North Texas

Harvey Evacuees Hope to Call DFW Home for Good

North Texas is hosting more than 3,000 Hurricane Harvey evacuees, and more are expected to arrive.

Some of those families will choose to stay and call the area home permanently.

"I don't have anything left. Everything is gone," said Raimod Gipson, of Port Arthur. "I came with nothing — just me and my family, that's it — and a prayer."

Gipson, his fiancé and his two children have been living at the Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center shelter in Fort Worth for days. He doesn't know how many more storms he can handle.

"I lost everything in Rita in '05, and this one here. It's kind of wearing on me a little bit," he said.

This was the first time he stepped foot in Fort Worth, and it has impressed him.

"I'm almost getting goosebumps, because this is something that I've prayed for," he said.

He explained that he didn't pray for a storm, but for a chance at a new start.

"Where I come from in Port Arthur, it's a kind of hard area — a lot of violence and stuff like that," Gipson said.

His children are enrolled in Fort Worth schools, and Gipson was able to meet their teachers and check on their progress.

"[My daughter] was like, 'Y'all go, y'all go, I've got learning to do.' I was like, 'Right on,' and it just lifted my spirits up even more," he said, smiling.

The next challenge is finding work for Gipson and his fiancé.

"Well, I am a carpenter by trade, and my [fiancé] does security work, but whatever is available to start off. We'll just take it one day at a time," he said.

Though his pockets are empty, his heart is full.

"A lot of people have been giving me numbers asking if I need anything — rides to workforce and stuff like that," Gipson said.

More than 250,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees came to North Texas from Louisiana, and 66,000 of them chose to stay in the DFW area.

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