Port Townsend, WA relief bus in Mississippi

Volunteer relief workers Bill Dwier and Bill Dentzel of Port Townsend offer food and a ride to a shelter to a homeless woman in New Orleans. – Photo submitted by Kathleen Mitchell

Port Townsend relief workers aboard a bus fueled by biodiesel and vegetable oil have made their way to Waveland, Miss., where “it literally looked like Hiroshima,” according to workers recently returned from the area.

Bill Dentzel, who flew back with fellow volunteers Bill Dwier and Tara Dirth on Sunday night, said he saw “a deafening lack of presence of FEMA and the Red Cross” in the area. He said small, community-based organizations in the zone seemed to be providing more immediate relief in the way of food, water and clothing to the impoverished refugees there.

Last week the bus (Web Site) rescued several people from New Orleans, including one couple that had declined previous evacuation opportunities because they would have had to leave their pets behind, he said.

He said the city “was still horrible. Cars buried in water and sludge … devastation everywhere.” (more)