- HopeMill Winter Gala to help Hurricane Helene victims
- Crews battle wildfire at Crowders Mountain State Park
- Houston's Rothko Chapel announces reopening date after it was damaged in Hurricane Beryl
- Panthers bring holiday cheer to western NC after Hurricane Helene
- Vance tells residents in hurricane-stricken North Carolina that they haven't been forgotten
#TBT: In 2005, Memorial Coliseum housed Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi’s iconic Memorial Coliseum stood for more than 50 years on the city’s bayfront. On Sept. 12, 2004, the last event took place when the Shrine Circus brought its clowns, acrobats and animals for a final performance before the American Bank Center opened its doors.
But that was just the last public event. A year later, the city reopened the event center for another purpose: to house survivors of Hurricane Katrina in need of shelter and a chance to regroup after their homes in New Orleans were destroyed.
Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 storm as it moved through the Gulf of Mexico before weakening to Category 3 at landfall on the coast of Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005. The storm surge inundated the poorly engineered levee system in New Orleans, resulting in more than 50 breaches, flooding up to 80 percent of the city. Evacuations became necessary, with neighboring states pitching in.
More:#TBT: Memorial Coliseum defined Corpus Christi skyline for more than half a century
At first just a few evacuees were brought to Corpus Christi. Bokenkamp Children’s Center received some displaced children, then several nursing homes received residents from sister facilities in Louisiana. But by early September, more were on the way.
They came late in the evening on Sept. 3, most on planes and driven by bus to Memorial Coliseum where hours before city workers had worked to remove the dasherboards and refrigeration equipment from the Corpus Christi IceRays practice arena. City workers ushered 500 people into the space, handing out ID cards, water and fruit as evacuees placed what few items they had on their cots. More people were housed at nearby First United Methodist Church, Ben Garza Gym, the Corpus Christi Gym at Cabaniss Field, Coles Elementary School’s gym, and eventually the American Bank Center’s arena.
The folks who ended up at the coliseum those first days spoke to reporters of the ordeals that eventually led them to the emergency shelter.
One couple had been airlifted from their flooded home by helicopter.
“I tell you, if God had wanted me to fly, he’d have made me with wings,” Leslie Despenza said of her terror during the rescue.
More:#TBT: Hurricane Anita gave Corpus Christi a good scare in 1977
Another evacuee said he would only stay a little while in the city, until he could get back to his pregnant girlfriend who had been evacuated to Baton Rouge. The couple had been staying in a hotel next to the New Orleans Superdome, where they had to be vigilant as other survivors fought for dwindling food supplies.
Two friends, 22-year-old Sylvester White, and 18-year-old Willie Jerome, were happy to be away from the destruction in New Orleans. The two were among the first to arrive at the coliseum as they accompanied White’s ill uncle. The group had been living with thousands of others on an Interstate 10 overpass waiting for floodwaters to recede. The two said the coliseum was paradise compared to sleeping on a concrete highway.
A few days later the Red Cross took over operation of the city shelter as some evacuees reunited with family members or traveled to stay with friends in other cities, consolidating the space in the other city shelters.
Those housed in the coliseum received aid in the form of donated clothes and food from area residents along with checks from the Red Cross. But on Sept. 22, the 100 evacuees left in the coliseum got the news that they would need to evacuate — again. This time Hurricane Rita was menacing the Texas coast and local leaders had issued the first mandatory evacuation for the Coastal Bend.
More:THROWBACK: In 1999, Hurricane Bret menaced the South Texas coast
The exhausted evacuees didn’t greet the news with joy, understandably. As the last of the evacuees boarded buses to Corpus Christi International Airport to catch flights to a shelter in Smyrna, Tennessee, 19-year-old Christopher Cephus shared the feeling that many of the evacuees felt.
“The worst thing about it is not having anywhere to go, being shipped around like packages.”
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history. Support local coverage like this by checking out our subscription options and special offers at Caller.com/subscribe