4,000 hurricane survivors in D.C.
The number of Hurricane Katrina survivors in the Washington area has tripled since Friday, but the number of people living at the D.C. Armory has decreased, according to washingtonpost.com.
More than 4,000 people displaced by the hurricane are living in the region, 380 of them in the district. The mayor's office said yesterday less than 150 victims are now living there, about half the number that arrived a week ago, according to washingtonpost.com.
Many have moved in with relatives, friends, host families or church groups in the area. Twenty more are expected to move into temporary housing soon.
- LAUREN GARDNER
Politics and Md. hurricane relief
Politics may be getting in the way of Maryland's hurricane relief efforts.
Douglas M. Duncan, Montgomery county executive, dispatched police chief J. Thomas Manger yesterday to the Gulf Coast region, according to washingtonpost.com. Along with Manger, fire chief Thomas W. Carr, Jr. and Gordon Aoyagi, the Emergenecy Management Coordinator, were sent to the region. They returned late Wednesday.
Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, Duncan's rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, sent over 100 public works officials to Louisiana last week.
In both cases, the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said, the trips were undertaken outside of established rules, said washingtonpost.com.
"There are lots of liabilities or financial concerns, and we urge everyone not do that," said Droneburg, an appointee of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). Ehrlich will likely face Duncan and O'Malley in the gubernatorial race late next year.
"It's a little scary to think what would happen if all 3,000 counties sent delegations to New Orleans to offer help," said Jeff Welsh, a MEMA spokesman. "They wouldn't have time to do anything but meet with delegations."
- KATE OCZYPOK
