Tribal Chairman Ronnie Thomas pumped gas, as the exodus from Houston became an unnatural disaster

Alabama-Coushatta in shelter after Hurricane Rita  Email this page     Print this page Posted: September 28, 2005 by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today Tribal Chairman Ronnie Thomas pumped gas, as the exodus from Houston became an unnatural disaster

ALABAMA-COUSHATTA NATION, Texas - Hurricane Rita ripped along the border of Louisiana and Texas, whipping down trees and leaving about 1,000 Alabama-Coushatta tribal members in Texas in a shelter facing shortages of food and gasoline.

''We've turned our multi-purpose room into a shelter,'' said Alabama-Coushatta Tribal Chairman Ronnie Thomas on Sept. 26, after Hurricane Rita hit land on the Louisiana coast two days earlier.

''We're feeding about 1,000 people,'' Thomas told Indian Country Today, pointing out that the majority of people in the shelter are tribal members.

Thomas described the downed trees that wrecked the west side of the tribal community, located 90 miles north of Houston in oak and pine timber country, 17 miles east of Livingston and 17 miles west of Woodville.

Thomas said it could take two weeks to get electricity back on to tribal members' homes. The water supply was also knocked out and generators were running sluggish as the tribe attempted to get pumps operating again.

''I didn't even go into town until today,'' he said, referring to nearby Livingston. ''They had trees down all over the power lines.''

Speaking in a telephone interview from the closed tribal offices without power, Thomas said, ''It is hot and humid, and our air conditioner isn't working.''

With daytime temperatures hovering around 100 degrees in southeast Texas, the oppressive heat added to the dilemma of evacuations and recovery efforts.

Still, it could have been worse. And in nearby Jasper, it was.

''The eye passed over Jasper. It was terrible,'' Thomas said.

''We were really lucky,'' he said, pointing out there were no injuries and a minimal amount of home damage for the tribe, whose 1,100 members live on 5,200 acres of trust land, not including the fee lands.

The exodus of more than 2 million people from Houston, Galveston and the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Rita approached created an unnatural traffic disaster. The fiasco stranded motorists in hot, stalled cars in Houston for up to 17 hours, then left thousands lined up for miles at gas stations in east Texas towns before the hurricane struck.

In fact, the lines at the gas pumps were so long on Sept. 23 at the Alabama-Coushattas' Ischoopa One Stop convenience store and gas station on Hwy 190 that Thomas pumped gas himself from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

''That was the only way I could get the lines down. As soon as I got there, I was on No. 10. It was a madhouse," said Thomas, adding that for many evacuees it was the second time in three weeks that they were fleeing a hurricane. Many had already lost everything.

Hurricane Katrina struck three weeks before; then Hurricane Rita ripped through coastal towns. After Hurricane Rita hit land, Cameron, La. was underwater, nearby communities were annihilated and hundreds were rescued from flooding. In southeast Texas, there was extensive home damage; hundreds of thousands of people in the hurricane's path were left without power.

When the exodus from Hurricane Rita ended, so did the Alabama-Coushattas' gas.

''Our gas station is about empty,'' Thomas said, adding that there is a shortage of gas at stations throughout the region.

Now, the tribe is using their remaining gasoline carefully as they attempt to clear roads and restore power. BIA law enforcement and forestry staff from Oklahoma was helping with the chainsaw work of clearing downed trees.

Meanwhile, Thomas said a group of Alabama-Coushatta tribal elders evacuated and are being hosted by the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma.

While Alabama-Coushatta offices were closed on Sept. 26, tribal staff members were still at work without electricity, both indoors and outdoors.

''Our forestry department is helping to clear the debris out.''

Thomas pointed out that the delivery of federal aid is revealing.

After Hurricane Rita, Thomas said it was the same old story when it came time to distribute boxes of food, with Indians receiving little.

Preferring not to mention the federal agency by name, he said it was the same old story for Indians.

''They are still treating Indians like they were back in the 'day.'''

Even before Hurricane Rita, Thomas said the tribe was struggling with the economic conditions in rural east Texas.

In 2002, the state of Texas shut down the tribe's casino, along with all other Indian casinos in Texas.

''We were the second-largest employer in the area,'' Thomas said, adding that the tribe continues to operate two smoke shops.

Now, Thomas said food donations would be appreciated for tribal members.

When asked what other type of help the tribe needs from Indian communities for their recovery efforts from Hurricane Rita, Thomas said, ''Monetary; and prayers that this turns around and works out in a good way.

''That will go a long way.''