to make it all a big suburb.”

Ms. Mudro and Ms. Johnson also spoke of their harrowing trip out of Jefferson Parish and into Houston. Felicia Mudro recounted her experience; “They treated us like dogs, the military police. They wouldn’t give us water, wouldn’t give us food, passed us up for three days on the highway with our children. The whole world needs to know they are screwing us over.” Both women said they had no choice about coming to Houston. “We didn’t ask to come to Texas, they loaded us up and made us come here.”

A man who worked at Tulane University, who wandered with his wife and three children from Mississippi to Arkansas and then to Houston in search of help, said, “I’m from Bangladesh and there they do a damn good job [of disaster relief], but here…I was just joking that they should send them [FEMA] over there, to train them. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world, and they do a better job.”

Today at the Astrodome, many people continued to arrive. FEMA showed up in force for the first time. FEMA agents, wearing dark blue uniforms were handing out flyers under signs that said, “No debit cards here today.”

For the past few days, people have been scrambling to get emergency debit cards worth $2,000 to meet buy necessities, move into apartments or leave town. Late yesterday afternoon, people were told to show up for their cards by 8:00 a.m. this morning. Last night it was announced around 9:00 p.m. that FEMA had cancelled the card program. FEMA spokesman Tom Costello was quoted in today’s Houston Chronicle: “We regret the late announcement.” FEMA said they ‘ran out’ of plastic needed to make the cards. Instead, FEMA will direct deposit money to those who have bank accounts or mail checks to those who have mailing addresses.

Besides lining up for hours a day at the Astrodome, people also lined up at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston, to continue to chase after FEMA and other aid. One woman, who got sick of getting nowhere on the telephone said, “I called FEMA at 2:30 a.m. in the morning. I put the speaker on and said if she [the operator] came on, I’ll wake up. I did three families in one phone call. I said, ‘Baby don’t hang up cuz I got three families staying in this place and everybody lost everything.”

#HoustonTX #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #AsianNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HurricaneKatrina #FEMA #Astrodome #debitCards

According to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup/Red Cross poll, 39% of New Orleans families are still split up. People recently interviewed by Fight Back! casually mentioned children and grandchildren living in five different states. Parents with children in school are staying in whatever town they landed in after Katrina, at least through the end of the school year. Then a decision has to be made about uprooting again. According the poll, 15% of New Orleans respondents still don’t know where some of their relatives are.

Over 600,000 people were moved from shelters to hotels by mid-October. As of Oct. 14 over 15,000 people were still in shelters. The U.S. government then closed the shelters, sending people mostly to hotels. FEMA trailers are being set up in Louisiana and around the Gulf. Families have priority for trailers, but the waiting list is already months long – shutting out many families and virtually all singles. Being forced to live in a hotel room is not a vacation. Every aspect of living becomes a logistical hurdle: eating, laundry and basic privacy.

Hundreds of thousands lost their jobs. People who have worked all their lives are stalled. Many of us have experienced the agony of weeks of job search, knowing the jobs aren’t really there. Add to that having to struggle daily for the basics of hygiene, food, housing and transportation and your chances are grimmer. Over 363,000 people filed for hurricane related unemployment – but many are discouraged about even doing that, since its just another snarl of red tape to be navigated.

The federal Opportunity Zones for ‘rebuilding’ the Gulf offer pathetic wages and overturn affirmative action hiring – ironic when one considers 75% of New Orleans residents are non-white. This opens the specter of white-owned companies hiring oppressed nationality people at less than prevailing wage (less than $7 per hour, in New Orleans) to demolish homes of poor Blacks and Latinos to replace those homes with mansions for the rich.

For homeowners, the struggle with insurance companies has begun. For those who are uninsured, ‘underinsured’ – a term that will come as a surprise to many – or who get swindled by greedy insurance companies, rebuilding will be difficult or impossible. Many are being forced, out of sheer financial desperation, to put their family property up for quick sale. Real estate speculators are already circling like vultures to cash in on people’s tragedy.

The most devastated part of New Orleans is the Ninth Ward, which was submerged under floodwaters from Bush’s broken levies. Many residents are trying to come back, after dealing with the continued nightmare of a FEMA and government failure. But it seems like the government is determined to shut out Ninth Ward residents. Bush’s Housing and Urban and Development secretary, Alphonso Jackson, was quoted in the the Houston Chronicle, Sept. 29, “New Orleans is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again.” The Chronicle said that HUD Secretary Jackson wasn’t sure if the Ninth Ward should be rebuilt at all. 20,000 people are from the Ninth Ward, almost all of them Black and low-income.

On Sept. 27, Bush gave a fancy speech and moved on. The speech and smirking ‘apology’ were designed to lull us into thinking things were OK, but the Katrina evacuees outside the Reliant Center/Astrodome said, “Too little, too late.” The lives of thousands of displaced New Orleans residents were destroyed because of Bush’s deliberate decision to not fund basic maintenance on the levies, followed by his callous disregard for human life.

Over half of homes in New Orleans (which is 67% Black) were rented. Low wages, even for skilled workers, combined with national oppression have made renting a fact of life. A poll conducted in early October said 60% of folks plan to return to New Orleans. It stands to reason many are people who rented. On Oct. 25, many renters were officially evicted. It is essential that repatriation efforts include not just the construction of affordable rental housing and more subsidized housing – but homes to all former renters who want them. Bush’s call relies on private charities – and we know from bitter experience that charities pick, choose and discriminate. Poor people and Black people in New Orleans deserve reparations from the U.S. – a government that killed hundreds of New Orleans people. Housing should be given to all former residents who want it, no questions asked.

These disasters spawned by Katrina and Bush will continue every day. When the government keeps your life turned upside down, it is a hurdle to demanding the justice you deserve. That is why it is crucial for everyone all over the country to keep up the struggle for justice for Katrina survivors – read between the lines of what the mainstream media puts out and think about the people’s lives behind the government sound bites. It is up to us to keep the truth front and center.

The events following Hurricane Katrina show some basic truths about this country: The government and the economic system – monopoly capitalism – serves the very rich and no one else. African Americans face a system of racism and national oppression that robs Black people of equality, land, democratic rights and political power. The shadow of the plantations still hangs over the Gulf region. Black people in the South need political power, liberation and the right to self-determination. A system that lets people die on freeway overpasses has forfeited its right to exist.

#UnitedStates #PoorPeoplesMovements #Analysis #AsianNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HurricaneKatrina #FEMA #OpportunityZones #monopolyCapitalism

Houston, Texas – Hundreds more New Orleaneans came to the Astrodome today seeking help. Yet many were turned away at the security gate and given nothing. The people who left New Orleans before Katrina landed are very aware that without federal government aid, they will not be able to survive much longer.

Heather Pierre, a mother of a two-year old boy talked about being turned away from FEMA help for not having a wristband: “They're telling us to come to the Astrodome to see about FEMA funds, and when we get there they're turning you around at the gate because you don't have a wristband on your wrist. People have been standing here since 5:00 this morning and we haven't been getting any help. I haven't been able to find a job – I don't have any income at all. And if I don't get this help from FEMA, I'm going to be stuck out, just like everybody else. It's a no-win situation out here.”

Of the 1,000,000 people who fled New Orleans before Katrina, several hundred thousand are believed to be living in Houston, Texas. Most people have managed to find friends, family, strangers and hotels to take shelter. But as the draining of their city continues, most are now facing a confusing bureaucracy that drains them financially and emotionally as well.

FEMA? What FEMA!

Thousands of people walked to the Astrodome main entrance. Some were warned by those leaving that they would not be allowed to enter because they were not wearing a wristband.

FEMA cards worth $2,000 in cash value were supposed to be given out to Astrodome residents. Some cards malfunctioned and had no money. Stores next to the Astrodome (Target, Fiesta Mart, Big Lots, Payless Shoes and others) were racking up strong sales throughout the day with clothing, shoes, suitcases and hot, cooked food being the most popular items.

People from New Orleans, outside the Astrodome in Houston.

For non-Astrodome residents to get FEMA cards, you need to go to Social Security to register even if you have already received your FEMA number from their website and then must return to get processed. Today processing of new cards stopped by 2 p.m. because there were too many people. The FEMA phone number had a recorded message, “Because of the high volume of calls for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, all representatives are busy. Your call will now be disconnected.”

“Bush really needs to open his eyes and see what's really going on and get off his high horse and help us. There's too many people walking around here with the clothes on their back,” Thomas said.

The real-feel temperature reached 95 degrees. Taking shade under trees at the intersection of the Astrodome entrance and Kirby Street was a temporary rest for two African American boys who only wanted to attend school. Ninety-nine percent of the people coming to the Astrodome are African American. From yesterday to today, the police and store security guards have become a visible presence watching over the people here.

The government brags about getting folks out of the Astrodome in Houston. However, as the thousands turned away today can speak to, once they are out, all help is gone. Proud families are forced to wander from place to place in search of the basics of food, clothing and shelter. This is the government's version of 'success.' But the people outside the Astrodome today were not fooled. The anger of the mothers, fathers and children was unmistakable.

#HoustonTX #News #AsianNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HurricaneKatrina #NewOrleans #FEMA #NewOrleaneans #Astrodome #HeatherPierre

The following is a special editorial from Fight Back! that's being distributed as a leaflet among the evacuees in Houston, Texas.

We demand justice for the people in Houston and others scattered across the South by Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina demonstrates the power of nature and the weakness of U.S. society. Not all of the disaster is natural – much of it is manmade and preventable. In fact, it is an unnatural disaster.

For poor folks, for Black folks, there was no evacuation plan. Those who could not evacuate could only turn to each other and hold on for dear life, hoping for the best. But what we have gotten all along is the worst. While FEMA claims it ‘could not reach the Superdome,’ CNN was able to broadcast from the scene. Two days after Katrina passed, FEMA turned away three semi trucks of water! All this while mothers watched their babies die of dehydration. Those of us watching on TV wept and raged at the disaster unfolding before our eyes.

The survivors of Hurricane Katrina are the victims of a careless and hard-hearted government. More than that, Bush, in the face of an extreme emergency, did nothing and acted with blatant disregard for working-class people, mostly African-American. Bush’s failure to respond is criminal. President Bush and his administration must be held accountable. While Bush stayed warm and dry on his vacation, New Orleans’ people were left to tread water, drown and die by the thousands.

At the Superdome, there was no relief plan and there was no emergency response. The people of New Orleans remained calm and determined to survive the worst disaster in U.S. history, while Bush hesitated and delayed. The death toll from this disaster promises to be three times that of the events of 9-11. George Bush and his administration are responsible.

Some say, “This is not the time for blame.” But there is plenty of blame to go around. The failure is not just one of Democrats or Republicans — the burden has to fall on the people with the resources to take care of business, and that is the Bush administration. Now, over a week later, Army paratroopers in inflatable boats are still rescuing the stranded. The facts are clear: The response was too little and too late because the rich who run the U.S. system, the millionaires and billionaires who profit from the system, do not care about poor, working-class people, especially if they are African-American or non-white.

It has long been known that a disaster of this magnitude was possible. Congress refused to spend money to protect the low-lying and poorest parts of the city. This is not “a mistake.” It’s a crime. The racist attitude of FEMA has not changed, even with all the outrage. On Sept. 7 there was a report from Bogalusa which showed guards with pallets of water at the airport. You could have some if you get there, but not a single bottle was delivered to ‘the other side of the tracks.’

We demand that the government do whatever it takes to provide meaningful aid to the victims of this crisis – now! The priority must be placed on those who have the greatest needs. We must turn our collective grief into a storm of anger. Help is needed. And so is justice.

We also demand that:

• Bush be held accountable.
• We need real and immediate relief that allows us to live with dignity. The includes decent housing until we can return to our homes.
• We want respectful treatment from government at all levels.
• We demand that our housing be repaired or we that we get new homes and apartments – before one cent of assistance is given to any big corporation.
• Our property needs to be protected. Government should not use condemnation or eminent domain to steal our land.

#UnitedStates #StPaulMN #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #Editorial #Editorials #AsianNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HurricaneKatrina #Houston #disaster #unnaturalDisaster #FEMA #Superdome #Bogalusa #BushBeHeldAccountable