After Hurricane Ike, Evacuees in Austin, Texas, Ask: Where is the Help?

Austin, Texas -- As victims of Hurricane Ike try and recover their lives from the devastation they have incurred over the past few days, many evacuees are finding it is going to be harder than they thought. Despite pleas from Texas governor Rick Perry, FEMA is leaning to the notion to refuse Texas hurricane victims the same assistance that Louisiana victims received through the devastation of hurricane Katrina a few years ago. Word of this spreading to evacuees here in Austin and many are unsure as to what they are going to do and many are outraged.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a recent press conference, "I would expect that residents of the great state of Texas will receive the same kind of help our neighbors in Louisiana received during their time of need."

As days go by, evacuees who cannot return home immediately are finding that there is very limited help despite the governor's plea for help. According to FEMA, there are no plans to give displaced residents trailers, work assistance and a host of other assistance that hurricane Katrina victims received.

"We learned our lesson from Katrina. We want to help those in need but we want to limit fraud also, so the only way to prevent that is just not open ourselves up to the same cases that frauded us in the past," says Fred Hendrickson, a FEMA represenitive on the ground here in Austin assessing the situation.

With that comment made within ear shot of evacuees at the convention center here in Austin where many evacuees are being housed, immediate outrage was felt.

"We are not going to repeat the same mistake over and over until we learn our lesson, we may not get it perfect but we will get it close," Hendrickson says.

Despite the pleas of Governor Perry, victims are still not getting help to either rebuild their lives here or to go back home and rebuild.