A2 — VICTORIA ADVOCATE, Saturday, August 26, 2017
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PAGE DESIGNER/COPY EDITOR: SAMANTHA HANKINS, SHANKINS@VICAD.COM
SHELTER FROM THE STORM
Sophia Aguirre, 2, left, walks with her mom, Rebecca Aguirre, 23, while she holds her son,
Malakai Aguirre, 1, outside the St. Joseph dome, where they took shelter from Hurricane Harvey.
Victoria residents seek refuge at St. Joseph High School gym
BY ISMAEL PEREZ
IPEREZ@VICAD.COM
Michelle Jimenez thought
about the safety of her four
kids as she drove away
from her Victoria home to
the best place where they
could survive and avoid in-
jury from Hurricane Har-
vey.
“I live in a trailer, and it’s
scary,” said Jimenez, 42,
who got a flat tire on the
way to the shelter. “I just
wanted to be safe and keep
my kids safe, too.”
Jimenez was one of more
than 70 people who decided
to take cover from Hur-
ricane Harvey at the emer-
gency shelter manned by
the American Red Cross at
the St. Joseph High School
gym, which opened Thurs-
day evening.
Most of the residents who
were at the gym were el-
derly, homeless or families
who could not evacuate
from Victoria.
Jimenez said she brought
pillows and blankets and
gave instructions to her
children not to jump, run or
Need
a lift?
OLIVIA VANNI/
OVANNI@VICAD.COM
Jaime Ramirez, 34,
right, of McAllen,
counts plywood as
Robert Perez, 41, of
Victoria, waits to load
a customer’s car. The
Lowes in Victoria set
up a drive-thru ply-
wood pickup to take
some of the conges-
tion out of the store.
TONY
CONTINUED FROM A1
fore the storm.”
Before Harvey hurtled to-
ward their Port Lavaca
home, the Geryks and fam-
ily friend Mary Benedick
loaded bags into a rented
15-passenger van. They
planned for months to visit
Florida this week in hopes
of spending time with the
heart donor’s family.
Nine hours before a
mandatory evacuation or-
www.VisitingAngels.com
www.VisitingAngels.com/East_Bernard
OLIVIA VANNI/OLIVIA VANNI/OVANNI@VICAD.COM
scream in order to be re-
spectful to people around
them.
Rodney Thompson, shel-
ter worker, said the Amer-
ican Red Cross will be sup-
plying people with break-
fast, lunch, dinner and bed-
ding supplies.
The gym offers residents
restrooms and showers as
well.
Rebecca Aguirre, 23, has a
1-year-old boy and a
2-year-old girl and two
grandparents with health
conditions who are not able
to travel outside of Victoria
with the traffic delay.
“We started to get worried
when they issued a manda-
tory evacuation,” she said.
“But with the kids and our
grandparents, it would be
too much to be traveling
and waiting out in traffic.”
Aguirre said she lives at a
downstairs apartment and
decided to take precaution
by going to the shelter.
She packed diapers, baby
wipes and clothes that will
hopefully last through the
storm.
der was issued, they left
their herd of goats and
home behind.
They stopped briefly in
Deer Park to drop off their
two dogs and pick up Tony’s
aunt, Jeanna Hooker.
About 11 a.m. Thursday,
news of Harvey’s aggres-
sive and intensifying ap-
proach quieted the normal-
ly boisterous bunch.
Alice worried for her goats
and discussed with Tony’s
father, Mark Geyrk, the pos-
sibility of losing the family
home and belongings.
The radio was on, and
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HURRICANE HARVEY/COVER STORY
Bloomington residents find safety
in face of oncoming hurricane
BY GABRIELLA
CANALES
GCANALES@VICAD.COM
Despite sleeping Thurs-
day night among strangers
on a gymnasium floor, La-
troya Sonaiya knew the
best place for her sister’s
8-month-old baby was at
Bloomington ISD’s FEMA
Dome.
“This is the safest place
in Bloomington,” Sonaiya,
29, said Friday morning.
“It’s safer than if my family
stayed in my house.”
Blue and gray tarp
crunched beneath the feet
of about 50 families who
decided to take shelter Fri-
day in the dome.
Sonaiya decided to take
her 69-year-old mother, her
sister and her sister’s child
to the shelter at 9 p.m.
Thursday.
The family brought
enough food and comfort
Aguirre was first worried items to last until the
about being in a room with storm subsides and the
strangers but she said ev- evacuation notice is lifted,
eryone has been very nice she said.
and welcoming. “I’m calm,” she said. “I’m
Jimenez and Aguirre said worried about what it will
they are thankful for the look like when we leave.”
American Red Cross for The magnitude of the
offering them shelter dur- storm is something Son-
ing their time of need. aiya has not experienced,
“I just hope it’s over and she said.
done with quick,” Jimenez “This is something you
said. “And hopefully I can be don’t want to play with,”
able to find my home in she said.
place so we can be able to Joseph Nunez, of Bloom-
go back.” ington, decided to stay at
The St. Joseph High the shelter to help assess
School FEMA dome, known damages after the storm
as the Tom O’Connor Jr. passes.
Athletic Center, serves as Nunez sent his wife and
the school’s primary indoor two children to find shelter
sports facility. Additionally, near Austin, he said.
“
this facility serves the Vic-
toria community as a
FEMA/Texas Division of We are very
Emergency Management-
funded Safe Room for busy, so
”
catastrophic weather
events.
there’s no time
The dome can withstand
the most devastating nat-
for emotion.
ural disasters that may
threaten the coastal region THOMAS WESTGATE
Shelter supervisor,
of South Texas. American Red Cross
verses of the Scorpions’
“Rock You Like A Hurri-
crew traveled in a rented
RV across the country,
cane” ironically burst crossing off items on Tony’s
through contemplative bucket list.
pauses in their discussion. For this trip, the family
True to form, the road trip drove 161/2 hours with stops
crew decided to make the to Panama City, Fla., where
best of a bad situation and they were greeted by warm
enjoy their vacation as sunshine and puffy white
planned. clouds.
“We’re trying to not let the Gentle aquamarine waves
problems or storms back lapped over the feet of Tony;
home ruin our vacation,” his sister, Rebekah Geryk;
Mark said. “We want to en- Mark; Alice; Jeanna; and
joy this more. We’ll worry Mary as they watched an
about that when we get egg-yolk sun sink below the
back home.” horizon. Back home, loved
Earlier this summer, the ones braced for the storm.
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“My daughter was
crying,” Nunez said. “I
said, ‘It will be OK; I
want you to have some-
thing to come back to.
Daddy ’s gonna be
OK’.”
Nunez arrived at the
shelter at 8 a.m. Friday
with his brother-in-law and
father-in-law.
Before the storm, the
family helped neighbors
and the local convenience
store board up their build-
ings, he said. The three are
prepared to aid in rebuild-
ing any damage in the area
after the storm passes.
“I want to make sure no
one’s messing with the
homes and they are safe,”
Nunez said. “That’s the
kind of person I am.”
Nunez said he does have
hope in this situation.
“I trust in my Lord,” he
said.
American Red Cross
tries to give each family
about 40 square feet of
room, said Thomas West-
gate, shelter supervisor.
The shelter and care the
organization is providing is
designed to help people get
out of harm’s way, he
said.
“We are very busy, so
there’s no time for emo-
tion,” Westgate said. “It’s
rewarding to help people
who need help.”
Westgate expects about a
couple of hundred people
to come to the shelter, he
said.
The more rain the area
sees, the more people
come to the shelter, West-
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Sonaiya Nunez
gate said.
“It’s when you see the
hurricane coming,” he
said.
If people are going to the
shelter, they should bring
proper identification, food
and comfort items, he
said.
“The school provided ce-
real,” he said.
There is also a limited
number of cots, he said.
If Sonaiya were to see an
elderly or disabled person
sleeping on the floor, she
would give up her cot, she
said.
Sonaiya would feel safe
sleeping there through Fri-
day night as long as she
was next to her mother,
sister and the little one,
she said.
“Wait it out; that is all we
can do,” she said. “Prayers
protect us.”
The $2.9 million dome is
the community’s first hur-
ricane dome.
The project, which broke
ground in May 2013, was
funded 75 percent by the
Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency and 25
percent by the school dis-
trict.
The 18,400-square-foot
structure can provide pro-
tection from hurricane
winds up to 250 mph,
earthquakes, fires and nat-
ural disasters.
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