Isaac Evacuees Search for Sense of Normal

Red Cross shelter in DeSoto still has room for people seeking shelter

More than two dozen residents of the Gulf Coast woke up in North Texas Thursday dry and safe, something they know many of their friends back home cannot say.

For now they are staying at the American Red Cross shelter at the Faith Bible Church in DeSoto.

"I really still can't believe that storm tore through New Orleans like that," said Tremaine Harris.  "When I saw the caskets floating like that, that kinda upset my heart.  Once I saw that I didn't even want to see anymore.  We turned the TV off."

Harris, 32, is a lifelong New Orleans resident who hitched a ride to the Dallas-Fort Worth area with strangers.

"They offered us a ride for safety, anybody who needs a ride to safety," Harris said.  "So we just took the ride.  I went through Katrina.  I'm not trying to go through that again."

"Once I saw this (shelter) on the news, I just immediately walked from Oak Cliff to get here.  I left after 6:40 p.m. Wednesday.  I didn't make it here until 9:30," said Harris of how he made it to the shelter.

In an effort to establish some sense of normalcy, Harris is cutting hair.  He is a barber back home, and a volunteer picked up a set of clippers for him to use Thursday.

Harris set up shop in the front yard of the Faith Bible Church.  And fellow evacuee Reverand Kenyon Turner was his first customer.

"Most people in New Orleans, that's how we are.  One big happy family," Turner said about making friends fast amid dire circumstances.  "Now we do have bad.  They got bad everywhere.  But most of the people down home, if you need..."

"They'll give you the shirt off their back," Harris interjected, while tightly trimming the edges of Turner's hair.

Both men tell NBC 5 they aren't too eager to go home to see the destsruction in person.  In fact, both said they would be interested in moving to the Metroplex in the not-too-distant future.

"There's always some good, even when it's mostly bad," Harris said while finishing up Turner's cut.  "There's always some good somewhere in there."

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