New Orleans - Many who evacuated to shelters for hurricanes last season vow not to take the trip again this year if the destinations are the same.
The state is promising shelters will be better prepared this time around.
Thaddeus Keys ended up at a shelter in Shreveport last year, where he discovered a shower was another bus ride away. He suggests, "They could make it better next year if they try to have portable showers."
Janet Cheefus also ended up in Shreveport. The wheelchair bound evacuee was not pleased when she discovered bathrooms were not handicapped accessible.
She recalls, "Even in the bathrooms they had steps. You had to go down five steps and I had to crawl out the chair and go in the bathroom, crawl back out and up the steps to get back to my wheelchair."
Kristy Nichols runs Louisiana's Department of Social Services. She promises, "We are ready to receive evacuees. We will do that well. And we will do that with dignity for evacuees. We will be prepared."
Secretary Nichols promises evacuees will find showers, bathrooms and food at shelters this season. She adds that arrangements have been made with 5 southern states to shelter 26 thousand Louisianans. In addition, shelters will be set up in Alexandria, Bastrop, Monroe and Shreveport.
The Jindal administration is working with state lawmakers to find an extra 38 thousand shelter spaces in state. That will require enhancing or renovating some facilities. The state has begun an inventory of public facilities to see determine if they qualify. The plan would be to add those shelter spaces by the year 2014.
