“We’re trying to give people a place to stay overnight with food and medical support so they can just have a place to lay their heads, because they’ve lost everything,” said John Brown, a Red Cross official for Alabama and Mississippi.Whether or not residents choose to stay in the town center, they will at least have access to information and food and regain some strength, Brown said.
The pair are not sure whether they will spend the night at the center. Maybe they’d prefer to sleep in the car, Alvaro said, giving his mother a hesitant look.The teenager said he survived only by hiding in the bathroom, which he considered was the safest room in their house. “When I woke up this morning, I wanted to cry for the people of this town because I don’t think they had much time before came. There were people eating in restaurants, families in bed,” said the 28-year-old, who also experienced Hurricane Katrina in 2005.