Matt Bramanti reports that the Dome has stopped taking in people. CNN has this info as well.

Updated: KTRK is reporting this as well.

It’s strange, because Matt just heard that there was nowhere near 20,000 people in there. Only a few thousand. They must have been too optimistic in how many people they thought they could take.

I can see some buses there, but I don’t know how long they’ve been there.

Update - 11:19 CDT: They had been letting people in at the Kirby entrance, see number 10, but now they’re turning cars away.

Update - 11:27 CDT: I hope this is a misunderstanding. It would be terrible if there are several thousand people on the road to the Astrodome and they’re not going to be let in.

Update - 11:33 CDT: KTRK is reporting that the City of Houston Fire Marshal is the one who has shut down the Dome. They’re refused comment until tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM.

Update - 11:37 CDT: Sean just came in. He had run down to the Dome to check in, he said it was full of people and there didn’t seem to be any more room.

Update - 11:50 CDT: Channel 2 has a story on the Dome closing.

Update - 11:54 CDT: The Chronicle has a story now.

There are a couple of guys in a hotel in my neighborhood who are displaced by the hurricane. They want to get an apartment.

They would like a place that is available on a monthly basis (studio/one bedroom in or near zip code 77082), low rent, is furnished, and includes utilities. I went searching places like here, here, and here.

All the listings seemed to be pretty vague. Free advice to Houston apartment complexes - If you all start marketing yourselves to our newest residents and catering to their needs, you’ll rent your places out. These people don’t know how long they will be here and don’t want to pay deposits or buy furniture.

 

This is the view we have of the Dome. Bramanti has gone down to find a story. Sean and I are watching the news. Judge Eckels is appearing on Fox.

David Benzion was down talking to people on the buses and he met a man with a story.

Sean Lewis serves in the Army Reserve in New Orleans. He has been activated and has orders to go to Iraq. He is supposed to report to Fort Bliss no later than Monday.

He put his girlfriend (Laurie Reluzco) and son (Emmett Lewis - 6 years old) into a motel in New Orleans and went to ride out the storm at their house. Everything was doing fine until the water started rising. Sean abandoned his house and went to stay with a neighbor.

Things got worse.

He got his belongings together and started for the Superdome. He was rescued by a man with a boat. He spent several days in the Superdome, he says it was about as bad as we’ve heard. He got "adopted" by the National Guard in the Superdome, they had him help them out.

Since he has orders, the Guardsmen got him on one of the early buses. David saw him, heard his story, and decided that Houston can show Sean a bit more hospitality than the Astrodome. He’s been eating MREs for the past few days. KSEV has bought him some fajitas and beer, and he’ll be bunking down in the Lone Star Times command center this evening. We’ve got AC and a real bed for him.

Sean has some tales to tell about the hurricane and the Superdome. He’ll be a guest on KSEV tomorrow, so I won’t spoil all his stories.

My main reason for posting this info is so that his loved ones can know that he is ok and safe. He particularly asks that anyone who can get in touch with his girlfriend and son, who he thinks are in a shelter in Baton Rouge, please let them know that he’s in Houston and safe.

Hi folks, this is Rob Booth. I’m in a hotel room near the Astrodome. I’m back blogging for this special event, as Mayor White put it, the largest exodus of refugees in this country since the Civil War. (War Between the States, if you prefer.)

I’m at a disadvantage. I shredded my Achilles tendon, am in a cast, and on crutches. So I can’t move around very well. I can look out the window and see what’s going on. Bramanti has just arrived. I’ll be sending him out to go talk to people.

We’ve had one story just fall into our room. Make sure you come back for it later.

First impression: If you do not need to be at the Astrodome, if you haven’t been invited, do not come down here. You’ll just be in the way of the poor people coming in on the buses and the folks designated by the Red Cross to help.

If you’re like me, you’re chomping at the bit to help. Go to your nearest hotel/motel. Talk to the desk clerk and find out what people need. Talk to people in the parking lot. I did that at my local motel and have been able to help a couple of guys who are looking for work.

As I type this, our intrepid managing editor David Benzion is on an evacuation bus, speaking to refugees from New Orleans. Stay tuned to LST and KSEV (AM 700) for continuing coverage.

The first international aid is rolling in. Unfortunately, it’s in the form of a vicious, sarcastic article by Muhammad Yousef Al-Mlaifi, an official in Kuwait’s Ministry of Endowment:

How sad I am for America. Here it is, poor thing, trying with all its might to lower oil prices which have reached heights unprecedented in all history. Along with America’s phenomenal efforts to lower the price of oil in order to salvage its declining economy and its currency — that is still falling due to the ’smart’ policy America is implementing in the world — comes this storm, the fruit of Allah’s planning, so that [the price of] a barrel of oil will increase further still. By Allah, this is not schadenfreude.

But before I went to sleep, I opened the Koran and began to read in Surat Al-R’ad ['The Thunder' chapter], and stopped at these words [of Allah]: ‘The disaster will keep striking the unbelievers for what they have done, or it will strike areas close to their territory, until the promise of Allah comes to pass, for, verily, Allah will not fail in His promise.’ [Koran 13:31].

Verily, Al-Mlaifi is a jackass.

Why are we hearing anything from the Kuwaiti government other than "Thank you for making sure we’re not Saddam Hussein’s private beach?" 

LST reader and generous Houstonian Mark Russell left this heartwarming statement in our comments section:

Just went to Astrodome area. Dropped off $250 of Caprisun juice drinks. Dropped off $250 worth of Church’s Fried Chicken. Went to the parking lot where the Fiesta is. The Texans there were all graciously helping. The Louisianans were all very thankful. Is this a great world or what?

Mark Russell

Makes you proud to be an American in Houston, Texas, doesn’t it?

Our good buddies at the Chron inform us that everyone’s favorite protest mom, Cindy Sheehan, has packed up her camp-in-a-ditch and left Crawford. Despite everyone’s attention being focused on hurricane coverage, the protest circus is now on the road visiting Austin and will roll into the Bayou City next.

Sheehan will be in Houston today, where she will visit the congressional office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, and speak at a 6:30 p.m. rally at Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, 2025 W. 11th.

Houston natives, along with hurricane-displaced Louisiana residents can now hear Ms. Sheehan’s Iraq rhetoric firsthand. How fortunate we are.

"I really believe Camp Casey will be written about in our history books and Camp Casey will be given credit for ending the illegal occupation," Sheehan said.

That belief is rather dubious, but one good thing did come out of that Crawford ditch.

She said her bus would deliver more than 5,000 pounds of supplies left over from Camp Casey to the Astrodome for New Orleans hurricane evacuees.

Perhaps the media flock that follows Ms. Sheehan’s escapades can make themselves truly useful and spend some time covering the suffering of Louisiana residents who have lost everything.

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BENZION CORRECTS– Despite earlier reports by local tv outlets (and later noted on LST), general refugees are not being accepted at the Astrodome.

The Astrodome is for people coming on "official" buses from the Superdome only.

If you are a "general" refugee and need shelter, contact the Red Cross at 866-GET-INFO and they will find you a place to stay– it just won’t be at the Astrodome.

From the Chronicle:

Officials were expecting 45,000 cots to be delivered by tomorrow. On the east end of the stadium was a message board that spelled out in lights No Smoking in the Astrodome Please.

That’s just to remind us that Bill White is still mayor.

People arriving at the makeshift village would be receiving a “comfort kit” that would include soap, toothbrush, a washcloth and other toiletries. And a meal would be served.

The Astrodome’s new residents will be issued passes that will allow them to leave and return as they please, something that wasn’t permitted in New Orleans. Organizers also plan to find ways to help the refugees contact relatives.

The Astrodome is prepared to accommodate refugees for a month and perhaps up to 90 days. Eckels said officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency will try to move evacuees into temporary facilities closer to New Orleans in weeks, if not days. In many instances, the Dome will serve as a short-term shelter until more suitable quarters can be found, he said.

The Red Cross will run the Dome shelter. Evacuees will shower in four locker rooms once used by pro athletes.

They will dine from scores of buffet tables set up on one of the Dome’s concourses. Aramark, which holds the concession contract at Reliant Park, will prepare hot breakfasts, cold lunches and hot dinners at Reliant Stadium and Reliant Center, the convention hall, and transport them to the Dome.

More as we know it.

For obvious reasons, no "official" government authority in New Orleans is able to confirm this.

But to give you a flavor of what we are hearing about conditions in the Superdome,  a seemingly credible refugee named James Hollins told a group of reporters about an hour ago that one man had been caught by a mob after raping a girl and had subsequently been beaten to death.

Even if this turns out to have been a rumor, it is the sort of thing refugees believe amongst themselves.

UPDATED– LST command-post refugee Sean, an active duty soldier who was impressed by the National Guard unit outside of the Superdome has confirmed the broad outlines of this story.

They just got the internet connection up and running, so I will begin now.

10:27– Frankly, so far it is routine, MSM stuff.

10:28– Currently, just 2,000 people in the Astrodome, but they are prepared for (and expect) 25k.

10:30– Paul Bettencourt just announced that there are 45,000 refugees estimated in area hotel rooms. Notes that Texas law states that anyone living in a hotel for 30 or more days get their 17% hotel tax waived. Says we don’t want their tax money. Manages to bash Harris County’s "highest in the nation" hotel tax rate on national television– yeah Paul!

10:51– Nothing really very stunning, truth be told. They are taking care of people the best the can. The situation is fluid. We don’t know but will get back to you with an answer.

11:00– Conference over.

LST reader Allen Gooding left the following comment:

I have 110 RV sites available for any of the displaced persons coming from New Orleans to the Dome in Houston - if and when they need to be placed.

Please contact me at (956) 358-5409

A caller to Edd Hendee on KSEV just mentioned that he had an extra trailer available and wanted to offer it to a family to live in.

If you are in the same position, consider contacting Allen, taking your RV out to his site, and figuring out a way to help some people out.

"Our challenge in response to Hurrican Allison was a little itty bitty fire drill compared to what we are facing right now… this isn’t ‘disaster relief’, it is ‘catastrophe response’."

Margaret O’Brien Molina, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, parking lot of the Houston Astrodome, 8/31/05

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